Marked for Antonny
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Jul 2036
Nobody wants to play Persija right now
15 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.
Squad7 Jul 2036
A season average of 7.48 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market7 Jul 2036
Terms done: Fred Conte is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Maluku Utara United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persija is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match5 Jul 2036
Another one collected away from home
8 on the bounce on the road for Persija. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The dugout7 Jul 2036
“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.
Market7 Jul 2036
Persija say no — this time
The offer from Floresta for Fabricio was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Jonathan Silva 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2036
$1.7M from the owner keeps Persija afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Squad7 Jul 2036
Thijs van Ingen 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Jun 2036
Persija make it 13 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Persija have 13 straight wins of it.
Match21 Jun 2036
Persija are at home on the road
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Market23 Jun 2036
“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 Persija, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Jun 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Jun 2036
A falling-out at Persija
Jonathan Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jun 2036
A row about effort at Persija
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs van Ingen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market23 Jun 2036
Add another name to the list: Dewa United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fred Conte. The answer from Persija has not changed — yet.
Match21 Jun 2036
Three points for Persija, 1‑0 the final word against PSBS Biak in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom23 Jun 2036
No signings allowed at Persija
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages eat 127% of everything Persija earn
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Player ratings
Antonny was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Boardroom
The Persija debt reaches $64.0M
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 May 2036
The run at home goes on for Persija
28 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match10 May 2036
Persijap will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Persija were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad12 May 2036
A season average of 7.51 with 22 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings12 May 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match10 May 2036
Persija cannot stop winning
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The dugout12 May 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Persija may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 May 2036
“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.
Market12 May 2036
Mandovani has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 May 2036
A row about effort at Persija
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Demiane Agustien was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Apr 2036
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Borneo, and it could have been more.
Match21 Apr 2036
The view from the top for Persija
31 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings21 Apr 2036
Antonny scores twice — 8.20
Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market21 Apr 2036
“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.
The dugout21 Apr 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Persija may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Iustin Doicaru
16 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match19 Apr 2036
Nobody wants to play Persija 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.
Squad21 Apr 2036
Jonathan Silva 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.
Squad21 Apr 2036
A row about effort at Persija
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Demiane Agustien was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Apr 2036
30 unbeaten for Persija
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 30 matches without defeat is a foundation Persija did not have in the autumn.
Match12 Apr 2036
Persija make home a hard place to visit
26 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market14 Apr 2036
Mandovani has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persija they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persija this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thijs van Ingen 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.
Match12 Apr 2036
It finished 2‑0, and it was Jonathan Silva’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Persija.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Antonny wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persija know it.
Market14 Apr 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Persija, another week without a signature from Iustin Doicaru.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Mar 2036
Nobody wants to play Persija right now
13 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.
Match8 Mar 2036
Arema will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Persija were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.89, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match8 Mar 2036
Persija are at home on the road
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad10 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Persija
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Demiane Agustien was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Mar 2036
Antonny has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Persija can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Marked 8.32 — 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 ratings10 Mar 2036
Marked 8.10 — 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 ratings10 Mar 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Boardroom
The borrowing at Persija reaches $61.6M
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Jevon Simons
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Squad
A falling-out at Persija
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2034
Emiliano Buendía damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Market20 Nov 2034
Antonny puts it in writing
“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 Brentford, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Nov 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Brentford this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alejandro Garnacho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Brentford are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Brentford will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market20 Nov 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Brentford, another week without a signature from Joachim Djamba-Shango.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2034
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Divin Mubama’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Brentford needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Nobody at Brentford 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Oct 2034
Emiliano Buendía damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Market23 Oct 2034
Antonny puts it in writing
“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 Brentford, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words exchanged at Brentford
Ricardo Pădurariu 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Ibragimov, and the manager let it.
Match21 Oct 2034
A 2‑0 win over Aston Villa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match21 Oct 2034
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Aston Villa tried to reorganise, Brentford did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings23 Oct 2034
Lisav Eissat was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words at Brentford training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Kovalenko 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
Amir Ibragimov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.