Marked for Anthony Carter
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vizela may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Miguel Tavares commits to Vizela for another 3 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Tempers go at Vizela
Ricardo Mangas 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Thimothé David
“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.
Match31 Mar 2029
0‑1 to Felgueiras, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces2 Apr 2029
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.
Market2 Apr 2029
The Rafa Soares talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vizela know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
5.76. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Dec 2028
There were 6 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Anthony Carter: 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.” Vizela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Vizela's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vizela has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Vizela
Erdoğan Yeşilyurt 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 Dec 2028
A move Diego Vianello would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diego Vianello is living that version at Vizela, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market18 Dec 2028
Diego Vianello is 20, and Vizela 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.
Match16 Dec 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Farense defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market18 Dec 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vizela know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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Player ratings
An afternoon Tomás Pereira will want back
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Boardroom
The Vizela production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces11 Dec 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 35 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Vizela
Ricardo Mangas 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Vizela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafa Soares 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Geovani wants to go home
“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 Vizela know it.
Squad11 Dec 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.
Match9 Dec 2028
A bad afternoon for Vizela against Leiria
0‑2 to Leiria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces11 Dec 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Manu Garrido
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market11 Dec 2028
The Rafa Soares talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vizela know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.