Marked for Edoardo Bernardi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Arzignano
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Arzignano is running low.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$1.0M on the table at Vicenza. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Nicolò Bianchi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Milillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matteo Bassi and Arzignano agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Padova: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Avellino have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edoardo Bernardi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gonzalo Groba has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom31 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arzignano
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Arzignano
Iván Valenzuela 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 dugout31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
Tommaso Invaso 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
Eddy Lanzi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arzignano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager makes Gonzalo Groba a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arzignano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arzignano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 May 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Alessio Milillo 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
The dugout10 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arzignano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 May 2027
The Nicola Nanni talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arzignano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicolás Varela
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arzignano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
Supporters organise against the Arzignano board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad29 Mar 2027
49 days out for Giorgio Bernardi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arzignano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Joaquín Petino 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tommaso Invaso 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
1‑4 to Union Brescia, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arzignano can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Arzignano's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arzignano has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nicolás Varela and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Arzignano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Milillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match9 Jan 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Arzignano
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Groba, and the manager let it.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Arzignano dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
“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 Arzignano know it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Arzignano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Petino 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Nicola Nanni’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arzignano.
Squad7 Dec 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Nicola Nanni
7.89, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Arzignano had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Vincenzo Marini could afford to be generous.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Vannucchi, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nicola Nanni named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Nicola Nanni has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Sep 2026
Ravenna ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Arzignano
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Arzignano are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
5 matches without a goal for Arzignano
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Arzignano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Milillo 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alberto Basso Ricci and Arzignano agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Mattia Damiani
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 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 Arzignano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Joaquín Petino 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Union Brescia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what Reggiana would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vincenzo Marini after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Iván Valenzuela dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessio Milillo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Carpi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.