Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bhayangkara Presisi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at PSM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alisher Shukurov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
PSM asked and Brusque said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; PSM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alisher Shukurov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Niina Tominaga
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaiah Alakiu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Yoav Dejaldeti 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Idan Tairi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aloísio Soares signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Jawad Kadah has written the date down.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Victor Luiz 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
Jawad Kadah is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alisher Shukurov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Persija defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Victor Luiz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaiah Alakiu 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $420.8K of what PSM paid for Witan Sulaeman is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at PSM until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jawad Kadah has just signed for PSM, and for once the answer mattered.
Aloísio Soares 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; PSM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every PSM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Persebaya runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Persebaya for Sudi Abdallah 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.
The offer went to Bhayangkara Presisi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Mauro Zijlstra 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alisher Shukurov 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ron Rubin is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Idan Tairi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bhayangkara Presisi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Čumić signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Iftach Sigler is living that version at PSM, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match17 Mar 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for PSM. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ricky Pato kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Gledson 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.
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad18 Sep 2028
6 new faces, and PSM are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutHilman Syah knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Stan Bouwens
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.72 for the rest of it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; PSM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Sudi Abdallah 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dušan Lagator was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Witan Sulaeman was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.