Marked for Edoardo Morucci
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Sep 2038
A 2-goal lead gone for Spezia
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Virtus Entella kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Spezia will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match11 Sep 2038
The run at home goes on for Spezia
14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad13 Sep 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market13 Sep 2038
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spezia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
A performance of 9.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
Francesco Reita was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.05. 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.
Match11 Sep 2038
No clean sheets in sight for Spezia
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicola Martinelli
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings22 Mar 2038
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Anton Harabazhii: 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.” Spezia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Mar 2038
A season average of 7.53 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market22 Mar 2038
Romano Medici has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spezia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Mar 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Mar 2038
Catanzaro left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom22 Mar 2038
119% of the income goes out in wages at Spezia
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom22 Mar 2038
Doors closed at Spezia
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2038
Nicola Martinelli damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match13 Mar 2038
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Francesco Reita will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Spezia escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
A brace, and Francesco Reita takes the afternoon — 9.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Francesco Reita provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match13 Mar 2038
12 unbeaten for Spezia
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Spezia did not have in the autumn.
Squad15 Mar 2038
“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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
Mirko Antonucci, 39, rolls back the years — 8.03
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market15 Mar 2038
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Spezia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market15 Mar 2038
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Spezia
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Player ratings
Edoardo Morucci was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Match
Spezia make home a hard place to visit
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2038
Nicola Martinelli damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match27 Feb 2038
No mercy from Spezia
Monza will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Spezia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings1 Mar 2038
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Defences have started doubling up on Pietro Biolchi
17 goals and a season average of 7.65 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match27 Feb 2038
Still nobody has beaten Spezia
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market1 Mar 2038
David Schmid 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 Spezia can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Tempers go at Spezia
Gaetano Oristanio 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Incelli
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.07 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Tempers go at Spezia
Daniel Mikołajewski 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 Dec 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Match26 Dec 2037
Modena made Spezia work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Dec 2037
Marked 8.14 — 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.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Edoardo Morucci
5 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market28 Dec 2037
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Petko Hristov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Incelli
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings7 Dec 2037
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match5 Dec 2037
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Giovanni Bonfanti scored in the 89th minute, Venezia had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Spezia took the lot.
Squad7 Dec 2037
Filip Budimir: 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.” Spezia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Dec 2037
Tempers go at Spezia
Gaetano Oristanio 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.
Squad7 Dec 2037
Words at Spezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petko Hristov 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.
Match5 Dec 2037
Venezia made Spezia work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings7 Dec 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match5 Dec 2037
Spezia are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Incelli
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Nov 2037
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Edoardo Morucci scored in the 85th minute, Mantova had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Spezia took the lot.
Squad30 Nov 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Match28 Nov 2037
A 4‑2 win over Mantova, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Nov 2037
A season average of 7.41 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings30 Nov 2037
A performance of 9.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings30 Nov 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.98, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings30 Nov 2037
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Incelli
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
Age has not caught Denys Kuzyk yet — 8.79
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.79 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad23 Nov 2037
A one-man rearguard from Brando Dolfi
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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
A defender's goal wins it for Spezia — 7.69
1 for Petko Hristov, marked 7.69, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Tempers go at Spezia
Petko Hristov 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.
Match21 Nov 2037
3‑5 to Virtus Entella, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match21 Nov 2037
Petko Hristov among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Petko Hristov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Spezia and Virtus Entella.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Words at Spezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirko Antonucci 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
Marked 9.01 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Flavio Incelli
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Nov 2037
Spezia throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Bologna the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Spezia will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings16 Nov 2037
Age has not caught Denys Kuzyk yet — 8.50
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.50 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad16 Nov 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Nov 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spezia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Pietro Biolchi
9 goals and a season average of 7.33 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match14 Nov 2037
A 2‑2 draw with Bologna leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market16 Nov 2037
The name of Antonio Candela keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Spezia say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2037
Gaetano Oristanio damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
29 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad26 Oct 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Match24 Oct 2037
Still nobody has beaten Spezia
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2037
Gaetano Oristanio damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings19 Oct 2037
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.24, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match17 Oct 2037
Spezia strike at the death to beat Monza
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Monza had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Spezia did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Tempers go at Spezia
Gaetano Oristanio 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.
Market19 Oct 2037
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Spezia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Words at Spezia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Petko Hristov 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.
