Marked for Thomas Walker
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings12 Nov 2040
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad12 Nov 2040
David López Pinto 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.
Match10 Nov 2040
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Ingi Arnarsson 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.
Squad12 Nov 2040
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David López Pinto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Nov 2040
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thomas Walker, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces23 Apr 2040
Anger at Cosenza 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.
Squad23 Apr 2040
David López Pinto 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.
Squad23 Apr 2040
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Ingi Arnarsson 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 ratings23 Apr 2040
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.64 on the card, and the Cosenza support went home talking about one name.
Match21 Apr 2040
A 1‑1 draw with Catania leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad23 Apr 2040
The manager makes an example of Thomas Walker
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Mar 2040
Anger at Cosenza 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.
Squad26 Mar 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market26 Mar 2040
“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.
Squad26 Mar 2040
Nicolò Contiliano 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.
Squad26 Mar 2040
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Ingi Arnarsson 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.
Match24 Mar 2040
A 1‑1 draw with Audace Cerignola leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad26 Mar 2040
“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 ratings26 Mar 2040
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market26 Mar 2040
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Raul Bezeljak’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Oct 2039
David López Pinto damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Match22 Oct 2039
No end in sight to Cosenza's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cosenza has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Oct 2039
There were 6 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.
Squad24 Oct 2039
Gonzalo Ramírez 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.
Squad24 Oct 2039
The manager makes an example of Mikey Allen
“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.
Player ratings24 Oct 2039
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings24 Oct 2039
A defender's afternoon for Mio Vikström
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings24 Oct 2039
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Match22 Oct 2039
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Foggia defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Sep 2039
David López Pinto damages knee ligaments — 100 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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 Sep 2039
Cosenza bow out of the cup
Ravenna go through and Cosenza go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad26 Sep 2039
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Sep 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Sep 2039
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match24 Sep 2039
Cavese left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Aug 2039
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Squad1 Aug 2039
Diego Ragone 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.
Squad1 Aug 2039
134 appearances across 10 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.
Market1 Aug 2039
“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 Cosenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Aug 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Aug 2039
The clock does Danil Krylov’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Cosenza could ask drops and the wages Danil Krylov can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom18 Apr 2039
Pressure builds in the Cosenza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Apr 2039
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Apr 2039
Cosenza win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Latina will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad18 Apr 2039
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.
Player ratings18 Apr 2039
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match16 Apr 2039
The run at home goes on for Cosenza
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad18 Apr 2039
Nicolò Contiliano 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.
Match16 Apr 2039
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexander Ingi Arnarsson. 3‑2 against Latina, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings18 Apr 2039
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Apr 2039
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.
Squad11 Apr 2039
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Apr 2039
“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.
Market11 Apr 2039
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.
Squad11 Apr 2039
Andrea Rizzo Pinna 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 ratings11 Apr 2039
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Apr 2039
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 Apr 2039
A 2‑2 draw with Crotone leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market11 Apr 2039
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cosenza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2039
A fracture rules Jokūbaz Mažionis out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cosenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad31 Jan 2039
David López Pinto 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.
Squad31 Jan 2039
Andrea Rizzo Pinna 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.
Player ratings31 Jan 2039
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom31 Jan 2039
Cosenza are $38.5M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Match29 Jan 2039
It needed Tomás Silva to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sorrento, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad31 Jan 2039
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Isak Rekstad-Johnsen, and the manager let it.
Market31 Jan 2039
Siracusa are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Cosenza will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings31 Jan 2039
Shots: 7, 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
Squad24 Jan 2039
A fracture rules Jokūbaz Mažionis out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cosenza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom24 Jan 2039
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Cosenza
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Jan 2039
“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 Cosenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Jan 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cosenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2039
Words at Cosenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Rizzo Pinna 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.
Boardroom24 Jan 2039
150% of the income goes out in wages at Cosenza
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad24 Jan 2039
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elia Petrelli, and the manager let it.
Match22 Jan 2039
Monopoli left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom24 Jan 2039
No signings allowed at Cosenza
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.