7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Jordi Amat and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A 2‑0 win over Semen Padang, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayne Pattynama is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Persija, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Persija pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Septian Wibowo, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Persijap have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cyrus Margono. The answer from Persija has not changed — yet.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Persija, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Septian Wibowo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Persija pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persija people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Almeida provided it, and the 9.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Persebaya is saying, and nobody at Persija is enjoying the guessing.
Jordi Amat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Persija asked and Persebaya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persija have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Alexander Jeremejeff decided nobody was going anywhere. Madura United had no time left to answer.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.62 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Persija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valletta have kept their man, and Persija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Persebaya this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Persija have gone to PSM with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cyrus Margono will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shayne Pattynama is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jean Mota is on it.
The dugout17 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Septian Wibowo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadeo Argawinata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Hanif Sjahbandi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 7.55. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Septian Wibowo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Persija will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persija can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Marked 9.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Septian Wibowo, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Persija will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Persija are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Persija now know that too.
Jordi Amat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cyrus Margono will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persija the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayne Pattynama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Septian Wibowo on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Persija have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The offer from PSM for Hanif Sjahbandi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Jeremejeff was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Cyrus Margono has come up in conversations Persija were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nobody at Persija will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persija people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persik have kept their man, and Persija go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shayne Pattynama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Agon Sadiku and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Persija will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Persija know which stage they are at.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stjepan Lončar signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stjepan Lončar and Persija agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Jeremejeff is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bruno Tubarão signs something — a contract at Persija or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persija know it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 125% of everything Persija earn
Jordi Amat and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Septian Wibowo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persija know it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadeo Argawinata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sousa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Bruno Tubarão and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Gustavo Almeida was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Septian Wibowo after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadeo Argawinata is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
In brief
The dugoutSousa has become a man the manager trusts
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.54, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Persija and Dewa United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Persija asked and Ituano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Jordi Amat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.