Marked for Matteo Voltolini
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 Sep 2027
12 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Marco Piccoli 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 ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.78 — 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A masterclass from Noël Atom
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Loan watch20 Sep 2027
“I watch every Sambenedettese game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Giana Erminio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match18 Sep 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Campobasso leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad20 Sep 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Voltolini, and the manager let it.
Squad24 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sambenedettese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 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.
Squad26 Apr 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Cleiton 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match27 Mar 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation Sambenedettese did not have in the autumn.
Match27 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Sambenedettese's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sambenedettese has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Matteo Stoppa
9 goals and a season average of 7.50 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tomas Lepri 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Marked 8.94 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match20 Mar 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Sambenedettese did not have in the autumn.
Market22 Mar 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 Sambenedettese can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Mar 2027
Sambenedettese refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 46 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Sambenedettese's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sambenedettese has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.69 on the card, and the Sambenedettese support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Mar 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Sambenedettese did not have in the autumn.
Market8 Mar 2027
Tom Wingate 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 Sambenedettese can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matteo Voltolini and Sambenedettese agree another 3 years.
Squad8 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
9 goals and a season average of 7.49. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 9.14 — 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 8.18 — 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Perugia leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 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 Sambenedettese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, Sambenedettese do not lose
11 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Alessandro Dalmazzi 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
9 goals and a season average of 7.49. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.88, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad1 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
No place for Noël Atom 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 Sambenedettese pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Feb 2027
Position 1 and 42 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match20 Feb 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Noël Atom 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Matteo Stoppa
8 goals and a season average of 7.44 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A performance of 9.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.85 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match20 Feb 2027
Livorno made Sambenedettese work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match30 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Sambenedettese did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Alessandro Dalmazzi 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Giovanni Cultraro to Arzignano has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Sambenedettese with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kevin Martins is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.32 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Feb 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
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Market
The shop window has Tom Wingate in it
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Market
The window shut and Luca Lulli is still in the building
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Alessandro Dalmazzi 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.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
One of those days for Noël Atom
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market18 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Sambenedettese will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match16 Jan 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Elyh Harrison 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
The one thing Matteo Stoppa could not do
Shots: 6, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Noël Atom finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Sambenedettese have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Dec 2026
28 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sambenedettese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 168% of everything Sambenedettese 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Javi Hervás 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matteo Voltolini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
57 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Umberto Eusepi. 1‑0 against Pontedera, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Nov 2026
“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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Sambenedettese did not have in the autumn.
Squad16 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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 ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 8.00 — 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Guidonia Montecelio leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Nicolas Accoroni: 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.” Sambenedettese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alessandro Dalmazzi 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
A performance of 9.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.25 — 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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 Sambenedettese know it.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 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 Sambenedettese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
34 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.60 on the card, and the Sambenedettese support went home talking about one name.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Matteo Voltolini 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kevin Candellori 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Matteo Voltolini keeps the shirt for now, at Sambenedettese's convenience rather than his own.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sambenedettese would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.