Marked for Théodore Robin
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Sep 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Raffaele Alberti
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Sep 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.
Match11 Sep 2038
No mercy from Torino
Sassuolo will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torino were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
A brace, and Théodore Robin takes the afternoon — 9.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Théodore Robin provided it, and the 9.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad13 Sep 2038
A fracture rules Matteo Serra out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
Tommaso Di Marco, 35, rolls back the years — 8.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.95 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad13 Sep 2038
“The easiest signature of my career.” Enrico Peretti and Torino agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match11 Sep 2038
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torino and Sassuolo in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.59, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Raffaele Alberti
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Sep 2038
A fracture rules Matteo Serra out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad6 Sep 2038
Tempers go at Torino
Enrico Peretti 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.
Market6 Sep 2038
Théodore Robin wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Torino hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match4 Sep 2038
A bad afternoon for Torino against AS Roma
2‑3 to AS Roma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings6 Sep 2038
Marked 9.01 — 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.
Squad6 Sep 2038
Luca Pellegrini 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 ratings6 Sep 2038
Marked 8.55 — 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.
Loan watch6 Sep 2038
“I did not go to Casertana to sit and watch. I want to come back to Torino and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Raffaele Alberti
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Jul 2038
A fracture rules Matteo Serra out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Tempers go at Torino
Franco Israel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2038
Grigoris Politakis damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Squad7 Jun 2038
198 appearances across 12 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.
Market7 Jun 2038
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Torino heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Jun 2038
Tempers go at Torino
Franco Israel 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 Jun 2038
Ali Dembélé 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.
Market7 Jun 2038
Torino have made Federico Marrone available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2038
There were 14 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.
Squad10 May 2038
Grigoris Politakis damages knee ligaments — 53 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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 May 2038
2 behind and going nowhere, until Flynn Macnack decided otherwise. Inter had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Player ratings10 May 2038
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.79, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings10 May 2038
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.67, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 May 2038
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad10 May 2038
A season average of 7.50 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match8 May 2038
Three points for Torino, 5‑4 the final word against Inter in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings10 May 2038
Marked 8.84 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 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.
Squad3 May 2038
Grigoris Politakis damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Squad3 May 2038
428 appearances across 13 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.
Squad3 May 2038
14 goals and a season average of 7.47. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market3 May 2038
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Torino heard it as anything else.
Player ratings3 May 2038
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match1 May 2038
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings3 May 2038
Shots: 9, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings3 May 2038
5 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2038
Grigoris Politakis damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Squad26 Apr 2038
The match ball belongs to Tommaso Gabellini, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad26 Apr 2038
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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 Apr 2038
A season average of 7.45 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match24 Apr 2038
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torino and Napoli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings26 Apr 2038
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match24 Apr 2038
Honours even between Torino and Napoli
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings26 Apr 2038
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Player ratings26 Apr 2038
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2038
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lorenzo Torriani: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Grigoris Politakis damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Match14 Apr 2038
The cup run ends for Torino
3‑3 against AC Milan, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad19 Apr 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Match14 Apr 2038
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Torino and AC Milan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
Andrea Luongo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.95. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match17 Apr 2038
A 1‑0 win over Reggiana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
Théodore Robin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.55. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2038
Grigoris Politakis damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Squad5 Apr 2038
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.
Squad5 Apr 2038
Ali Dembélé has been here 12 seasons
289 appearances across 12 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
Age has not caught Cesare Casadei yet — 7.92
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad5 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 Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Apr 2038
Emirhan İlkhan wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Torino hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings5 Apr 2038
Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2038
Grigoris Politakis damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2038
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings29 Mar 2038
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.04 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad29 Mar 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torino may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2038
A season average of 7.48 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad29 Mar 2038
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Match27 Mar 2038
A 3‑2 win over Sassuolo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings29 Mar 2038
11 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2038
6 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Mar 2038
Cup progress for Torino
A 3‑1 win over Napoli, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings8 Mar 2038
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad8 Mar 2038
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 ratings8 Mar 2038
Age has not caught Emirhan İlkhan yet — 8.30
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match6 Mar 2038
Whatever happens, Torino do not lose
7 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.
Squad8 Mar 2038
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad8 Mar 2038
11 goals and a season average of 7.44. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad8 Mar 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luca Pellegrini and Torino agree another 2 years.
