Marked for Ermal Rrustemi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at SalPa
Anton Lundin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces10 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Joshué Ndakala 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“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; SalPa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.67 on the card, and the SalPa support went home talking about one name.
Market10 May 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oskari Jakonen has his answer from SalPa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout10 May 2027
No hiding place for Dionathan
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dionathan, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 May 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match8 May 2027
SalPa and JäPS cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. JäPS came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Jere Riissanen out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason SalPa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Apr 2027
Michael John 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 SalPa can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Pedro Saraiva, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Anton Lundin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Tempers go at SalPa
Anton Lundin 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Joshué Ndakala 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.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match24 Apr 2027
At last: SalPa win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against KäPa. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match24 Apr 2027
SalPa get the job done against KäPa
A 1‑0 win over KäPa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Ermal Rrustemi
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Player ratings
Gezim Voca takes the honours
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ermal Rrustemi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at SalPa
Anton Lundin 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.
Transfer targets29 Mar 2027
An offer of $15.0K for Jesse Öst
SalPa have gone to HJK with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Reino Ruponen is still paying for one afternoon at SalPa
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joshué Ndakala is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at SalPa
Anton Lundin 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ermal Rrustemi commits to SalPa for another 3 years.