Marked for Isaque Sousa Monte
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Castellón
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Castellón is running low.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Jérémy Mellot 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Isaque Sousa Monte is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
A brace, and Ousmane Camara takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ousmane Camara provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tropi: 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.” Castellón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Marc Bartra 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 Castellón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Isaque Sousa Monte is living that version at Castellón, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Awer Mabil 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
The phone has started ringing about Pape Sy again, and this time the name on the line is Oviedo. Castellón are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match22 Jan 2028
Málaga made Castellón work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market24 Jan 2028
Castellón have made Israel Suero available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
In brief
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Player ratings
An afternoon Sky Heesen will want back
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Player ratings
Awer Mabil could not find anything
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The terraces
Everybody has an opinion about Raúl Sánchez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Excelsior 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Excelsior may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Ro-Zangelo Daal 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
3 matches without a goal for Excelsior
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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lennard Hartjes, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rainey Breinburg 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 ratings1 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match30 Oct 2027
Point won or two lost for Excelsior?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Twente? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Excelsior's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Excelsior has to find a result from somewhere.
Match6 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted Excelsior
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Excelsior can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Martijn Berden commits to Excelsior for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Lewis Schouten 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stijn van Gassel, and the manager let it.
Match6 Mar 2027
0‑2 to ADO Den Haag, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Feb 2027
“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.
Match20 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Excelsior
6 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Excelsior may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match20 Feb 2027
The goals have deserted Excelsior
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Excelsior can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noah Naujoks, and the manager let it.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Kelvin Neijenhuis 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2026
The small margins put Excelsior out
Out, 0‑1 to Ajax, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A first appearance Isaque Sousa Monte will want to forget — 5.75
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.75, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Gyan de Regt’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Excelsior.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Szymon Włodarczyk has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Gyan de Regt was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.74. 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Szymon Włodarczyk at his very best
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Excelsior.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Kasey Bos
“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.