Player ratings8 Mar 2038
Théodore Robin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2038
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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2038
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.24 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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 ratings1 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad1 Mar 2038
A season average of 7.40 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Tempers go at Torino
Franco Israel 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 ratings1 Mar 2038
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.83, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match27 Feb 2038
Three points for Torino, 1‑0 the final word against Juve Stabia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings1 Mar 2038
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2038
No mercy from Torino
Palermo will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Torino were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings1 Feb 2038
Two goals and a mark of 9.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Feb 2038
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.
Squad1 Feb 2038
Saúl Coco has been here 13 seasons
419 appearances across 13 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2038
Luca Pellegrini, 38, rolls back the years — 8.27
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad1 Feb 2038
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad1 Feb 2038
Saúl Coco 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 ratings1 Feb 2038
A performance of 9.60 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market1 Feb 2038
Théodore Robin wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Torino hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2038
A brace, and Théodore Robin takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Théodore Robin provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings18 Jan 2038
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Tempers go at Torino
Franco Israel 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 Jan 2038
AS Roma made Torino work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad18 Jan 2038
8 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market18 Jan 2038
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Torino have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad18 Jan 2038
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Torino are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Loan watch18 Jan 2038
“I watch every Torino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Virtus Entella runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Franco Israel
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings4 Jan 2038
A brace, and Théodore Robin takes the afternoon — 9.63
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Théodore Robin provided it, and the 9.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad4 Jan 2038
588 appearances across 12 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2038
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad4 Jan 2038
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zakaria Aboukhlal and Torino agree another 2 years.
Market4 Jan 2038
Emirhan İlkhan wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Torino hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad4 Jan 2038
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Market4 Jan 2038
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Torino have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match2 Jan 2038
Fiorentina made Torino work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Dec 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Franco Israel
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings7 Dec 2037
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad7 Dec 2037
195 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Torino know what they have.
Player ratings7 Dec 2037
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.38 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match5 Dec 2037
Torino make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Torino have 4 straight wins of it.
Market7 Dec 2037
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 Dec 2037
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad7 Dec 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Franco Israel and Torino agree another 2 years.
Match5 Dec 2037
A 3‑1 win over Reggiana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Nov 2037
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Simone Kosijer obliged against Gubbio. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Torino.
Match4 Nov 2037
Cruel end for Gubbio as Torino pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Torino scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings9 Nov 2037
A brace, and Simone Kosijer takes the afternoon — 8.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Simone Kosijer provided it, and the 8.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad9 Nov 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad9 Nov 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Théodore Robin and Torino agree another 4 years.
Player ratings9 Nov 2037
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad9 Nov 2037
Ali Dembélé 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 ratings9 Nov 2037
Ninety minutes of Andrea Luongo at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Squad9 Nov 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Luongo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2037
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.
Squad2 Nov 2037
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad2 Nov 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Luca Pellegrini 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.
Market2 Nov 2037
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Torino heard it as anything else.
Match31 Oct 2037
Como take the points off Torino
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market2 Nov 2037
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.
Squad2 Nov 2037
Saúl Coco knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saúl Coco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch2 Nov 2037
“I watch every Torino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torres runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings2 Nov 2037
Shots: 10, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Age has not caught Jonathan Silva yet — 8.37
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match10 Oct 2037
Nobody wants to play Torino 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.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad12 Oct 2037
The manager makes an example of Saúl Coco
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2037
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrea Luongo. 2‑1 against Lecce, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Andrea Luongo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.92. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Market12 Oct 2037
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Zakaria Aboukhlal’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eddy Cabianca
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 Sep 2037
There were 9 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.
Match26 Sep 2037
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
29 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Sep 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Sep 2037
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2037
There were 12 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.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Sep 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eddy Cabianca
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Sep 2037
Torino win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. AS Roma will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
Defensive actions: 29, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Pietro Saio has been here 11 seasons
52 appearances across 11 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market7 Sep 2037
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
Defensive actions: 50, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Aug 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eddy Cabianca
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Torino lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2037
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emanuele Cassano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Torino the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Aug 2037
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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 Aug 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.79, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Aug 2037
A performance of 8.83 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match29 Aug 2037
A 2‑0 win over Cagliari, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 May 2037
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Emanuele Persano will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Torino escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Squad4 May 2037
192 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Torino know what they have.
Player ratings4 May 2037
Age has not caught Cesare Casadei yet — 7.90
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad4 May 2037
“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.
