Marked for Dylan Cabral
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2037
Defensive actions: 30, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market10 Aug 2037
Dylan Cabral 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 River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Aug 2037
“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 ratings10 Aug 2037
25 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings10 Aug 2037
Nobody could get near Alex Verón
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Matías Galarza 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.
Market10 Aug 2037
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Manuel Méndez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around River Plate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match8 Aug 2037
Whatever happens, River Plate do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Aug 2037
The manager makes an example of Bautista Dadín
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Jul 2037
The offer from Sarmiento for Facundo González 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.
Market13 Jul 2037
“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 The request is on a desk at River Plate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Jul 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” River Plate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Alex Verón 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 River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market13 Jul 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market13 Jul 2037
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. River Plate will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 May 2037
River Plate make home a hard place to visit
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market18 May 2037
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Freitas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around River Plate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match16 May 2037
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now River Plate have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings18 May 2037
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 May 2037
Matías Galarza 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.
Match16 May 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alex Verón. 3‑1 against Independiente Rivadavia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad18 May 2037
Dylan Cabral 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.
Squad18 May 2037
9 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings18 May 2037
Nadir Sánchez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.00. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 May 2037
River Plate are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 30 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings11 May 2037
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market11 May 2037
“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.
Player ratings11 May 2037
Defensive actions: 28, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad11 May 2037
There were 6 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 May 2037
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza 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.
Market11 May 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market11 May 2037
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.
Match9 May 2037
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation River Plate did not have in the autumn.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Apr 2037
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. River Plate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Apr 2037
“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 River Plate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Apr 2037
Marquinhos, 37, rolls back the years — 8.33
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.33 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings6 Apr 2037
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market6 Apr 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Apr 2037
Matías Galarza 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.
Squad6 Apr 2037
Marquinhos 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.
Squad6 Apr 2037
“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.
Match4 Apr 2037
Alex Verón scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Aldosivi, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Mar 2037
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. River Plate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Mar 2037
There were 9 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.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
31 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Defensive actions: 30. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad9 Mar 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” River Plate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Mar 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Match7 Mar 2037
Whatever happens, River Plate do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market9 Mar 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Alex Verón 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 River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Feb 2037
Franco Jaroszewicz damages knee ligaments — 94 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 94 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match21 Feb 2037
Dylan Cabral wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Dylan Cabral found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Rosario Central went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad23 Feb 2037
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” River Plate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
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.
Market23 Feb 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market23 Feb 2037
“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 River Plate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Feb 2037
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Matías Galarza 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.
Market23 Feb 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Feb 2037
Franco Jaroszewicz damages knee ligaments — 111 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 111 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Age has not caught Matías Galarza yet — 8.60
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market9 Feb 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market9 Feb 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza 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.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Dylan Cabral 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 River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Ninety minutes of Tobías Ramírez at his very best
Marked 9.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at River Plate.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jan 2037
The offer from Central Córdoba SdE for Juan Morán 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.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Words at River Plate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Galarza 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.
Market12 Jan 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market12 Jan 2037
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.
Squad12 Jan 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thiago Acosta commits to River Plate for another 3 years.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Nadir Sánchez 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
Steady
Squad5 Jan 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” River Plate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Jan 2037
The offer from Aldosivi for Facundo González 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.
Market5 Jan 2037
The deal that would have taken Juan Carlos Campos to Boca Juniors has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to River Plate with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad5 Jan 2037
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and River Plate have had the benefit of it.
Market5 Jan 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market5 Jan 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom22 Dec 2036
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad22 Dec 2036
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and River Plate have had the benefit of it.
Market22 Dec 2036
“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.
Squad22 Dec 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” River Plate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market22 Dec 2036
The bid was some way short and River Plate did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market22 Dec 2036
Tobías Leiva has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Jun 2036
“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.
Squad16 Jun 2036
“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.
Squad16 Jun 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jun 2036
David Juárez 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.
Squad16 Jun 2036
Nobody at Arezzo 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.
Market16 Jun 2036
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luca Chierico signs something — a contract at Arezzo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Jun 2036
“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.
Squad9 Jun 2036
“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.
Squad9 Jun 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Camillo Tavernelli commits to Arezzo for another 2 years.
Market9 Jun 2036
Only the photograph left for Artem Zaychuk
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Zaychuk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arezzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Jun 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jun 2036
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Duraković 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
Uneasy
Squad26 May 2036
“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.
Market26 May 2036
“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.
Boardroom26 May 2036
Arezzo counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Arezzo now.
Squad26 May 2036
A muscle injury sidelines Camillo Tavernelli for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Arezzo will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad26 May 2036
Tempers go at Arezzo
Alessandro Renzi 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 May 2036
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Coppolaro 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
Uneasy
Market19 May 2036
Dylan Cabral has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arezzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 May 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arezzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 May 2036
“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.
Squad19 May 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 May 2036
Mauro Coppolaro 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.
Squad19 May 2036
“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 Arezzo know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 May 2036
“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 Arezzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 May 2036
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Arezzo have had the benefit of it.
Squad5 May 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luca Chierico and Arezzo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Apr 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arezzo can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom28 Apr 2036
Arezzo counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Arezzo now.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Tempers go at Arezzo
Alessandro Renzi 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.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Coppolaro 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 Apr 2036
Nobody at Arezzo 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.
Squad28 Apr 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kristaps Mosāns, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Apr 2036
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.
Market21 Apr 2036
Only the photograph left for Dylan Cabral
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dylan Cabral will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arezzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market21 Apr 2036
“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 Arezzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Apr 2036
A season average of 7.48 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings21 Apr 2036
Mariano Martini, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.23
A mark of 8.23 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.
