Marked for Robert Damsgaard
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Dec 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Robert Damsgaard
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brondby lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Dec 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brondby they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words exchanged at Brondby
Patrick Pentz 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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Brondby training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Curro 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 Dec 2030
Dani Raba 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 Dani Raba is on it.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
Oliver Villadsen 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.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Hojbjerg, and the manager let it.
Market23 Dec 2030
Dani Raba linked with a move away
The name of Dani Raba keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Brondby say nothing, which says plenty.
Match23 Dec 2030
Brondby have something to play for
Position 6 on 30 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Dec 2030
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Brondby lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Dec 2030
A European night to remember for Brondby
0‑0 against Malmo FF, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match14 Dec 2030
Chastening afternoon for Brondby
A 0‑4 beating by FC Nordsjaelland was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match16 Dec 2030
Full time on the season at Brondby
Position 6 on 30 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Curro 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.
Market16 Dec 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Brondby is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Oliver Villadsen 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 dugout16 Dec 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.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
The team sheet said everything about Dani Raba
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Dani Raba.
In brief
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Brondby
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Nobody on the pitch touched Marko Divković
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Dec 2030
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Brondby lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match7 Dec 2030
Brondby leave it late against AGF
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and AGF spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Market9 Dec 2030
“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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dani Raba commits to Brondby for another 2 years.
Squad9 Dec 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 Brondby this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Dec 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lebohang Mankga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brondby the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Brondby
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Curro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Dec 2030
Brondby get the job done against AGF
A 1‑0 win over AGF, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
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The dugout
The team sheet said everything about Curro
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The dugout
The form table has caught Curro
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Tahirović
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Dec 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Robert Damsgaard
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brondby lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Nov 2030
A European night to remember for Brondby
0‑0 against OH Leuven, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Market2 Dec 2030
Only the photograph left for Ernest Agyiri
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ernest Agyiri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Brondby the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Dec 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dani Raba commits to Brondby for another 2 years.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Patrick Pentz 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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Curro 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.
Match30 Nov 2030
3 matches without a goal for Brondby
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.
The dugout2 Dec 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.
Match26 Nov 2030
0‑2 to Werder Bremen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
In brief
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The dugout
The team sheet said everything about Sean Klaiber
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Curro
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The dugout
Curro has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad25 Nov 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Robert Damsgaard
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Brondby lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Nov 2030
Brondby through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Randers, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market25 Nov 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Brondby they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match23 Nov 2030
Nobody wants to play Brondby right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Curro 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 Brondby this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Nov 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.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Oliver Villadsen 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.
Match23 Nov 2030
OB made Brondby work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.