Marked for Gianluca Sciberras
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market31 Aug 2026
Mosta say no — this time
The offer from Tarxien Rainbows for Gianluca Sciberras 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Mosta
Ernest Agyiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Willian Salomão
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Mosta
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Boardroom
Mosta say no to the training-ground money
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Squad
Diamanka Senghor scores his first for Mosta
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 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 Mosta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Mosta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matthew Bolaños was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Tarxien Rainbows have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gianluca Sciberras. The answer from Mosta has not changed — yet.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christian Vella and Mosta agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julian Mercieca, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Christian Vella 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.
In brief
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Squad
Questions about Giancarlo on the training pitch
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to Naxxar Lions
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Mosta
Ernest Agyiri 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
A row about effort at Mosta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gianluca Sciberras was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Christian Vella 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
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diamanka Senghor and Mosta agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Mosta
Ernest Agyiri 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Matthew Bolaños 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.
Market3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Giancarlo
Still no offer on the table, and Giancarlo’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Mosta 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.