Player ratings21 Apr 2036
Age has not caught Luca Chierico yet — 8.82
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Apr 2036
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Arezzo and Pianese, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Duraković 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
Uneasy
Squad7 Apr 2036
21 goals and a season average of 7.71. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match5 Apr 2036
Arezzo throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Perugia the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Arezzo will enjoy reviewing.
Squad7 Apr 2036
“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 ratings7 Apr 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match5 Apr 2036
5 matches without a win for Arezzo
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Arezzo are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Apr 2036
Arezzo are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings7 Apr 2036
A performance of 8.97 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Mar 2036
David Juárez is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.69 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Boardroom31 Mar 2036
Arezzo counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Arezzo now.
Player ratings31 Mar 2036
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market31 Mar 2036
“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 Mar 2036
“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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Tempers go at Arezzo
Alessandro Renzi 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 Mar 2036
The wait goes on for Arezzo
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.
Match29 Mar 2036
Ascoli left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Emin Duraković 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
Crisis
Market24 Mar 2036
Dylan Cabral has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arezzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Luca Chierico
15 goals and a season average of 7.56 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad24 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Mattia Damiani 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.
Match22 Mar 2036
A bad afternoon for Arezzo against Livorno
1‑2 to Livorno, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 Mar 2036
Alessandro Renzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
“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 ratings24 Mar 2036
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.
Player ratings24 Mar 2036
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Mar 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match8 Mar 2036
A 2-goal lead gone for Arezzo
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Vis Pesaro kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Arezzo will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad10 Mar 2036
17 goals and a season average of 7.66. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Age has not caught Luca Chierico yet — 8.88
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 Mar 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arezzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 Mar 2036
Arezzo may not be able to give Dylan Cabral what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Dylan Cabral wants continental football; whether Arezzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad10 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
David Juárez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.85. 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.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Marked 8.65 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Mattia Damiani out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arezzo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
Arezzo counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Arezzo now.
Squad3 Mar 2036
14 goals and a season average of 7.57. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Baltasar Barcia, 35, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Tempers go at Arezzo
Alessandro Renzi 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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matteo Cortesi and Arezzo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match1 Mar 2036
Sambenedettese made Arezzo work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Ninety minutes of Dylan Cabral at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arezzo.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Mattia Damiani out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arezzo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Feb 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Arezzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Defences have started doubling up on David Juárez
16 goals and a season average of 7.63 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
Age has not caught Luca Chierico yet — 8.64
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad25 Feb 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Feb 2036
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Mauro Coppolaro 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.
Match23 Feb 2036
Pineto made Arezzo work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
Ninety minutes of Alessandro Renzi at his very best
Marked 8.97. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arezzo.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Mattia Damiani out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arezzo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match9 Feb 2036
Carpi punish Arezzo for switching off
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Alessandro Renzi will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Arezzo escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings11 Feb 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.69, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad11 Feb 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Alessandro Renzi
14 goals and a season average of 7.38 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match9 Feb 2036
Arezzo are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Mauro Coppolaro 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 ratings11 Feb 2036
Marked 8.69 — 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.
Match9 Feb 2036
Honours even between Arezzo and Carpi
4‑4, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Arezzo counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Arezzo now.
Squad4 Feb 2036
384 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Arezzo know what they have.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Tempers go at Arezzo
Alessandro Renzi 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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
A season average of 7.51 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Coppolaro 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.
Match2 Feb 2036
Arezzo are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match2 Feb 2036
Ravenna left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market4 Feb 2036
The name of Alessandro Arena keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arezzo say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jan 2036
“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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Luca Chierico is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.56 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad28 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Duraković 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 Jan 2036
“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 ratings28 Jan 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.57, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
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.
Match26 Jan 2036
Honours even between Arezzo and Forli
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market28 Jan 2036
Arezzo have made Mauro Coppolaro available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 10.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Jan 2036
14 goals and a season average of 7.61. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Tempers go at Arezzo
Alessandro Renzi 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.
Match19 Jan 2036
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arezzo and Pontedera in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match19 Jan 2036
It finished 4‑2, and it was David Juárez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arezzo.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Coppolaro 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.
Boardroom21 Jan 2036
135% of the income goes out in wages at Arezzo
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jan 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arezzo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Jan 2036
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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Arezzo will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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.
Market7 Jan 2036
The phone has started ringing about Mattia Puzone again, and this time the name on the line is Udinese. Arezzo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market7 Jan 2036
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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Jan 2036
Arezzo counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Arezzo now.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Dec 2035
5‑1, and David Juárez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Arezzo tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Two goals and a mark of 9.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Ben Whiteman: 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.” Arezzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Defences have started doubling up on David Juárez
12 goals and a season average of 7.53 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Tempers go at Arezzo
Alessandro Renzi 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.
Match22 Dec 2035
Arezzo cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Match22 Dec 2035
David Juárez among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, David Juárez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Arezzo and Pianese.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Coppolaro 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 ratings24 Dec 2035
Marked 9.24 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Up for the corner, and Jacopo Simonetta delivers — 7.42
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jacopo Simonetta scored, was marked 7.42, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad17 Dec 2035
11 goals and a season average of 7.58. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad17 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Dec 2035
It finished 5‑3, and it was Alessandro Renzi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arezzo.
Match15 Dec 2035
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Arezzo and Guidonia Montecelio in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Words at Arezzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emin Duraković 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
Squad3 Dec 2035
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.
Market3 Dec 2035
Joel Poiso 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 Arezzo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Dec 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alessandro Arena and Arezzo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arezzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Mattia Damiani 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.
Match1 Dec 2035
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings3 Dec 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Dec 2035
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings3 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.