8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pacos de Ferreira has to find a result from somewhere.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pacos de Ferreira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑6 to Famalicao, 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.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pacos de Ferreira has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A first appearance Pedro Ribeiro will want to forget — 4.98
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 4.98, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sten Kremers is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Pacos de Ferreira and Famalicao in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Miguel Muriel 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pacos de Ferreira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
David Costa 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pedro Ribeiro and Pacos de Ferreira agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pacos de Ferreira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rafael Cesário has his answer from Pacos de Ferreira; what he does with it is the next window’s story.