Marked for Edoardo Greco
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 2028
Edoardo Greco damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
It had gone 12 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
7.82, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Lamine Ballo 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 Pergolettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Luca Roversi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Pergolettese is pretending otherwise.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filippo Doldi and Pergolettese agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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 dugout10 Apr 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pergolettese told Riccardo Stronati something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Apr 2028
12 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edoardo Greco
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pergolettese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 Apr 2028
Chastening afternoon for Pergolettese
A 0‑3 beating by Renate was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Alejandro Bua has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Pergolettese is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamine Ballo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Niccolò Corti
“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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pergolettese can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Julio Pérez in a row with a teammate
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Filippo Doldi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edoardo Greco
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pergolettese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lamine Ballo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Alan Echegaray 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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout27 Mar 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.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Renate next, and one man in the Pergolettese dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Lucio Zanelli 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.
Market27 Mar 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pergolettese has been clear about where Ferdinando Ilardi stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Mar 2028
11 matches without a win for Pergolettese
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Pergolettese are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edoardo Greco
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pergolettese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Lamine Ballo 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
1‑2 to Alcione Milano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Filippo Doldi lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alejandro Bua, and the manager let it.
Market20 Mar 2028
“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 dugout20 Mar 2028
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.