Marked for Thijs Dallinga
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Nov 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Remo Freuler 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Thijs Dallinga
“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.
Match13 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Casertana to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bologna and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Lewis Ferguson 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 Lewis Ferguson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Nov 2027
The Martin Vitík story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Martin Vitík signs something — a contract at Bologna or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
12 starts and a season average of 6.78. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tommaso Pobega: 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.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Jens Odgaard 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
It needed Benjamín Domínguez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Atalanta, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market11 Oct 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Martin Vitík’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
João Mário spends the afternoon fouling
Fouls conceded: 5. He was booked, he was fortunate not to be booked twice, and the referee had run out of patience long before the end.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 50. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thijs Dallinga
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Remo Freuler commits to Bologna for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Oct 2027
João Mário 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 Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A move Sergey Makarov would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sergey Makarov is living that version at Bologna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Bologna, and 1 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Match2 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Cagliari will be the happier side with the point.
Market4 Oct 2027
No fee and no drama: Sergey Makarov has signed at Bologna, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thijs Dallinga
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Jens Odgaard 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 ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tommaso Corazza is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
A 2‑1 win over Fiorentina, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Antonio Raimondo 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 ratings27 Sep 2027
Diego Moreira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Pro Vercelli to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bologna and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Felipe Loyola: 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.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonio Raimondo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thijs Dallinga and Bologna agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch20 Sep 2027
“I watch every Bologna game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Casertana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market20 Sep 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Benjamín Domínguez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market20 Sep 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Niklas Pyyhtiä may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thijs Dallinga
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
Juan Miranda 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 Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad13 Sep 2027
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match11 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Bologna against Lazio
0‑1 to Lazio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Bologna, and 2 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
Market13 Sep 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Torbjørn Heggem has his answer from Bologna; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thijs Dallinga
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match4 Sep 2027
4‑1, and Diego Moreira took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Bologna tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market6 Sep 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Palermo moved on, Benjamín Domínguez reports back to Bologna, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Lewis Ferguson pops up at the right end — 7.94
7.94, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market6 Sep 2027
Nicolò Cambiaghi 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 Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market6 Sep 2027
Modena pay $1.6M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Jens Odgaard in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Aug 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 66 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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 ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Benjamín Domínguez is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Jens Odgaard 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Palermo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Benjamín Domínguez. The answer from Bologna has not changed — yet.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Loyola wants continental football; whether Bologna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Loan watch30 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Triestina to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bologna and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.22 on the card, and the Bologna support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Aug 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 75 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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 ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market23 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bologna have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antonio Raimondo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolò Cambiaghi 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Bologna
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market23 Aug 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Antonio Greco is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market23 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giacomo Sartori has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: OB have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thijs Dallinga. The answer from Bologna has not changed — yet.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Jens Odgaard 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Lewis Ferguson has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Loan watch16 Aug 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Bologna, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 89 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jens Odgaard in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Ebone is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thijs Dallinga
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Pressure builds in the Bologna boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad2 Aug 2027
325 appearances across 8 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The Bologna 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Riccardo Orsolini 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
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thijs Dallinga
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market26 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Bologna did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jul 2027
“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 Bologna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Jens Odgaard in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jul 2027
Bologna may not be able to give Emil Holm what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emil Holm wants continental football; whether Bologna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Riccardo Orsolini 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 112 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bologna may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Jens Odgaard 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Loan watch19 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Casertana to sit and watch. I want to come back to Bologna and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Market19 Jul 2027
Triestina are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Bologna will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 119 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Carpi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bologna did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jul 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolò Cambiaghi 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Business is business: Max Anastasio goes
Gubbio paid $290.0K and Bologna took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jul 2027
Thijs Dallinga damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The Bologna 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Jens Odgaard 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bologna heard it as anything else.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Farès Bousnina is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thijs Dallinga
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bologna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bologna can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jun 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolò Cambiaghi wants continental football; whether Bologna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
“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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market21 Jun 2027
The fee is $3.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sampdoria drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A move Simone Ghidotti would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Simone Ghidotti is living that version at Bologna, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Riccardo Orsolini 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Nicolò Cambiaghi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bologna have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market7 Jun 2027
Nicolò Cambiaghi 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 Bologna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Riccardo Orsolini 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 2027
Remo Freuler 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“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
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match13 Mar 2027
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Thijs Dallinga decided nobody was going anywhere. Torino had no time left to answer.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Remo Freuler 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
6 unbeaten for Bologna
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Bologna did not have in the autumn.
Match13 Mar 2027
Torino made Bologna work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.89 on the card, and the Bologna support went home talking about one name.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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
Uneasy
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Mar 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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Mar 2027
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Remo Freuler 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommaso Pobega 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 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Matías Ocampo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bologna will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Jhon Lucumí spends the afternoon fouling
Fouls conceded: 7. He was booked, he was fortunate not to be booked twice, and the referee had run out of patience long before the end.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Nov 2026
Bologna through in the cup
A 3‑0 win over Potenza, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bologna have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match7 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Bologna do not lose
9 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.
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 Bologna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Bologna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Remo Freuler 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 Nov 2026
At 20 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Bologna make home a hard place to visit
8 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.