Marked for Nicolas Idemudia
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market22 Oct 2029
Paul Diomandé 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 Mantova can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Oct 2029
Nobody wants to play Mantova right now
4 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.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“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.
Market22 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mantova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Oct 2029
Three points for Mantova, 2‑0 the final word against Juve Stabia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Antonio Fiori was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. 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.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Francesco Bardi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mantova is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market10 Sep 2029
“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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at Mantova
Alessio Castellini 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
Mantova asked and Reggiana 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 dugout10 Sep 2029
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match8 Sep 2029
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 dugout10 Sep 2029
Antonio Fiori 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 Mantova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alessandro Gallo was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Mantova dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Apr 2029
0‑3 to Monza, 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.
Market30 Apr 2029
“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 Mantova, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mantova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad30 Apr 2029
The medical room confirms 71 days on the sidelines for Tommaso Marras, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Radaelli, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Mantova
Franco Pastrana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
Doors closed at Mantova
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
Uneasy
Match10 Mar 2029
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Mantova scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market12 Mar 2029
“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 Mantova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Jesús Figueroa: 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.” Mantova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match10 Mar 2029
Catanzaro made Mantova work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Marked 7.66 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Mantova had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
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.” Carlo Sala, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“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
Steady
The terraces15 Jan 2029
The mood at Mantova 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.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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.
Market15 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Genoa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mantova is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mantova may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Jan 2029
Lazio pay $600.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match13 Jan 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Tommaso Marras’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Mantova.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Ettore Gliozzi, 33, rolls back the years — 8.41
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.41 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Mantova
Fahem Benaïssa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Nov 2028
Südtirol made Mantova work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Carlo Sala on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Idemudia, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead13 Nov 2028
A test against the best for Mantova
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Frosinone.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Tommaso Marras has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mantova will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.