Match2 May 2037
5 matches without a win for Torino
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Torino are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 May 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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 May 2037
Saúl Coco 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.
Match2 May 2037
Torino are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings4 May 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Apr 2037
Tommaso Gabellini had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Lecce were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings27 Apr 2037
A brace, and Tommaso Gabellini takes the afternoon — 8.62
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tommaso Gabellini provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad27 Apr 2037
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.
Player ratings27 Apr 2037
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match25 Apr 2037
No end in sight to Torino's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Torino has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Apr 2037
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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 Apr 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Luca Pellegrini 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.
Match25 Apr 2037
No clean sheets in sight for Torino
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad27 Apr 2037
10 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Apr 2037
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Torino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Apr 2037
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad20 Apr 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Apr 2037
Théodore Robin scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Parma, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings20 Apr 2037
Ninety minutes of Théodore Robin at his very best
Marked 8.67. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Player ratings20 Apr 2037
Ninety minutes of Flynn Macnack at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings6 Apr 2037
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.25 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market6 Apr 2037
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad6 Apr 2037
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad6 Apr 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Apr 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 ratings6 Apr 2037
Théodore Robin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings6 Apr 2037
Ninety minutes of Flynn Macnack at his very best
Marked 8.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Squad6 Apr 2037
7 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match4 Apr 2037
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Mar 2037
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.
Market23 Mar 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.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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 Mar 2037
Saúl Coco 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.
Match21 Mar 2037
Atalanta made Torino work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
A performance of 9.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
Ninety minutes of Andrea Luongo 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 Torino.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Defences have started doubling up on Andrea Luongo
9 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
Marked 8.39 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Mar 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Age has not caught Cesare Casadei yet — 7.93
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Luca Pellegrini 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 ratings16 Mar 2037
Ninety minutes of Emirhan İlkhan at his very best
Marked 9.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Match14 Mar 2037
Three points for Torino, 2‑0 the final word against Cesena in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.51, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad16 Mar 2037
The manager makes an example of Franco Israel
“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
Squad9 Mar 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match7 Mar 2037
4 matches without a win for Torino
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Torino are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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 ratings9 Mar 2037
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Théodore Robin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad9 Mar 2037
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Torino know it.
Match7 Mar 2037
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
9 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Feb 2037
A 2-goal lead gone for Torino
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Lazio kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Torino will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Match21 Feb 2037
Torino leaking at the back
6 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.
Squad23 Feb 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Squad23 Feb 2037
No hiding place for Saúl Coco
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saúl Coco, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
A performance of 9.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad23 Feb 2037
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Torino know it.
Loan watch23 Feb 2037
“I watch every Torino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pianese runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Feb 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Match14 Feb 2037
Torino leaking at the back
5 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.
Match14 Feb 2037
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Torino and Napoli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match14 Feb 2037
Napoli left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Luca Pellegrini 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 ratings16 Feb 2037
Marked 8.64 — 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.
Player ratings16 Feb 2037
Théodore Robin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.64. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad16 Feb 2037
7 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jan 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market19 Jan 2037
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Tempers go at Torino
Zakaria Aboukhlal 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.
Market19 Jan 2037
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Saúl Coco 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.
Match17 Jan 2037
A bad afternoon for Torino against AS Roma
1‑3 to AS Roma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Jan 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Pellegrini, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Jan 2037
Ninety minutes of Tommaso Gabellini at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Torino.
Loan watch19 Jan 2037
“I watch every Torino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vis Pesaro runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Dec 2036
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.
Squad1 Dec 2036
175 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Torino know what they have.
Market1 Dec 2036
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Torino heard it as anything else.
Squad1 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Torino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saúl Coco 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 ratings1 Dec 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match29 Nov 2036
It finished 2‑1, and it was Emirhan İlkhan’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Torino.
The terraces1 Dec 2036
At 23 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 ratings1 Dec 2036
Théodore Robin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.66. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Nov 2036
Lorenzo Torriani damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Match29 Oct 2036
Torino through in the cup
A 4‑2 win over Vis Pesaro, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings3 Nov 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings3 Nov 2036
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad3 Nov 2036
543 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Torino know what they have.
Squad3 Nov 2036
“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.
Squad3 Nov 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zakaria Aboukhlal and Torino agree another 2 years.
Match1 Nov 2036
Torino cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings3 Nov 2036
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.