Marked for Denis Munyao
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Sep 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Sep 2030
Nowhere to hide for Cavese
0‑3 against Salernitana, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match21 Sep 2030
The wait goes on for Cavese
6 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match21 Sep 2030
The goals have deserted Cavese
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cavese can tell you which week it ends in.
Match21 Sep 2030
Cavese leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad23 Sep 2030
A falling-out at Cavese
Thomas Alberti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Sep 2030
29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom23 Sep 2030
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jul 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Jul 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cavese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market22 Jul 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Cavese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Jul 2030
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Alessandro Fiordaliso, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Elia Visconti 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.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and Cavese go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
AS Roma have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cavese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jul 2030
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cavese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad8 Jul 2030
A fracture rules Theophilus Awua out for 92 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cavese will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Jul 2030
Cavese say no — this time
The offer from Parma for Carlo Usai 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.
Market8 Jul 2030
“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 Cavese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
Everything agreed with Lazio, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
No thanks: Darryl Bakola rejects the move
Cavese had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sassuolo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad8 Jul 2030
A falling-out at Cavese
Valerio Boffelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Thomas Alberti 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.
Transfer targets8 Jul 2030
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
Uneasy
Squad7 Jan 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match5 Jan 2030
Carlo Usai had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Crotone were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
Both of them Carlo Usai's — 8.84
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.88, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout7 Jan 2030
“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.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2030
Everything agreed with Empoli, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2030
Cavese had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lazio, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A falling-out at Cavese
Francesco Orlando and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Jan 2030
2‑2, 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
Steady
Market26 Nov 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cavese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Cavese
Francesco Orlando 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.
Match24 Nov 2029
Trapani left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cavese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
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 Mariano Guerra to a room that had heard them before.
Market26 Nov 2029
Hamzat Balogun is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cavese has been clear about where Hamzat Balogun stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
The manager makes an example of Denis Munyao
“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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Cavese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Marino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market19 Nov 2029
“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 ratings19 Nov 2029
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.95, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marcello Riccardi has just signed for Cavese, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Nov 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Elia Visconti and Cavese agree another 4 years.
Squad19 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Fella 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.
Boardroom19 Nov 2029
Cittadella will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Boris Palacios has pre-agreed a move to Cavese, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The terraces19 Nov 2029
Cavese supporters have found a favourite in Carlo Usai
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Carlo Usai 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
Uneasy
Squad29 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.16, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match27 Oct 2029
At last: Cavese win one
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Sorrento. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Cavese
Francesco Orlando 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Giuseppe Fella 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was Giuseppe Fella’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cavese.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Denis Munyao wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Cavese know now that the thought has arrived.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mariano Guerra on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The plan did not have a place for Thomas Alberti
Nobody at Cavese is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Oct 2029
9 matches without a win for Cavese
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Cavese are no longer polite ones.
Squad22 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Cavese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Fella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denis Munyao and Cavese agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Cavese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
A mark of 7.60, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Daniele Marino
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Reuben Silk gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mariano Guerra was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Cavese dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Levis Opiyo 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 2028
David Sakwa 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 dugout6 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Nyamawi Beja is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nyamawi Beja has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
David Sakwa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bandari 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Bandari will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market6 Nov 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market6 Nov 2028
The Alfred Emoni story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alfred Emoni signs something — a contract at Bandari or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.