Marked for Sander Meling
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Age has not caught Máximo Alonso yet — 7.92
At 33 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.
Market3 Mar 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Torres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The Torres board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Okereke and Torres agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Tempers go at Torres
Federico Baschirotto 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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Words at Torres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Alonso 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.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The owner puts $1.3M into Torres
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Match1 Mar 2036
Uroš Zdjelarić scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Ascoli, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Feb 2036
Still nobody has beaten Torres
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market4 Feb 2036
The deal that would have taken Mohamed Bakhkhach to Frosinone has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Torres with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad4 Feb 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Torres may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Age has not caught David Okereke yet — 7.90
At 38 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.
Market4 Feb 2036
“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.
Match2 Feb 2036
Torres keep winning on the road
6 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Tempers go at Torres
Máximo Alonso 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 Feb 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Uroš Zdjelarić commits to Torres for another 4 years.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Words at Torres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Dec 2035
A fracture rules Kevin Moressa out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
A brace, and Máximo Alonso takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Máximo Alonso provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market24 Dec 2035
Brian Leizza has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Torres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Dec 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torres can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words at Torres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
Match22 Dec 2035
6 unbeaten for Torres
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Torres did not have in the autumn.
Squad24 Dec 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Sep 2035
A fracture rules Kevin Moressa out for 123 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Sep 2035
Cup progress for Torres
A 1‑0 win over Guidonia Montecelio, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match22 Sep 2035
Uroš Zdjelarić had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Ravenna were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad24 Sep 2035
The match ball belongs to Uroš Zdjelarić, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Joaquín Galarza: 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.” Torres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Sander Meling, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
David Okereke, 38, rolls back the years — 7.94
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Tempers go at Torres
David Okereke 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 ratings24 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Aug 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom6 Aug 2035
The numbers do not look good at Torres
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad6 Aug 2035
199 appearances across 9 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.
Squad6 Aug 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Okereke and Torres agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Aug 2035
Sander Meling is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market6 Aug 2035
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jul 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 124 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom9 Jul 2035
The numbers do not look good at Torres
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market9 Jul 2035
Ricardo Lopes hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torres can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Jul 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cristian Fabriani commits to Torres for another 4 years.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Tempers go at Torres
David Okereke 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 Jul 2035
Sander Meling is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Apr 2035
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Bra, and it could have been more.
Market9 Apr 2035
“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 Torres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
A brace, and Uroš Zdjelarić takes the afternoon — 8.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Uroš Zdjelarić provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
David Okereke, 37, rolls back the years — 8.32
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.32 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
No sign of nerves from Sander Meling at 20 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sander Meling did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Tempers go at Torres
Francesco Corsinelli 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 Apr 2035
Words at Torres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces9 Apr 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Sander Meling has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Nov 2034
Nobody wins at Torres
32 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Ionuţ Gurău is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ionuţ Gurău: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match1 Nov 2034
Cup progress for Torres
A 1‑1 win over Pisa, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad6 Nov 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Nov 2034
Torres are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 22 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings6 Nov 2034
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings6 Nov 2034
Sander Meling, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market6 Nov 2034
Danilo Lucas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Torres can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Nov 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francesco Corsinelli and Torres agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Oct 2034
Torres make home a hard place to visit
31 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad30 Oct 2034
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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2034
Torres counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Torres now.
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
David Okereke, 37, rolls back the years — 8.46
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.46 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market30 Oct 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Torres is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Sander Meling: 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.” Torres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Oct 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Words at Torres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Baschirotto 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.
Match28 Oct 2034
Torres get the job done against Ascoli
A 2‑1 win over Ascoli, 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
Match23 Sep 2034
Torres make home a hard place to visit
28 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match20 Sep 2034
Torres through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Ospitaletto, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
A brace, and Sander Meling takes the afternoon — 7.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sander Meling provided it, and the 7.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
Nathan Fisher, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.02
A mark of 8.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad25 Sep 2034
“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.
Market25 Sep 2034
“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 Torres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Sep 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2034
Nobody wins at Torres
25 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Aug 2034
“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 Torres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Aug 2034
Whatever happens, Torres do not lose
8 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.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Tempers go at Torres
David Okereke 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.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Sander Meling is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Federico Baschirotto 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 ratings28 Aug 2034
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Aug 2034
A 1‑1 draw with Ternana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Jul 2034
A fracture rules Danilo Lucas out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Torres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Jul 2034
“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 Torres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jul 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Torres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2034
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sander Meling is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Jul 2034
Máximo Alonso 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.
Market31 Jul 2034
The name of Santino Cambiasso has come up in conversations Torres were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.