Marked for Facundo Álvez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Mar 2029
6 matches without a win for Arsenal
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Arsenal are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nahuel Pezzini commits to Arsenal for another 2 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Arsenal
Nahuel Pezzini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Mar 2029
A bad afternoon for Arsenal against Quilmes
0‑2 to Quilmes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Iván Peralta gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Alexis Vega 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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
The game went through Alexis Vega — 6.66
Marked 6.66 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Market5 Mar 2029
“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 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Miguel Ángel Ojeda left the room before anybody could ask which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Arsenal
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market22 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arsenal people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market22 Jan 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
$410.0K on the table at San Telmo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Lautaro Brienzo 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Arsenal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Vila was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Arsenal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Alexis Vega is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Arsenal know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with San Lorenzo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Arsenal asked and Villa San Carlos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Temperley have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market15 Jan 2029
San Martín are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Arsenal will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market15 Jan 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rafael Xavier has his answer from Arsenal; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market15 Jan 2029
The Matías Sosa story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matías Sosa signs something — a contract at Arsenal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
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 Julián Lobelos is on it.
Market15 Jan 2029
Arsenal have made Matías Sosa available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Dec 2028
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market11 Dec 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arsenal people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Julián Vila has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets11 Dec 2028
The deal with Alvarado is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Vila 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.
Transfer targets11 Dec 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferro Carril Oeste have kept their man, and Arsenal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Dec 2028
Matías Sosa linked with a move away
The name of Matías Sosa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Arsenal say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Noah Vázquez has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Arsenal can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Dec 2028
“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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Arsenal
Lautaro Brienzo 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 Dec 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Vega and Arsenal agree another 2 years.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Lautaro Aguirre has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Arsenal is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Tellas 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.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
Ferro Carril Oeste have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
A loan enquiry to Tristán Suárez: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Oct 2028
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad23 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Arsenal
Facundo Álvez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Arsenal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Tellas 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 dugout23 Oct 2028
Matteo Trombini asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market23 Oct 2028
The Julián Vila story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julián Vila signs something — a contract at Arsenal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The terraces23 Oct 2028
Supporters make their feelings known about Nahuel Pezzini
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Arsenal would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.