Marked for Iván Peralta
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom18 Oct 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match18 Oct 2027
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal
Position 17 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A brace, and Julián Ledesma takes the afternoon — 8.35
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Julián Ledesma provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad18 Oct 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Damián Pérez 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Julián Ledesma among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Julián Ledesma on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Arsenal and Güemes.
Match16 Oct 2027
A bad afternoon for Arsenal against Güemes
2‑4 to Güemes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Lucero 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 ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Oct 2027
Matías Lucero hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Talo Colletta has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 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 Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Arsenal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Schiavulli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Arsenal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Uriel La Roza has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Arsenal 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Iván Peralta knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iván Peralta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead11 Oct 2027
Güemes next, and one man in the Arsenal dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market11 Oct 2027
The name of Nahuel Pezzini keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Arsenal
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Arsenal is running low.
Match20 Sep 2027
Every point is an argument now for Arsenal
Position 17 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑4 by All Boys, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market20 Sep 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Arsenal's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Nahuel Pezzini 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Iván Peralta gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Arsenal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Schiavulli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
Doors closed at Arsenal
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Sep 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Arsenal's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Talo Colletta has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad13 Sep 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 Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Pérez 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 dugout13 Sep 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Arsenal told Iván Peralta something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Sep 2027
Supporters organise against the Arsenal 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
17 appearances at Rustavi and the goals keep coming. Arsenal are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Arsenal
Nahuel Pezzini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Damián Pérez 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 dugout6 Sep 2027
Luca Duarte gets it from the manager
“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 dugout6 Sep 2027
Nahuel Pezzini loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Nahuel Pezzini's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Nahuel Pezzini 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 Arsenal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match23 Aug 2027
Arsenal sink to position 17
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market23 Aug 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Arsenal
4 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Nahuel Pezzini 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
The game went through Talo Colletta — 6.85
Marked 6.85 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match21 Aug 2027
0‑2 to Tristán Suárez, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nahuel Pezzini, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Damián Pérez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
Matías Lucero hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
No thanks: Leandro Vilte rejects the move
Arsenal had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Central Norte, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad19 Jul 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 Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Jul 2027
A 2‑1 win over Quilmes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Schiavulli 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
Iván Peralta gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Valentino Romano on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 May 2027
The wait goes on for Arsenal
11 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A fracture rules Damián Pérez out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 May 2027
Arsenal are in real trouble now
Position 17, 9 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.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Pressure builds in the Arsenal boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Nahuel Pezzini 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.
Match29 May 2027
Gimnasia y Tiro left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout31 May 2027
Iván Peralta gets it from the manager
“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
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Mihovilcevich 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
84 days out for Damián Pérez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Arsenal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The mood at Arsenal has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market22 Mar 2027
Matías Sosa hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Arsenal
Lautaro Guzmán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Arsenal
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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages eat 118% of everything Arsenal earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Damián Pérez out for 91 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Mar 2027
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Arsenal lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Arsenal
Lautaro Guzmán 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match13 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Arsenal against Quilmes
1‑3 to Quilmes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julián Vila, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Oct 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 Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Arsenal's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal has to find a result from somewhere.
Market19 Oct 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Arsenal can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Arsenal
Nahuel Pezzini 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Damián Pérez is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Guzmán 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Madryn left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Iván Peralta
“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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 0‑2 Valentino Romano left the room before anybody could ask which.