Marked for Alan Matturro
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market1 Feb 2027
Genoa say no — this time
The offer from Cesena for Adam Žulevič 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Cyril Ngonge in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tommaso Baldanzi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market1 Feb 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match30 Jan 2027
Genoa get the job done against Bologna
A 1‑0 win over Bologna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Patrizio Masini falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 7.83. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Marcandalli, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
AC Milan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Genoa did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jan 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mikael Egill Ellertsson. 1‑0 against Inter, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrizio Masini 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caleb Ekuban, and the manager let it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Vitinha runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 8. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market11 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alan Matturro signs something — a contract at Genoa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Dec 2026
Genoa sink to position 19
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Genoa heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match5 Dec 2026
Sassuolo left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 Genoa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market30 Nov 2026
Genoa may not be able to give Alan Matturro what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alan Matturro wants continental football; whether Genoa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Sabelli 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Genoa told Junior Messias something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad30 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match28 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Atalanta defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market30 Nov 2026
The Alex Amorim talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Genoa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Nov 2026
Genoa march on in the cup
Campobasso are out and Genoa go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match9 Nov 2026
Genoa are in real trouble now
Position 20, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Franz-Ethan Meichtry, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.22
A mark of 8.22 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Stefano Sabelli, 33, rolls back the years — 8.34
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Genoa
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Genoa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Udinese left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Genoa
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Genoa
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Genoa are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Sep 2026
Maxwel Cornet scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Como, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Patrizio Masini falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Genoa have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Genoa
Morten Frendrup 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Sascha Britschgi is 19, and Genoa have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Stefano Sabelli falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Morten Frendrup keeps the shirt for now, at Genoa's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Justin Bijlow wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Genoa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Justin Bijlow commits to Genoa for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Genoa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
Genoa may not be able to give Alan Matturro what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alan Matturro wants continental football; whether Genoa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Genoa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrizio Masini 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Morten Frendrup trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.