Marked for Valeri Nedelev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 May 2038
Beaten 3‑6 by Bologna, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad10 May 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Emanuele Giunto
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Avellino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings10 May 2038
A brace, and Luca Lattanzi takes the afternoon — 9.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luca Lattanzi provided it, and the 9.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings10 May 2038
Age has not caught Nicola Patanè yet — 8.59
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.59 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 May 2038
Spas Dimitrov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Avellino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 May 2038
“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 The request is on a desk at Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2038
Zalán Kerezsi 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.
Match8 May 2038
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Avellino and Bologna in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad10 May 2038
A season average of 7.51 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2038
There were 10 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.
Squad19 Apr 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Emanuele Giunto
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Avellino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avellino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Apr 2038
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Market19 Apr 2038
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Valerio Crespi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
The one thing Zalán Kerezsi could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Apr 2038
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market12 Apr 2038
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2038
8 goals and a season average of 7.53. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Thomas Galli 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 Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Apr 2038
Still nobody in the Avellino dugout
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2038
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match10 Apr 2038
Cremonese made Avellino work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Words at Avellino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frederik Tosku 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2038
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2038
There were 10 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.
Squad15 Mar 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avellino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Mar 2038
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Avellino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Valerio Crespi 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 terraces15 Mar 2038
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Defences have started doubling up on Frederik Tosku
6 goals and a season average of 7.43 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings8 Feb 2038
Zalán Kerezsi, 34, rolls back the years — 8.51
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.51 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad8 Feb 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Avellino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market8 Feb 2038
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Avellino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Feb 2038
10 goals and a season average of 7.55. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad8 Feb 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Avellino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luca Lattanzi commits to Avellino for another 3 years.
Boardroom8 Feb 2038
Avellino counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Avellino now.
Match6 Feb 2038
Venezia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom8 Feb 2038
Nobody left the Avellino 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2038
Avellino leaking at the back
17 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.
Match9 Jan 2038
No end in sight to Avellino's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Avellino has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings11 Jan 2038
Age has not caught Zalán Kerezsi yet — 8.78
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.78 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market11 Jan 2038
“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 Avellino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Marco Sala 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.
Match9 Jan 2038
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Avellino and Virtus Entella, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Valerio Crespi 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.
Match9 Jan 2038
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom11 Jan 2038
Avellino counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Avellino now.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2037
Avellino leaking at the back
11 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.
Boardroom7 Dec 2037
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad7 Dec 2037
A one-man rearguard from Thomas Galli
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.
Market7 Dec 2037
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2037
Valerio Crespi 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 Dec 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicola Patanè commits to Avellino for another 2 years.
Match5 Dec 2037
Frederik Tosku scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Cesena, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad7 Dec 2037
“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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2037
Ninety minutes of Frederik Tosku at his very best
Marked 8.74. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Avellino.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Nov 2037
Avellino march on in the cup
Arezzo are out and Avellino go through, 4‑4 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2037
A debut Marco Mancini will not forget — 7.69
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.69 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Player ratings9 Nov 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings9 Nov 2037
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad9 Nov 2037
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Valer Chachava: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad9 Nov 2037
A one-man rearguard from Thomas Galli
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2037
Jakub Coufal, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42
A mark of 8.42 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match7 Nov 2037
Avellino are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market9 Nov 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Avellino can pretend not to have heard.