Marked for Luis Castillo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 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 The request is on a desk at Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Máximo Mendoza 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
The manager makes an example of Eduardo Simo
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Sep 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal has to find a result from somewhere.
Match7 Sep 2030
Whatever happens, Arsenal do not lose
19 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market9 Sep 2030
Luis Castillo 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 Arsenal can pretend not to have heard.
Match7 Sep 2030
Arsenal make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad9 Sep 2030
“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.
Match7 Sep 2030
3 matches without a goal for Arsenal
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings9 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Sep 2030
The manager makes an example of Santino Coronel
“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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Too much change too quickly at Arsenal
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Aug 2030
The wait goes on for Arsenal
14 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.
Match31 Aug 2030
18 unbeaten for Arsenal
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 18 matches without defeat is a foundation Arsenal did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market2 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 Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexis Vega and Arsenal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Leiner Lobo 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 Arsenal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market2 Sep 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Arsenal, another week without a signature from Luis Castillo.
Squad2 Sep 2030
The manager's exit leaves Alexis Vega exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Alexis Vega is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Aug 2030
No end in sight to Arsenal's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal has to find a result from somewhere.
Match3 Aug 2030
Whatever happens, Arsenal do not lose
14 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
Agustín Bianchi 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.
Market5 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 Arsenal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Lucas Juan has been here 9 seasons
29 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad5 Aug 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Agustín Morel and Arsenal agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Aug 2030
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.
Market5 Aug 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.
Squad5 Aug 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Arsenal told Eduardo Simo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Mar 2030
Nowhere to hide for Llaneros
1‑4 against Metropolitanos, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Richard Osorio 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.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom18 Mar 2030
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad18 Mar 2030
José Ferrer 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
José Ferrer 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Mar 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Restrepo
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Mar 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 Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Mar 2030
Only the photograph left for Luis Castillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Castillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match2 Mar 2030
Llaneros 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Mar 2030
José Ferrer 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
Market4 Feb 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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Feb 2030
Luis Castillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diego Castillo and Llaneros agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Darwin Herrera 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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Murillo 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
Uneasy
Match7 Jan 2030
Llaneros sink to position 14
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market7 Jan 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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jan 2030
Luis Castillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market7 Jan 2030
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Darwin Herrera 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Jesús Chima 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
Uneasy
Squad10 Dec 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Julian Restrepo
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match10 Dec 2029
Every point is an argument now for Llaneros
Position 14 and 21 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Juan Ramirez breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Dec 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 Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Dec 2029
Only the photograph left for Luis Castillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Castillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luis Castillo has agreed terms with Estudiantes de Caracas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Oct 2029
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
Pressure builds in the Llaneros boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad29 Oct 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jesús Villarroel
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Sep 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Cristian Murillo 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
The terraces18 Dec 2028
Anger at Llaneros 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fernando Moreno
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A season's verdict on Fernando Moreno: the best of his age
Llaneros have a 20-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
Market18 Dec 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Dec 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Llaneros will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Pressure builds in the Llaneros boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match27 Nov 2028
Every point is an argument now for Llaneros
Position 14 and 27 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market27 Nov 2028
“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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Cristian Murillo 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Llaneros told Luis Castillo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.