Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Costa is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Léo Teixeira 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Muniz 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Felgueiras is running low.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
João Pedro 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.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 The request is on a desk at Felgueiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Oliveirense for Pité 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Felgueiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Estoril Praia paid $500.0K and Felgueiras took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
In brief
Boardroom$4.1M taken back off the Felgueiras table
“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 Felgueiras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Max Thompson 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guilherme Ribeiro 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.
Add another name to the list: Moreirense have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gustavo Costa. The answer from Felgueiras has not changed — yet.
João Pedro 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Felgueiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frederico Namora 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Felgueiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Soumah is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
SquadWords at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Felgueiras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Guilherme Ribeiro is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
14 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Ismaël Gharbi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Felgueiras and Benfica B in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Guilherme Ribeiro: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Felgueiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Thiago Martínez is living that version at Felgueiras, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Felgueiras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Felgueiras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jalen Blesa 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michel Costa signs something — a contract at Felgueiras or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Guerra is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
André Clovis 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eduardo Quaresma 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gustavo Costa is living that version at Felgueiras, and it tends to show in the first month.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
João Pedro 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
In brief
SquadLéo Teixeira falls out with a teammate over standards
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
André Clovis 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sandro Ferreira is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Académico de Viseu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soufiane Messeguem 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Académico de Viseu will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dominik Steczyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Académico de Viseu the goodbyes have quietly begun.
André Clovis 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.
“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 Académico de Viseu, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 7.55 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Académico de Viseu had the best player on the pitch.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Rúben Pereira's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Académico de Viseu told Gustavo Costa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Académico de Viseu know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
12 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.
Robinho 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Marked 5.60. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.