Marked for Iago
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Esbjerg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match15 Dec 2029
The wait goes on for Esbjerg
5 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
44 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market17 Dec 2029
Steven Fortes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Esbjerg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Lasse Vigen 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 Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
A performance of 9.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Marked 8.80 — 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.
Match15 Dec 2029
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Nov 2029
Esbjerg are in real trouble now
Position 11, 13 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.
Match24 Nov 2029
Esbjerg bow out of the cup
FC Midtjylland go through and Esbjerg go home, 1‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market26 Nov 2029
Žan Majer 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 Esbjerg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Lasse Vigen 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“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 ratings26 Nov 2029
A performance of 8.59 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Iago in the eights
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
Nobody left the Esbjerg 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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Peter Bjur runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2029
There were 11 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Miloš Ćoćić: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esbjerg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Defensive actions: 28. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market19 Nov 2029
Gal Peled 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 Esbjerg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Nov 2029
72 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market19 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Esbjerg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Žan Majer 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 Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
One of those days for Iago
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.89, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match17 Nov 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Iago’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Esbjerg.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Nov 2029
The wait goes on for Esbjerg
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.
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Esbjerg can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Esbjerg
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Žan Majer 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 Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
A masterclass from Iago
Marked 9.08 — 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.
Match3 Nov 2029
It needed Iago to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against FC Nordsjaelland, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“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 Esbjerg know it.
Squad5 Nov 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Robby McCrorie knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Oct 2029
The wait goes on for Esbjerg
10 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.
Match29 Oct 2029
Esbjerg are in real trouble now
Position 12, 6 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.
Market29 Oct 2029
Žan Majer puts it in writing
“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 Esbjerg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Žan Majer keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Esbjerg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Žan Majer 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
A bad afternoon for Esbjerg against Brondby
2‑3 to Brondby, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad29 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Foss
“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 ratings29 Oct 2029
One of those days for Iago
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad29 Oct 2029
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 37 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match13 Oct 2029
No end in sight to Esbjerg's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Esbjerg has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Oct 2029
There were 8 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.
Market15 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Esbjerg is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
Iago runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market15 Oct 2029
“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 Esbjerg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Oct 2029
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A defender's afternoon for Jonathan Foss
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Žan Majer 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Esbjerg's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Esbjerg has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Sep 2029
Steven Fortes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Esbjerg they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Žan Majer 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 Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Vasilis Eleftheriadis, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match22 Sep 2029
A bad afternoon for Esbjerg against Aalborg
0‑1 to Aalborg, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sander Eng Strand, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Sep 2029
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The terraces24 Sep 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Žan Majer 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 Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Žan Majer
“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 ratings10 Sep 2029
Iago in the eights
A performance of 8.64 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match8 Sep 2029
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“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; Esbjerg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Crisis
Match3 Sep 2029
Every point is an argument now for Esbjerg
Position 11 and 3 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Žan Majer 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
Abdul Daramy scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Viborg, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Reydson 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Abdul Daramy finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Esbjerg have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Off the bench and decisive: Iago
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Esbjerg were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Sep 2028
Esbjerg are in real trouble now
Position 11, 3 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Iago: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Esbjerg have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo Guichón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Esbjerg the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Esbjerg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Sep 2028
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robby McCrorie, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“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; Esbjerg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.