Marked for Pedro Bigas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
10 matches without a win for Elche
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Elche are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nowhere to hide for Elche
1‑5 against Atlético Madrid, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match12 Dec 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Elche and Atlético Madrid, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Bambo Diaby for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Elche will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Cepeda 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 ratings14 Dec 2026
One of those days for Rafa Mir
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Víctor Chust 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.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
Doors closed at Elche
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Elche's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Elche has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.63, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Match21 Nov 2026
Tete Morente among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Tete Morente on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Elche and Celta.
Match21 Nov 2026
Elche come up short against Celta
Celta left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Nov 2026
Elche leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Lucas Cepeda 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Elche
Gonzalo Villar 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 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Pedro Bigas
“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
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
Elche march on in the cup
Castellón are out and Elche go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Elche
Tete Morente 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Matías Dituro
“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 terraces21 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.76. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Yago Santiago 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 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Sep 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Yago Santiago scored in the 88th minute, Rayo Vallecano had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Elche took the lot.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Elche training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Germán Valera 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 terraces7 Sep 2026
Elche supporters have found a favourite in Yago Santiago
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yago Santiago 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for Elche, 1‑0 the final word against Rayo Vallecano in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pedro Bigas, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
The afternoon belonged to Martim Neto
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Elche
5 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Pedro Bigas
Nobody at Elche is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martim Neto and Elche agree another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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.