Match17 Oct 2037
Spezia get the job done against Monza
A 2‑1 win over Monza, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad19 Oct 2037
The manager makes an example of Luca Pellegrino
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2037
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2037
Gaetano Oristanio damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Two goals and a mark of 9.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad12 Oct 2037
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Age has not caught Petko Hristov yet — 8.26
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.26 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad12 Oct 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2037
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Spezia and Pescara, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Mirko Antonucci 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.
Match10 Oct 2037
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2037
Gaetano Oristanio damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad5 Oct 2037
A one-man rearguard from Brando Dolfi
There were 13 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.86, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
Defensive actions: 31. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad5 Oct 2037
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Spezia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad5 Oct 2037
Tempers go at Spezia
Gaetano Oristanio 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.
Match3 Oct 2037
A 2‑0 win over Avellino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
Ninety minutes of Edoardo Morucci at his very best
Marked 8.53. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spezia.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gaetano Oristanio
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Spezia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Sep 2037
A one-man rearguard from Brando Dolfi
There were 9 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.37 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Sep 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Match26 Sep 2037
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Spezia and Pisa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match26 Sep 2037
Spezia share the spoils with Pisa
A 3‑3 draw with Pisa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market28 Sep 2037
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Petko Hristov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2037
Gaetano Oristanio damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings21 Sep 2037
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Sep 2037
A one-man rearguard from Brando Dolfi
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.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Tempers go at Spezia
Petko Hristov 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.
Market21 Sep 2037
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Randazzo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spezia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Luigi Canali is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match19 Sep 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giovanni Bonfanti. 2‑1 against Südtirol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match19 Sep 2037
Spezia hit back inside 4 minutes
Südtirol held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Spezia answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2037
Gaetano Oristanio damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Sep 2037
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Denys Kuzyk, 35, rolls back the years — 8.47
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.47 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Sep 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Match12 Sep 2037
Pietro Biolchi scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Bari, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Ninety minutes of Pietro Biolchi at his very best
Marked 8.63. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spezia.
Market14 Sep 2037
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Spezia will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2037
Gaetano Oristanio damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 78 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
Mirko Antonucci, 38, rolls back the years — 8.67
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.67 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market31 Aug 2037
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Aug 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Mirko Antonucci 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.
Match29 Aug 2037
Cesena made Spezia work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2037
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Brando Dolfi knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Spezia, and it is a cruel one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 May 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Squad25 May 2037
“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.
Market25 May 2037
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Spezia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad25 May 2037
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market25 May 2037
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Spezia could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 May 2037
A one-man rearguard from Brando Dolfi
There were 9 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.
Market11 May 2037
“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 Spezia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 May 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Gaetano Oristanio
14 goals and a season average of 7.56 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad11 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 May 2037
Only the photograph left for Flavio Grassi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Flavio Grassi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Spezia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 May 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Player ratings11 May 2037
Pietro Biolchi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.45. 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.
Match9 May 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Daniel Mikołajewski. 2‑1 against Monza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 May 2037
A performance of 8.55 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Mar 2037
A hiding for Spezia
Beaten 1‑4 by Cagliari, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match28 Mar 2037
The wait goes on for Spezia
7 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.
Match28 Mar 2037
Spezia leaking at the back
7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad30 Mar 2037
12 goals and a season average of 7.54. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad30 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Squad30 Mar 2037
“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 ratings30 Mar 2037
Marked 8.24 — 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.
Boardroom30 Mar 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Squad2 Mar 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denys Kuzyk and Spezia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Mar 2037
15 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings2 Mar 2037
A performance of 9.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings2 Mar 2037
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Spezia.
Boardroom2 Mar 2037
Spezia release $1.0M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Match28 Feb 2037
It needed Daniel Mikołajewski to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Padova, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market2 Mar 2037
The name of Petko Hristov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Spezia say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Feb 2037
A one-man rearguard from Brando Dolfi
There were 7 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.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Tempers go at Spezia
Petko Hristov 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.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Gaetano Oristanio
10 goals and a season average of 7.53 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.94, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Denys Kuzyk 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.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
Daniel Mikołajewski was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Match21 Feb 2037
A 2‑2 draw with Reggiana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
Shots: 11. 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.
Market23 Feb 2037
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emanuele Adamo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match9 Feb 2037
Spezia refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Two goals and a mark of 9.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad9 Feb 2037
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.
Squad9 Feb 2037
The medical room confirms 40 days on the sidelines for Vincenzo Prisco, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad9 Feb 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Spezia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Feb 2037
Nobody wants to play Spezia right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Petko Hristov 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.
Match7 Feb 2037
Pisa made Spezia work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom9 Feb 2037
Cagliari will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Francesco Pistolesi has pre-agreed a move to Spezia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.