Marked for Dylan Thompson
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 2028
A move Dylan Thompson would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dylan Thompson is living that version at Rio Ave, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Apr 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 Rio Ave this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
He is 21, he is averaging 7.11, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Cezary Miszta 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.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
“I watch every Rio Ave game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vizela runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market10 Apr 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Rio Ave signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
Still no name above the door at Mainz 05
Day 41 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Nadiem Amiri in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mainz 05 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Kaishu Sano 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.
Match11 Mar 2028
Bayer Leverkusen left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Phillip Tietz
“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 ratings13 Mar 2028
Ninety minutes of Nadiem Amiri at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mainz 05.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nelson Weiper and Mainz 05 agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Paul Nebel runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch13 Mar 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Mainz 05, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
10 matches without a win for FC Augsburg
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around FC Augsburg are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Anton Kade runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FC Augsburg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Alexis Claude-Maurice 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A move Dylan Thompson would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dylan Thompson is living that version at FC Augsburg, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at FC Augsburg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keven Schlotterbeck 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 Feb 2028
SC Freiburg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market14 Feb 2028
He is 20, and nobody at FC Augsburg signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
The chances came and went for Ricardo Marín
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.