Marked for Ignacio Sarzynski
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Dec 2028
Chastening afternoon for Pisa
A 1‑5 beating by Como was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Dec 2028
“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.
Match23 Dec 2028
The wait goes on for Pisa
5 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.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
İsak Vural runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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.
Market25 Dec 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Dec 2028
The medical room confirms 35 days on the sidelines for Pietro Lovo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market27 Nov 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Pisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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.
Market27 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pisa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafiu Durosinmi, and the manager let it.
Match25 Nov 2028
Parma take the points off Pisa
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
6 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Shots: 15, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad27 Nov 2028
One booking too many, and Rafiu Durosinmi sits out. Pisa lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
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.
Market30 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pisa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Pisa
Mattéo Tramoni 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pisa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
İsak Vural runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Oct 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“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 Pisa know it.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 37 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Nobody could get near İsak Vural
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad23 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
141 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match21 Oct 2028
Three points for Pisa, 2‑0 the final word against Cagliari in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vincent Chyla, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“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 Pisa know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Simone Verdi: 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.” Pisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Sep 2028
Pisa come up short against Napoli
Napoli left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Shots: 13. 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market25 Sep 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Simone Canestrelli’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuele Angori and Pisa agree another 5 years.
Squad21 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Aug 2028
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market21 Aug 2028
The shirt still fits. Ciro Villa is back at Pisa, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market21 Aug 2028
The shirt still fits. Jacopo Catalano is back at Pisa, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market21 Aug 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Sebastiano Lombardo is a Pisa player again, and the town has its story of the summer.