Marked for Alessandro Albertini
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The decline has begun for Luca Ferri
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Giana Erminio is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Alessandro Albertini 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Benevento left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Sodero, and the manager let it.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Wages eat 100% of everything Giana Erminio earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Alexander Zenti asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Giana Erminio's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Giana Erminio has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Ballabio, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
97% of the income goes out in wages at Giana Erminio
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.
Market2 Oct 2028
10 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match30 Sep 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Carpi defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Valerio Brutto is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces18 Sep 2028
Anger at Giana Erminio spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market18 Sep 2028
Samuele Magni 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 Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Giana Erminio's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Giana Erminio has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lecce have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Giana Erminio can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Nelli
“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 dugout18 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Sep 2028
“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.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Giana Erminio asked and Atalanta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Alessandro Albertini 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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Giana Erminio are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Giana Erminio signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
This league is too small for Elías Sapaya
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Giana Erminio will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Giana Erminio, another week without a signature from Elías Sapaya.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Apr 2028
28 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiziano Ditanto, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Agostino Rizzo 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 Agostino Rizzo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Feb 2028
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Pressure builds in the Giana Erminio boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Andrea Michieletto 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.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexander Zenti, and the manager let it.
Match26 Feb 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Vicenza leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alexander Zenti is on it.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 10. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Jan 2028
The mood at Giana Erminio has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giana Erminio have done the hard part with Cremonese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match8 Jan 2028
4 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.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Giana Erminio have gone to Sassuolo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match8 Jan 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Jan 2028
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Looking ahead10 Jan 2028
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Giana Erminio know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Apr 2027
10 matches without a win for Giana Erminio
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Giana Erminio are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Apr 2027
32 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giana Erminio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
No place for Luigi Samele on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Giana Erminio pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.31. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommaso Duca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Giana Erminio's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Giana Erminio has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Alesandro Comita and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Previtali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Federico Renda
“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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Looking ahead12 Apr 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ouseynou Sow’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Giana Erminio needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market12 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolas Previtali signs something — a contract at Giana Erminio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Mar 2027
7 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giana Erminio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Nicolas Previtali 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Giana Erminio can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Vincenzo Vitale
“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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Davide Munari
7.33, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Giana Erminio had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Match20 Mar 2027
Point won or two lost for Giana Erminio?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Arzignano? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
Luigi Samele breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
This is not rotation. Andrea Sergio Mazza has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luca Ferri and Giana Erminio agree another 2 years.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Jacopo Nelli 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Marcello Donadoni left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mohamed Malang Touré 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.