Marked for Bertram Skovgaard
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Nov 2027
25 days out for Bjarne Pudel after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aalborg will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market8 Nov 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Aalborg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Nov 2027
Markus Kaasa had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Brondby were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad8 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aalborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
A hand in 2 of them from Ruben Alte — 7.99
Marked 7.99. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Match6 Nov 2027
A bad afternoon for Aalborg against Brondby
2‑3 to Brondby, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Aalborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ganchas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.72, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pedro Ganchas, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Aalborg
Lee Han-Beom 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Aalborg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Ganchas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martin Ramsland, and the manager let it.
Loan watch31 May 2027
“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 Aalborg, and 13 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout31 May 2027
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 Jubril Adedeji is on it.
The dugout31 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Aalborg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 May 2027
The name of Markus Kaasa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aalborg say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout31 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad31 May 2027
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
14 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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 Lecce, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
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.
Market1 Mar 2027
Olaf Gorter has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lecce they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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 Lecce know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match27 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joël Monteiro, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lecce this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Lecce training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teun Koopmeiners 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Ivan Ilić, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match21 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Lecce against Genoa
0‑2 to Genoa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Omri Gandelman
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Lecce
Bertram Skovgaard 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Joël Monteiro gets picked when it counts
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 Joël Monteiro is on it.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Willem Geubbels signs something — a contract at Lecce or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.