Marked for Jonathan Silva
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Jul 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Jul 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eddy Cabianca
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Jul 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Apr 2037
Chastening afternoon for Torino
A 0‑4 beating by Udinese was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad13 Apr 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.
Squad13 Apr 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Coco 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.
Squad13 Apr 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Silva and Torino agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom13 Apr 2037
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market13 Apr 2037
The Saúl Coco story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saúl Coco signs something — a contract at Torino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
Shots: 7. 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.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Mar 2037
There were 13 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.
Squad2 Mar 2037
319 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Match28 Feb 2037
No clean sheets in sight for Torino
7 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.
Squad2 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Coco 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.
Match28 Feb 2037
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torino and Inter in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match28 Feb 2037
Tommaso Gabellini scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Inter, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings2 Mar 2037
Ninety minutes of Emanuele Persano at his very best
Marked 9.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Market2 Mar 2037
The loan was meant to give him football. 1 games and 0 goals later he is back at Torino no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Nov 2036
Lorenzo Torriani damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Match8 Nov 2036
Chastening afternoon for Torino
A 0‑5 beating by Atalanta was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings10 Nov 2036
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Nov 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.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad10 Nov 2036
No hiding place for Saúl Coco
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saúl Coco, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 Nov 2036
Doors closed at Torino
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings10 Nov 2036
Jhon Durán could have had three
15 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Loan watch10 Nov 2036
“I did not go to Torres to sit and watch. I want to come back to Torino and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 May 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Alessio Cacciamani
25 goals and a season average of 7.75 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad5 May 2036
357 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad5 May 2036
Álex Pérez: 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.” Torino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 May 2036
Che Adams 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 Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 May 2036
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Player ratings5 May 2036
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match3 May 2036
A 2‑2 draw with Juventus leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market5 May 2036
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikola Vlašić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Boardroom5 May 2036
$2.1M a year onto the Torino books
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Nov 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad26 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Danilo Lebrino out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Nov 2035
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.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Che Adams, 39, rolls back the years — 9.03
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.03 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad26 Nov 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 Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Nov 2035
No end in sight to Torino's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Torino has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match24 Nov 2035
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Che Adams had Torino level again within 4 minutes, and Hellas Verona never got to play with a lead at all.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Jhon Durán leaves them behind him
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
Squad19 Nov 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Danilo Lebrino out for 92 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Nov 2035
A 3-goal lead gone for Torino
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Sassuolo kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Torino will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Nikola Vlašić 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.
Match17 Nov 2035
Nobody wins at Torino
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings19 Nov 2035
Marked 9.03 — 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.
Player ratings19 Nov 2035
Marked 8.88. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Player ratings19 Nov 2035
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Nov 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad12 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Danilo Lebrino out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Nov 2035
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.
Market12 Nov 2035
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 Nov 2035
Tempers go at Torino
Che Adams 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 ratings12 Nov 2035
Marked 8.58 — 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.
Match10 Nov 2035
Torino make home a hard place to visit
8 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.
Player ratings12 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match10 Nov 2035
A 1‑1 draw with Atalanta leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Nov 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Match31 Oct 2035
Torino through in the cup
A 4‑2 win over Vis Pesaro, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad5 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Danilo Lebrino out for 106 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Nov 2035
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market5 Nov 2035
Torino may not be able to give Jhon Durán what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhon Durán wants continental football; whether Torino can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market5 Nov 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Match31 Oct 2035
Simone Kosijer among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Simone Kosijer on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Torino and Vis Pesaro.
Player ratings5 Nov 2035
Simone Kosijer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.72. 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
Crisis
Squad29 Oct 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
A fracture rules Danilo Lebrino out for 113 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
“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; Torino are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match27 Oct 2035
0‑1 to Fiorentina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Oct 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 17 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
A fracture rules Danilo Lebrino out for 120 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match20 Oct 2035
Torino come from 2 down to beat Inter
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Torino found something the first half had given no notice of, and Inter could not hold what they had.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Saúl Coco, 36, rolls back the years — 8.53
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.53 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Che Adams 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 Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Oct 2035
Torino get the job done against Inter
A 3‑2 win over Inter, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
A performance of 8.97 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch22 Oct 2035
“I did not go to Pro Patria to sit and watch. I want to come back to Torino and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Oct 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 56 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Match13 Oct 2035
Chastening afternoon for Torino
A 1‑6 beating by Lecce was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Gady Beyuku breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match13 Oct 2035
No end in sight to Torino's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Torino has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Oct 2035
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.
Squad15 Oct 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 Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Oct 2035
Jhon Durán among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Jhon Durán on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Torino and Lecce.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings15 Oct 2035
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
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 40 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Gady Beyuku breaks a bone — 44 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Oct 2035
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.
Squad8 Oct 2035
386 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Torino know what they have.
Match6 Oct 2035
5 matches without a win for Torino
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Torino are no longer polite ones.
Market8 Oct 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrea Cecchetto will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torino the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Andrea Cecchetto has agreed terms with Hellas Verona for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Player ratings8 Oct 2035
Successful dribbles: 22. 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
Squad1 Oct 2035
There were 13 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.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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 ratings1 Oct 2035
Defensive actions: 34, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Gady Beyuku breaks a bone — 51 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Oct 2035
385 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Torino know what they have.
Player ratings1 Oct 2035
Age has not caught Saúl Coco yet — 7.87
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market1 Oct 2035
Jhon Durán wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Torino hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match29 Sep 2035
4 matches without a win for Torino
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Torino are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom1 Oct 2035
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Santiago Benítez has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Torino have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Sep 2035
Jonathan Silva damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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 ratings24 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Gady Beyuku breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Sep 2035
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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Boardroom24 Sep 2035
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Match22 Sep 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch24 Sep 2035
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Torino, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
The chances came and went for Jhon Durán
14 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Sep 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Silva
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Sep 2035
“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 Torino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Sep 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 Sep 2035
A fracture rules Gady Beyuku out for 65 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
A brace, and Alessio Cacciamani takes the afternoon — 9.02
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alessio Cacciamani provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.15 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market17 Sep 2035
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alessio Cacciamani wants continental football; whether Torino can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad17 Sep 2035
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Tommaso Gabellini, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match15 Sep 2035
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torino and Pisa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.