Marked for Robert Ristoiu
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Nov 2033
13 matches without a win for Petrolul
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Petrolul are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Nov 2033
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Nov 2033
A fracture rules Gino Verhulst out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Nov 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Robert Ristoiu and Petrolul agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Nov 2033
A falling-out at Petrolul
Andrei Vlad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Nov 2033
3 matches without a goal for Petrolul
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings14 Nov 2033
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.
Match12 Nov 2033
Dinamo Bucharest left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Nov 2033
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Nov 2033
No end in sight to Petrolul's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Petrolul has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Nov 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cristian Costin
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Nov 2033
49 days out for Gino Verhulst after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Petrolul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad7 Nov 2033
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matteo Duţu commits to Petrolul for another 4 years.
Squad7 Nov 2033
Andrei Vlad 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 Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Nov 2033
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Nov 2033
The manager makes an example of Robert Ristoiu
“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 dugout7 Nov 2033
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout7 Nov 2033
Jesús Velasco knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jesús Velasco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Oct 2033
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match29 Oct 2033
The wait goes on for Petrolul
11 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.
Squad31 Oct 2033
A fracture rules Gino Verhulst out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings31 Oct 2033
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad31 Oct 2033
A falling-out at Petrolul
Robert Ristoiu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Oct 2033
A row about effort at Petrolul
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Kamara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Oct 2033
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout31 Oct 2033
Jesús Velasco 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 Petrolul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 Oct 2033
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Petrolul know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Oct 2033
Cristian Costin damages knee ligaments — 69 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Squad10 Oct 2033
A fracture rules Gino Verhulst out for 77 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match8 Oct 2033
No end in sight to Petrolul's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Petrolul has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Oct 2033
Mohammed Kamara 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.
Squad10 Oct 2033
Words exchanged at Petrolul
Florin Ştefan 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.
Match8 Oct 2033
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 Oct 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robert Ristoiu, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Oct 2033
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout10 Oct 2033
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Oct 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cristian Costin
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Petrolul lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 Oct 2033
84 days out for Gino Verhulst after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Petrolul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match1 Oct 2033
No end in sight to Petrolul's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Petrolul has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Oct 2033
Andrei Vlad 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.
Squad3 Oct 2033
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Player ratings3 Oct 2033
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match1 Oct 2033
Petrolul rescue it on 93 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Botosani had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings3 Oct 2033
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Oct 2033
It needed James Balagizi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Botosani, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Robert Ristoiu does not fit this one
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Market
The Matteo Duţu talk will not go away
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Sep 2033
83 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Sep 2033
A fracture rules Gino Verhulst out for 91 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2033
Petrolul sink to position 9
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market26 Sep 2033
“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.
Match24 Sep 2033
6 matches without a win for Petrolul
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Petrolul are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Sep 2033
A falling-out at Petrolul
Mohammed Kamara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Sep 2033
Gino Verhulst has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings26 Sep 2033
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Sep 2033
Voluntari left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Sep 2033
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 Sep 2033
98 days out for Gino Verhulst after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Petrolul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout19 Sep 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Petrolul may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Sep 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match17 Sep 2033
No end in sight to Petrolul's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Petrolul has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Sep 2033
A falling-out at Petrolul
Andrei Vlad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Sep 2033
1‑2 to Universitatea Craiova, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match19 Sep 2033
The half-term report on Petrolul
Position 7, 8 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout19 Sep 2033
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Sep 2033
Cristian Costin damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Squad12 Sep 2033
105 days out for Gino Verhulst after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Petrolul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Sep 2033
“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 Petrolul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Sep 2033
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match10 Sep 2033
No end in sight to Petrolul's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Petrolul has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Sep 2033
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Petrolul can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad12 Sep 2033
Words exchanged at Petrolul
Robert Ristoiu 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.
Match10 Sep 2033
The goals have deserted Petrolul
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Petrolul can tell you which week it ends in.
Match10 Sep 2033
Dinamo Bucharest left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Robert Ristoiu
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Looking ahead
Petrolul take on the side everybody is chasing
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Aug 2033
Gino Verhulst breaks a bone — 133 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Aug 2033
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Petrolul lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match13 Aug 2033
Amadou Diallo wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Amadou Diallo found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and FCSB went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings15 Aug 2033
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad15 Aug 2033
Mohammed Kamara 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.
Squad15 Aug 2033
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Match13 Aug 2033
It finished 2‑1, and it was Amadou Diallo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Petrolul.
The dugout15 Aug 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robert Ristoiu, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets15 Aug 2033
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jul 2033
Yannick Semedo damages knee ligaments — 156 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 156 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.
Squad18 Jul 2033
A fracture rules Adrian Moldovan out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Petrolul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets18 Jul 2033
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ferencvaros is saying, and nobody at Petrolul is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jul 2033
Andrei Vlad 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.
Squad18 Jul 2033
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed Kamara 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.
Market18 Jul 2033
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Petrolul, another week without a signature from Robert Ristoiu.
Transfer targets18 Jul 2033
A loan move for Michael Kühnel is in the works
Petrolul have made the call to Mlada Boleslav. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market18 Jul 2033
The name of Mohammed Kamara keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Petrolul say nothing, which says plenty.
Looking ahead18 Jul 2033
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Voluntari in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2032
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CFR Cluj waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Universitatea Craiova is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 2032
The offer from Pandurii for Robert Ristoiu 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.
Market21 Jun 2032
“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 Universitatea Craiova, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Daniel Gore 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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Words at Universitatea Craiova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Amatucci 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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
The medical room confirms 43 days on the sidelines for Cristian Burca, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
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