Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Justiniano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Giugliano will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Monopoli in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salvatore La Vardera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Giugliano 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giugliano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Giugliano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Giugliano can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Flavio Tagliabue was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Giugliano dressing room was either.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Giugliano
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Marco Caldore
“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 The request is on a desk at Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Giugliano will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cesena keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Luca Bonassi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Giugliano have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nicola Trevisan has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giugliano can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jeison Valdiviezo is living that version at Giugliano, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Borello 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.
Jeison Valdiviezo is 20, and Giugliano have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
In brief
SquadWords at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Position 16 on 25 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Borello 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.
Luigi D'Avino 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.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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.” Nicola Trevisan chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Something was said to Luigi D'Avino and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The mood at Giugliano 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.
“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 Giugliano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Riccardo Improta 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luciano Peluso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Potenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Giuliano Laezza 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 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Giugliano pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leonardo Bruno after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Roberto Ogunseye has come out of that comparison in the side, and Giugliano have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Pedro Justiniano 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Borello 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 dugout15 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 Leonardo Bruno to a room that had heard them before.
Something was said to Ciro Panico and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Stefano Greco is on it.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Catania were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The deal with Mantova 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.
Giuliano Laezza 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jérémie Broh. 1‑0 against Catania, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Borello 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibourahima Baldé, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Leonardo Bruno kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto Ogunseye provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deal with Cesena 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.
Stefano Greco 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.
Giugliano asked and Castellón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuseppe Borello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 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 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.
41 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 Leonardo Bruno to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Giugliano told Luciano Peluso something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Borello 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.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giugliano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuliano Laezza 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefano Cester. 1‑0 against Monopoli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Giugliano are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Leonardo Bruno could afford to be generous.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roberto Zammarini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Crotone in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giuliano Laezza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Giuseppe Borello’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Giugliano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Stefano Cester is on it.
Giuliano Laezza 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mattia Rigo 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Giugliano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibourahima Baldé 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Stefano Cester was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.69 for the rest of it.
Pedro Justiniano 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Leonardo Bruno was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Giugliano dressing room was either.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Giugliano have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cosenza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.