Marked for Alessandro Reali
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Francesco Proietto 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Pineto made Pianese work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Ercolani, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A mark of 7.89, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Alessandro Reali 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nicolò Gentile, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Pianese lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout15 Mar 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 Pianese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pianese lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Pianese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Pianese
8 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Pianese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Proietto 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Pianese cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Pianese asked and Spezia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jan 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 Pianese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Pianese have made the call to Bari. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Dec 2026
Pianese sink to position 14
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Ianesi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Gorelli, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Pianese
Alessandro Reali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.62, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Marco Bertini named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marco Bertini is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match5 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Nicolò Gentile chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
7 matches without a win for Pianese
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Pianese are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicola Pintus is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Pianese
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Proietto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.78 on the card, and the Pianese support went home talking about one name.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Pianese
Alessandro Reali 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Ravenna, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Inter is saying, and nobody at Pianese is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Pianese asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Luca Simeoni
“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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alessandro Reali 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Claudio Martey 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Alan Martínez
Nobody at Pianese 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.