Marked for Don Bolsius
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Riccardo Ladinetti 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
12 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Luca Gemello has given nobody the chance.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Luigi Canotto 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A defender's afternoon for Iván Esculino
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Ladinetti 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Pianese made Perugia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
7.93, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Perugia had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
95% of the income goes out in wages at Perugia
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristian Dell'Orco, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Riccardo Ladinetti 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Perugia
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Perugia can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jake Waters, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Dec 2026
Perugia refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Riccardo Ladinetti 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Arezzo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Valerio Verre
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Valerio Verre has come out of that comparison in the side, and Perugia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Nov 2026
Perugia up to position 1
24 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match4 Nov 2026
Perugia out of the cup
Empoli ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.54, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Gemello, and the manager let it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Perugia hit back inside 4 minutes
Sambenedettese held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Perugia answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Nov 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joselito 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
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Perugia. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Riccardo Ladinetti 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Perugia, 1‑0 the final word against Campobasso in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.70 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Perugia had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Perugia 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Luigi Canotto 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Christian Carpentieri is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Ladinetti 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Perugia keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Match3 Oct 2026
Forli made Perugia work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
131% of the income goes out in wages at Perugia
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodrigo Trejo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giulio Baciocchi
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perugia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Sep 2026
Gubbio will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Perugia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match12 Sep 2026
Perugia 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Riccardo Ladinetti 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paolo Bartolomei, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Perugia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giulio Baciocchi
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Perugia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 2026
Bra come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Perugia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Perugia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Ladinetti 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for Perugia, 2‑1 the final word against Bra in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 18 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.