Marked for Simone Rossello
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 May 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Asteras
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Asteras is running low.
Market28 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Asteras can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 May 2029
Grzegorz Krychowiak 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.
Squad28 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolás Herrera commits to Asteras for another 1 years.
Squad28 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josh Nisbet, and the manager let it.
Squad28 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Grzegorz Krychowiak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2028
Filip Černý takes the match ball home
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match22 Nov 2028
A 5‑1 win over Sigma Olomouc, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad27 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market27 Nov 2028
Ben Trueman 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 Slovan Liberec can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Slovan Liberec may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Nobody could get near Petr Juliš
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tomáš Koubek 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 Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market27 Nov 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Simone Rossello is a Slovan Liberec player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.90, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 May 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market29 May 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Tempers go at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs 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 May 2028
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
Marco Tol 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.
Market29 May 2028
The Jérôme Déom talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Roda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 May 2028
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 May 2028
Marco Tol: 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.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom22 May 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Roda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Roda is running low.
Squad22 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muhammad Dahaba, and the manager let it.
Squad22 May 2028
Marcus Steffen knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
There were 6 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 9.42 — 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
A 2‑1 win over Modena, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.76, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Marked 8.38 — 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Girelli, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Gaëtan Coucke 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.