Marked for Arthur De Lima
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Mar 2036
Manchester City go through and Southampton go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match8 Mar 2036
Beaten 0‑3 by Liverpool, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match8 Mar 2036
No end in sight to Southampton's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Southampton has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Tom Fellows and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market10 Mar 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joshua Hamilton will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Southampton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout10 Mar 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.
Squad10 Mar 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arthur De Lima and Southampton agree another 3 years.
Boardroom10 Mar 2036
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
the manager: “No excuses”
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Mar 2036
Thomas Wright 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 Southampton can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Mar 2036
Only the photograph left for Mthobisi Zondo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mthobisi Zondo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Southampton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mthobisi Zondo has agreed terms with Huddersfield Town for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Jakob Gunnar Sigurðsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market3 Mar 2036
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michael Atkinson 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.
Market3 Mar 2036
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Benjamin Allen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Donte Frank
“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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Nikola Jojić 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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arthur De Lima and Southampton agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Feb 2036
Terms done: Liam Shaw is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Western Sydney Wanderers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sydney FC is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Mitchell Ferguson, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.91, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sydney FC may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Sydney FC close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market4 Feb 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sydney FC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Feb 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexandar Popovic and Sydney FC agree another 2 years.
Squad4 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 Sydney FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Southampton have kept their man, and Sydney FC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jan 2036
A one-man rearguard from Bernard Eide
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.
Match26 Jan 2036
Arsenal are out and Southampton go through, 0‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match22 Jan 2036
A 1‑0 win over Arsenal, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market28 Jan 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Southampton have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
David Bailey, 21, steals the show — 7.86
Marked 7.86 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
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.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
Jason Atkinson: 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.” Southampton have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Tom Fellows 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 Southampton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Jan 2036
The offer from Sydney FC for Arthur De Lima 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Dec 2035
Thomas Wright 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 Southampton can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 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 Southampton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Thomas Corigliano ran the middle of the pitch — 7.26
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.26, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match22 Dec 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kembo Diliwidi. 1‑0 against Sheffield United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Nikola Jojić 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 ratings24 Dec 2035
Marked 8.31 — 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.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
Fotis Ioannidis asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
the manager has his say
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” the manager on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Harry Byrne, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Nov 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 Southampton, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Nov 2035
Gonçalo Sobral has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Southampton they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Jakob Gunnar Sigurðsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Nikola Jojić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joshua Wright and Southampton agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market19 Nov 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tom Fellows’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Looking ahead19 Nov 2035
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Fotis Ioannidis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Southampton needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Fee done, terms next for Mason Melia
Southampton and Aston Villa have settled on $35.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market6 Aug 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Southampton people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
$7.8M on the table at Tottenham. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Everything agreed with Crystal Palace, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad6 Aug 2035
“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 Southampton know it.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Noah Vandenbossche 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 Aug 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 Southampton this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
The clubs have shaken hands with Sheffield United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market30 Jul 2035
“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.
Market30 Jul 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bradley Burrowes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Southampton the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Southampton have gone to Bournemouth with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Southampton have done the hard part with Crystal Palace, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market30 Jul 2035
The bid was some way short and Southampton did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
Southampton asked and West Bromwich Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2035
A move Arthur De Lima would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Arthur De Lima is living that version at Southampton, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market30 Jul 2035
The name of Noah Ajayi has come up in conversations Southampton were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Jan 2035
“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.
Market22 Jan 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2035
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sydney FC is saying, and nobody at Melbourne City is enjoying the guessing.
Match20 Jan 2035
Nobody wants to play Melbourne City right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2035
Melbourne City asked and Hamburger SV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Anthony Pantazopoulos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces22 Jan 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Riley Patterson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match20 Jan 2035
It finished 2‑0, and it was Arthur De Lima’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Melbourne City.
Looking ahead22 Jan 2035
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Jan 2035
3‑0, and Ussumane Djabi took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Melbourne City tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market15 Jan 2035
The offer from Melbourne Victory for Alex Nassiep 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.
Market15 Jan 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Melbourne City people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market15 Jan 2035
“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 ratings15 Jan 2035
A defender's goal wins it for Melbourne City — 7.31
1 for Anthony Pantazopoulos, marked 7.31, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Alex Nassiep and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ussumane Djabi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Melbourne City asked and SC Freiburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Jan 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Melbourne City have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market8 Jan 2035
“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.
Match8 Jan 2035
Position 3 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market8 Jan 2035
The bid was some way short and Melbourne City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market8 Jan 2035
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Melbourne City have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Lamine Diaby Fadiga 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.
Squad8 Jan 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Peter Antoniou and Melbourne City agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ussumane Djabi 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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Jan 2035
“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.
Market1 Jan 2035
Oliver Evans has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Alex Nassiep 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.
Match30 Dec 2034
Adelaide United left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market1 Jan 2035
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Cam'ron Ismail has his answer from Melbourne City; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
The manager makes an example of Michael Ologo
“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.
Boardroom1 Jan 2035
Nobody left the Melbourne City 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.
Market1 Jan 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Tyler Holmes left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Dec 2034
Abdoulie Tamba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ussumane Djabi 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 dugout18 Dec 2034
The manager makes an example of Abdoulie Tamba
“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 ratings18 Dec 2034
Ninety minutes of Alfie James at his very best
Marked 8.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Melbourne City.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Anthony Pantazopoulos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tyler Holmes on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
Gianni Stensness has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Melbourne City 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.
Squad18 Dec 2034
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Dec 2034
Melbourne City refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 13 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Melbourne City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamine Diaby Fadiga 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.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Michael Garbett and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Okuhle Majavu, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings11 Dec 2034
The chances came and went for Ussumane Djabi
9 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.
Player ratings11 Dec 2034
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Nov 2034
Abdoulie Tamba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Melbourne City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Melbourne City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Nov 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Ussumane Djabi back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Melbourne City has worked with Ussumane Djabi before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Okuhle Majavu 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 dugout20 Nov 2034
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
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 Gianni Stensness is on it.
Market20 Nov 2034
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Melbourne City could get for him.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2034
Central Coast Mariners next, and one man in the Melbourne City dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout13 Nov 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Melbourne City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Alex Nassiep and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match11 Nov 2034
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ussumane Djabi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
Ussumane Djabi back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Melbourne City has worked with Ussumane Djabi before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ussumane Djabi, and the manager let it.
Match11 Nov 2034
4 matches without defeat, and then Wellington Phoenix. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Boardroom13 Nov 2034
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Market13 Nov 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Melbourne City, another week without a signature from Cam'ron Ismail.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market6 Nov 2034
“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 Melbourne City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match4 Nov 2034
4 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.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Melbourne City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Nov 2034
Only the photograph left for Oliver Evans
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Evans will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Melbourne City the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Alex Nassiep 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 Nov 2034
Words at Melbourne City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ussumane Djabi 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 dugout6 Nov 2034
Ussumane Djabi back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Melbourne City has worked with Ussumane Djabi before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The terraces6 Nov 2034
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Connor Gallagher has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Oct 2034
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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
Ussumane Djabi back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Melbourne City has worked with Ussumane Djabi before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Match28 Oct 2034
It finished 1‑0, and it was Arthur De Lima’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Melbourne City.
Squad30 Oct 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Melbourne City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jesse Cummings and Melbourne City agree another 3 years.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Okuhle Majavu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
7.56, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Melbourne City had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tyler Holmes could afford to be generous.