Marked for Luigi Samele
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Nov 2029
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Luca Ruffini breaks a bone — 31 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Nov 2029
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Michael Liguori 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.
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
The numbers do not look good at Giana Erminio
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match24 Nov 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Novara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
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 Nicolas Previtali is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Nov 2029
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Giana Erminio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Luca Ruffini breaks a bone — 47 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Nov 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Nov 2029
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.
Market12 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Michael Liguori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Luigi Samele was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.89. 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
At 35 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“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
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Giana Erminio lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad22 Oct 2029
69 days out for Luca Ruffini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market22 Oct 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessio Raballo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giana Erminio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Matteo Marotta 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 Oct 2029
0‑2 to AlbinoLeffe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Arturo Pasquali after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
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 Marco Ballabio is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Samuele Magni breaks a bone — 38 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Sep 2029
Samuele Magni has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giana Erminio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Michael Liguori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Matteo Marotta 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 dugout17 Sep 2029
“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.
Match15 Sep 2029
Vicenza left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
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 Arturo Pasquali left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Marco Ballabio has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Giana Erminio 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Aug 2029
68 days out for Samuele Magni after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market20 Aug 2029
Add another name to the list: Virtus Entella have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dion Cakolli. The answer from Giana Erminio has not changed — yet.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Michael Liguori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Matteo Marotta 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
At 35 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
Dion Cakolli 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
The Luigi Samele talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Giana Erminio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jul 2029
Samuele Magni breaks a bone — 97 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Giana Erminio have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market23 Jul 2029
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” PSM had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Dion Cakolli is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Fiorentina is saying, and nobody at Giana Erminio is enjoying the guessing.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jul 2029
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Spezia have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Matteo Marotta
“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
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Giana Erminio
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market16 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lecco waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Samuele Magni breaks a bone — 104 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Michael Liguori 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michele Cirasella is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Marotta 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 dugout16 Jul 2029
“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.
Market16 Jul 2029
Add another name to the list: PSM have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Samuele Magni. The answer from Giana Erminio has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
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.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giana Erminio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The paperwork begins on Majkol Luka
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giana Erminio have done the hard part with Fiorentina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Michael Liguori 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.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Giana Erminio go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saleh Al-Shammari 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.
Market18 Jun 2029
The name of Luigi Samele keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Giana Erminio say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 May 2029
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.
Squad21 May 2029
16 days out for Jacopo Nelli after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 May 2029
Michael Liguori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Marotta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matteo Marotta, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 May 2029
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 Nicolas Previtali is on it.
The dugout21 May 2029
Marco Ballabio 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.
Market21 May 2029
The Luigi Samele talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Giana Erminio know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad21 May 2029
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Giana Erminio will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 May 2029
24 days out for Jacopo Nelli after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 May 2029
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 May 2029
The numbers do not look good at Giana Erminio
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Marotta 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 dugout14 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Luigi Samele
“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.
Match12 May 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom14 May 2029
Wages eat 114% 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 dugout14 May 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Apr 2029
53 days out for Jacopo Nelli after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Matteo Marotta 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Giana Erminio now.
Match14 Apr 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Luigi Samele’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Giana Erminio.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Marked 8.30 — 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
Wages eat 115% 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Matteo Marotta 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabiano D'Amore was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Apr 2029
60 days out for Jacopo Nelli after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Catello Amendola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Giana Erminio the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad9 Apr 2029
Michael Liguori 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Marotta 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Andrea Piazza has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Giana Erminio 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Catello Amendola, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Matteo Marotta knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giana Erminio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad9 Apr 2029
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Giana Erminio are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Mar 2029
97 days out for Jacopo Nelli after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Mar 2029
“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 Giana Erminio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Dion Cakolli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Up for the corner, and Christian Mora delivers — 7.81
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Christian Mora scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match3 Mar 2029
Nobody wants to play Giana Erminio right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luigi Samele commits to Giana Erminio for another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Michael Liguori 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Feb 2029
Jacopo Nelli breaks a bone — 119 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Giana Erminio is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 Feb 2029
Michael Liguori 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Previtali 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.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
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.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guzmán Trucido, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad18 Dec 2028
40 days out for James Jaspaert after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market18 Dec 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.
Match16 Dec 2028
The run at home goes on for Giana Erminio
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad18 Dec 2028
Michael Liguori 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.
Match16 Dec 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Giana Erminio and Virtus Verona in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match16 Dec 2028
It finished 4‑2, and it was Luigi Samele’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Giana Erminio.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Matteo Marotta 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
A fracture rules James Jaspaert out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giana Erminio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Giana Erminio is running low.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matteo Marotta and Giana Erminio agree another 2 years.
Match2 Dec 2028
The run at home goes on for Giana Erminio
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Michael Liguori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Marotta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrea Piazza, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Ninety minutes of Luigi Samele at his very best
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Giana Erminio.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Oct 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
Nobody wants to play Giana Erminio right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Michael Liguori 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Matteo Marotta 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luigi Samele. 1‑0 against Trento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad23 Oct 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Oct 2028
105 days out for James Jaspaert after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Giana Erminio will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Nicolas Previtali 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Marotta 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.
Match14 Oct 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Luigi Samele’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Giana Erminio.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes of Luigi Samele at his very best
Marked 8.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Giana Erminio.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Luca Ferri 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.
Player ratings16 Oct 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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Arturo Pasquali on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Oct 2028
Maxim Axyutin damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Alcione Milano will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Giana Erminio were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad9 Oct 2028
James Jaspaert breaks a bone — 112 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giana Erminio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Michael Liguori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolas Previtali, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.63 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Alessandro Arioli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Giana Erminio settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Alcione Milano spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Oct 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Axyutin
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Giana Erminio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A fracture rules James Jaspaert out for 119 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Giana Erminio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Nicolas Previtali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Marotta 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 ratings2 Oct 2028
Luigi Samele did the work nobody counts — 6.80
10 combined actions and 6.80. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Boardroom2 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
Jozef Baxter is 20, and Giana Erminio 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.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout2 Oct 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
Crisis
Market31 Jul 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 targets31 Jul 2028
Giana Erminio had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sampdoria, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Michael Liguori 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fabiano D'Amore is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Marotta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Jul 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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
Wages swallow 92% of the Giana Erminio income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout31 Jul 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
Crisis
Boardroom22 May 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.
Market22 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giana Erminio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 May 2028
Andrea Sergio Mazza 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Matteo Marotta 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 dugout22 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Mauro Semprini
“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 dugout22 May 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Giana Erminio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom27 Mar 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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Giana Erminio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market27 Mar 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Giana Erminio they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Nicolas Previtali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Mar 2028
1‑3 to Cittadella, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Matteo Marotta 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riccardo Chiarello, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Mar 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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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 1‑3 Achille Fiorentino left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Feb 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.
Market21 Feb 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Michael Liguori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Luigi Samele 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
9 combined actions and 6.66. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout21 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
It needed Michael Liguori to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Alcione Milano, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
It had gone 13 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.50, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Nicolas Previtali 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 Feb 2028
Matteo Marotta 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
Arzignano made Giana Erminio work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Alessio Raballo
“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.
Loan watch14 Feb 2028
“I did not go to Siracusa to sit and watch. I want to come back to Giana Erminio and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
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.” Achille Fiorentino kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.