Marked for Chrysovalantis Manos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 May 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Christos Giousis
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aris Thessaloniki lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 May 2031
“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.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Aris Thessaloniki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout12 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aris Thessaloniki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 May 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Aris Thessaloniki can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Aris Thessaloniki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aris Thessaloniki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2031
“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 Aris Thessaloniki know it.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
Fredrik Jensen has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Aris Thessaloniki 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Mar 2031
“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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fredrik Jensen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aris Thessaloniki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Mar 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pavlos Donis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Mar 2031
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Apostolos Nikolaou has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Mar 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andreas Diamantakos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fredrik Jensen is on it.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Angelos Tsingaras has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Feb 2031
Position 7 on 33 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Market17 Feb 2031
“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 Aris Thessaloniki, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Aris Thessaloniki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manu García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Feb 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aris Thessaloniki this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Feb 2031
0‑1 to AEK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Álex Pastor, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Jan 2031
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aris Thessaloniki lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Jan 2031
79 days out for Emiliano Larrouy after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aris Thessaloniki will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Jan 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market13 Jan 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Aris Thessaloniki have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings13 Jan 2031
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.86, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market13 Jan 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aris Thessaloniki can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Aris Thessaloniki training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fredrik Jensen 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 Jan 2031
Álex Pastor 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.
Match11 Jan 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Migouel Alfarela. 1‑0 against Asteras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.