Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Rareş Burnete 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.
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.
Lorenzo Bonifacio and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
“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 Südtirol know it.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Südtirol now know that too.
0‑2 to Sampdoria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Davide Veroli 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.
“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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Antonio Paganelli to a room that had heard them before.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Südtirol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Davide Veroli 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.
“I did not go to Como to sit and watch. I want to come back to Südtirol and fight for my place.” 8 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Antonio Paganelli to a room that had heard them before.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Südtirol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Südtirol told Rareş Burnete something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Filipe Bordon
The dugoutAlessio Cragno is still being punished for one mistake
Player ratingsAljoša Vasić beats them one at a time
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Südtirol will try again when the window opens; Forli may not be selling by then.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Veroli 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.
Marked 6.41 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Antonio Paganelli to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Domen Črnigoj
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Simone Tronchin's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Südtirol and Forli have settled on $72.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Südtirol until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Fiorentina is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Godoy Cruz is saying, and nobody at Südtirol is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Simone Davi 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.
Südtirol had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fiorentina, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Catanzaro scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Antonio Paganelli after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
1‑4 to Hellas Verona, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Simone Davi 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Antonio Paganelli after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Südtirol told Domen Črnigoj something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Dec 2026
Fabio Rispoli is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Südtirol will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“I watch every Südtirol game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Como runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Davide Veroli 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.
A 2‑0 win over Virtus Entella, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Virtus Entella spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Antonio Paganelli could afford to be generous.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Antonio Paganelli could afford to be generous.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Südtirol have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Virtus Entella in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Modena made Südtirol work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Masiello 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.
A mark of 7.95, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Antonio Paganelli, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Bonifacio is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Antonio Paganelli after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Modena.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Modena in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
7 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Aljoša Vasić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Südtirol needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Kevin Zeroli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Torino keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Zeroli 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Antonio Paganelli on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simone Davi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Südtirol, another week without a signature from Simone Tronchin.