Marked for Ignacio Durante
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Dec 2029
The mood at Esbjerg has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Esbjerg
Bartosz Slisz 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Esbjerg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lasse Vigen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Stefano Baraldi is on it.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
The manager makes Luc Netten a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Esbjerg. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Ignacio Durante 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.
Market31 Dec 2029
Esbjerg have let the market know Oliver Koster can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market31 Dec 2029
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Esbjerg money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Dec 2029
25 matches without a win for Esbjerg
The run now stands at 25, and the questions being asked around Esbjerg are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Esbjerg
Bartosz Slisz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Lasse Vigen 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.
Match8 Dec 2029
Aalborg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivo Gavranovic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Ignacio Durante
“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.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Esbjerg, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Esbjerg lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Esbjerg's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Esbjerg has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Esbjerg
Bartosz Slisz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Lasse Vigen 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
AGF take the points off Esbjerg
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2029
The clock did what FC Nordsjaelland would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad17 Sep 2029
9 new faces, and Esbjerg are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivo Gavranovic after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Ignacio Durante
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
$13.0K settles it between the clubs for Mathias Kristensen
SonderjyskE have accepted the money. What Esbjerg do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OB have kept their man, and Esbjerg go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Bartosz Slisz 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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2029
$460.0K was the most the club would pay and OB were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Anton Skipper 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Petar Prindzhev and Esbjerg agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market11 Jun 2029
No place for Luc Netten in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luc Netten has his answer from Esbjerg; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad11 Jun 2029
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Esbjerg are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market11 Jun 2029
The clock does Erik Frøysa’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Esbjerg could ask drops and the wages Erik Frøysa can ask rise.