The Lugano Chronicle
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Naba Mensah: 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.” Lugano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market31 Dec 2035
Only the photograph left for Luka Đorđević
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Đorđević will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lugano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Andreas Horn arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Andreas Horn has, at Lugano, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad31 Dec 2035
A row about effort at Lugano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kjell Wätjen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Tempers go at Lugano
Rhodri Smith 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 Dec 2035
Noah Comert pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Joe Brayson gets it from the manager
“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.
Market31 Dec 2035
A long bet from Lugano on Andreas Horn
He is 19, and nobody at Lugano signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
- Player ratings Nobody could get near Joe Brayson
- Match Point won or two lost for Lugano?
- Looking ahead A reunion for Salvador Blopá