Marked for Tomás Viegas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
The knee: Tomás Viegas out for 18 days
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Oct 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market4 Oct 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Nobody could get near Makan Aïko
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Lucas Salinas: 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.” Tondela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomané and Tondela agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match2 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Sporting CP B, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Allan Sousa
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The form table has caught Bebeto
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Market
Makan Aïko linked with a move away
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
The knee: Tomás Viegas out for 25 days
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market27 Sep 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Makan Aïko runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Sep 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 Tondela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match25 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Henry Addo. 2‑0 against Felgueiras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Hugo Félix was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
The knee: Tomás Viegas out for 34 days
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad20 Sep 2027
90 days out for Hélder Tavares after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tondela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market20 Sep 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Makan Aïko beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Vintage Tomané — 7.84
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.84, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Tondela
Rony Lopes 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
The window shuts on the Cristian deal
Tondela ran out of time with Santa Clara. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Matías Lacava
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces13 Sep 2027
Supporters organise against the Tondela board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The knee: Tomás Viegas out for 41 days
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tondela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad13 Sep 2027
97 days out for Hélder Tavares after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tondela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Sep 2027
“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 Tondela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The window shuts on the Lucas Duarte deal
Tondela ran out of time with Felgueiras. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Tondela
Rony Lopes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Nobody could get near Joe Hodge
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 25 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.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.