Marked for Nicholas Callarà
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Giugliano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.65 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Crotone had the best player on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Danilo Bianco on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattia Tordini, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Crotone training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Grosso 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Crotone
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Maggio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Crotone
Cristian Andreoni 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Davide Merelli
“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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.75 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Crotone had the best player on the pitch.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Crotone are still strangers to each other
5 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Crotone share the spoils with Bari
A 1‑1 draw with Bari leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Russo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match3 Oct 2026
Antonino Musso scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Picerno, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Crotone
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Maggio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nicolò Armini 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Simone Calvano
“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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Danilo Bianco after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kevin Barcella named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kevin Barcella is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market5 Oct 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Kevin Barcella has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Crotone 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.