Marked for Edoardo Pierozzi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Enrico Giannini is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Claudio Messaggi 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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 May 2028
Mattia Maita 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Sernicola 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.
Market1 May 2028
Filippo Nardi comes back from a loan that worked
33 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Match29 Apr 2028
Jacopo Manconi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Cosenza, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad1 May 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market1 May 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Antonio Prisco has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Benevento.
Squad1 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Raffaele Celia
“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 ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 May 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 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 Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Tumminello. 2‑1 against Trapani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alessandro Pellegrino 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 ratings14 Feb 2028
Davide Lamesta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Jordan Longhi
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Nobody at Benevento 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 ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Benevento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“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 ratings7 Feb 2028
Jacopo Manconi, 33, rolls back the years — 8.52
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Mattia Maita 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Feb 2028
Three points for Benevento, 1‑0 the final word against Casertana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Perlingieri 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 ratings7 Feb 2028
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad7 Feb 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jacopo Manconi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2028
Javi Zarzo breaks a bone — 32 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Benevento can pretend not to have heard.
Match8 Jan 2028
6 matches without a win for Benevento
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Benevento are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Age has not caught Mattia Maita yet — 7.83
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market10 Jan 2028
The paperwork is done: Jordan Longhi joins from Monza in a deal worth $1.3M. Now comes the harder part.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Gianmarco Vannucchi 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 terraces10 Jan 2028
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Jordan Longhi from Monza for $1.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Mattia Maita 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.
Squad10 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Benevento may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match25 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Benevento's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Benevento has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Mattia Maita 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javi Zarzo 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“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 Benevento know it.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Marked 8.43 — 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Altamura leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
5.66 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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 ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad29 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Angelo Viscardi
“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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
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 terraces29 Nov 2027
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces4 Oct 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefano Scognamillo and Benevento agree 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 Benevento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Benevento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Maita 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Sernicola, and the manager let it.
Match2 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Trapani, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
8 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Angelo Talia
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Angelo Talia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Benevento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Angelo Talia has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mattia Maita 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
Matteo Della Morte 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A promise honoured for Javi Zarzo
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Benevento told Javi Zarzo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad1 Mar 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
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
Benevento say no — this time
The offer from Südtirol for Pietro Saio was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mattia Maita 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Angelo Talia has come up in conversations Benevento were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Matteo Della Morte 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Marco Tumminello’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Benevento.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 8.42 — 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 ratings18 Jan 2027
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 ratings18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Xiscu Martínez, and the manager let it.