Marked for Adrian Coman
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Sep 2031
104 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 104, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Sep 2031
Pandurii are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 12 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market15 Sep 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pandurii is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Juraj Badelj 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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
The manager makes an example of Marios Ilia
“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.
Squad15 Sep 2031
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match13 Sep 2031
It needed Dragos Chiriches to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Astra, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Nov 2030
No end in sight to Pandurii's wait for a win
92 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pandurii has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Nov 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Groenbast
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pandurii lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Nov 2030
A fracture rules Adrian Coman out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pandurii will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Nov 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pandurii may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match9 Nov 2030
5 matches without a goal for Pandurii
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Florin Hagi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Nov 2030
The wait goes on for Pandurii
91 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Groenbast
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pandurii lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Nov 2030
Nowhere to hide for Pandurii
0‑5 against Dinamo Bucharest, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
A stranger takes charge at Pandurii
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A fracture rules Adrian Coman out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pandurii will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Match2 Nov 2030
Pandurii cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Juraj Badelj 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Oct 2030
90 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 90, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
The terraces28 Oct 2030
Anger at Pandurii spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad28 Oct 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Joey Groenbast
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pandurii lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Oct 2030
A one-man rearguard from Florin Hagi
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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
A fracture rules Adrian Coman out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pandurii will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Florin Hagi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Oct 2030
The wait goes on for Pandurii
89 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Joey Groenbast damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Match21 Oct 2030
Pandurii are in real trouble now
Position 10, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Oct 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pandurii may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Juraj Badelj in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2030
88 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 88, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Joey Groenbast damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 43 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Oct 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pandurii can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Juraj Badelj 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Oct 2030
87 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 87, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Joey Groenbast damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
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.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
Pressure builds in the Pandurii boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom7 Oct 2030
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pandurii can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 50 days out
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.
Match5 Oct 2030
No clean sheets in sight for Pandurii
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Teles and Pandurii agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Juraj Badelj in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Oct 2030
Andrei Dumiter scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Petrolul, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Sep 2030
The wait goes on for Pandurii
86 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces30 Sep 2030
The mood at Pandurii has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Joey Groenbast damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Match28 Sep 2030
1‑4 to CFR Cluj, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 57 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match28 Sep 2030
Pandurii leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Florin Hagi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Sep 2030
Nobody left the Pandurii dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Răzvan Creţ 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Sep 2030
The wait goes on for Pandurii
85 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Joey Groenbast damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Match23 Sep 2030
Pandurii sink to position 10
0 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match21 Sep 2030
Beaten 1‑4 by Viitorul, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 64 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Florin Hagi 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.
Match21 Sep 2030
Pandurii are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom23 Sep 2030
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Răzvan Creţ 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
Crisis
Match14 Sep 2030
84 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 84, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Joey Groenbast damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Match14 Sep 2030
Chastening afternoon for Pandurii
A 0‑3 beating by Astra was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 71 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Sep 2030
“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 Pandurii, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Sep 2030
Pandurii cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Juraj Badelj 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.
Match14 Sep 2030
No clean sheets in sight for Pandurii
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad16 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Florin Hagi, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Pandurii dressing room in a hurry
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The terraces
The spotlight tightens on Florin Hagi
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Stefan Man
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Sep 2030
No end in sight to Pandurii's wait for a win
83 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pandurii has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Sep 2030
Nowhere to hide for Pandurii
0‑5 against FCSB, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match7 Sep 2030
The goals have deserted Pandurii
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pandurii can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Florin Hagi 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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
The manager makes an example of James Gibbons
“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.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
Nobody left the Pandurii dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“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 Pandurii know it.
Market9 Sep 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Aug 2030
82 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 82, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
The terraces2 Sep 2030
The mood at Pandurii has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match31 Aug 2030
Beaten 0‑6 by Dinamo Bucharest, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 85 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Juraj Badelj 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.
Match31 Aug 2030
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pandurii and Dinamo Bucharest, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match31 Aug 2030
Pandurii cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Beaten 6 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Aug 2030
81 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 81, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
Match21 Aug 2030
Cup progress for Pandurii
A 0‑0 win over Viitorul, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match26 Aug 2030
Pandurii sink to position 10
0 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 92 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Florin Hagi is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Florin Hagi: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Juraj Badelj in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Aug 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Răzvan Creţ 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
Crisis
Match17 Aug 2030
No end in sight to Pandurii's wait for a win
79 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pandurii has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Aug 2030
Beaten 1‑4 by Voluntari, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 99 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 99 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Aug 2030
A one-man rearguard from Florin Hagi
There were 7 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.
Market19 Aug 2030
“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 Pandurii, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Florin Hagi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Aug 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marios Ilia, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Aug 2030
Nobody left the Pandurii dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings19 Aug 2030
Off the bench and decisive: Adam Zenati
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Pandurii were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Aug 2030
78 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 78, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Ciprian Iancu damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 106 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Juraj Badelj goes up and wins it — 7.76
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 7.76 for the rest of it.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Florin Hagi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Aug 2030
77 matches without a win for Pandurii
The run now stands at 77, and the questions being asked around Pandurii are no longer polite ones.
The terraces5 Aug 2030
The mood at Pandurii has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Ciprian Iancu damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Adrian Coman breaks a bone — 113 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Aug 2030
A one-man rearguard from Florin Hagi
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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Florin Hagi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Aug 2030
0‑1 to Petrolul, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market5 Aug 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joey Groenbast has his answer from Pandurii; what he does with it is the next window’s story.