Marked for Simón Monterroza
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Aug 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Aug 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSIM waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persija is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Persija may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.08, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market27 Aug 2029
Diogo Brito hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Persija
Stjepan Lončar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Persija
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Radovan Pankov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Aug 2029
13 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match25 Aug 2029
A 1‑0 win over Persis, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2029
43 days out for Carlos Eduardo after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match13 Aug 2029
Persija are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 57 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
Ahmad Hardiyanto: 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.” Persija have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market13 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persija is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
A 1‑0 win over Borneo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Looking ahead13 Aug 2029
Top-of-the-table clash for Persija
Bali United next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Witan Sulaeman 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
52 days out for Rezaldi Hehanusa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.94, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Imran Musa gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Imran Musa has just signed for Persija, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaaeddine Ajaraie 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.
Match10 Feb 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexander Jeremejeff. 1‑0 against Madura United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Persija
Simón Monterroza 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
He is 20, and nobody at Persija signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Nobody at Persija 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
76 days out for Rezaldi Hehanusa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persija will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match22 Jan 2029
Persija up to position 3
60 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market22 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persija can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Jan 2029
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Persija
Alexander Jeremejeff 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Persija training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radovan Pankov 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
He is 20, and nobody at Persija signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
Jean Mota gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jean Mota is on it.
Market22 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexander Jeremejeff’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.