Marked for Jonny
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Alavés
7 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.
Market27 Dec 2027
“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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Alavés are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Alavés
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ander Guevara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at Alavés
Denis Suárez 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match27 Dec 2027
The half-term report on Alavés
Position 17, 12 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Alavés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ander Guevara 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Denis Suárez 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 Alavés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Randy Nteka
“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 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gonzalo Suárez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Looking ahead22 Nov 2027
Alavés take on the side everybody is chasing
Barcelona arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market22 Nov 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alavés know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match20 Nov 2027
Alavés and Celta cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Celta came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
Adrián stands alone
10 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alavés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Oct 2027
0‑4 to Real Madrid, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Alavés
Ander Guevara 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Alavés
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonny was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Ander Guevara is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
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 0‑4 Gonzalo Suárez left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Lucas Chacana
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alavés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match15 Sep 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Abde obliged against Huesca. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Alavés.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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 dugout20 Sep 2027
Adrián: 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.” Alavés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tobías Andrada is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Alavés
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ander Guevara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Alavés
Denis Suárez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
Alavés supporters have found a favourite in Selu Diallo
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Selu Diallo 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 ratings20 Sep 2027
Abde in the eights
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2027
Saba Sazonov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alavés can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Alavés
Ander Guevara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Miguel Rodríguez 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hugo Novoa, and the manager let it.
Market26 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Sivera signs something — a contract at Alavés or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Jonny knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonny trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Alavés
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Alavés is running low.
Market5 Jul 2027
Alavés get their man
The chase for Randy Nteka ended with $3.9M changing hands and Rayo Vallecano out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Barcelona wanted more than $1.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Denis Suárez 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 Alavés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Jul 2027
Adrián Pica returns a better player
32 games and 0 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Manuel Monzeglio has improved at 26, 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. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giacomo Quagliata
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alavés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Alavés did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$9.7M on the table at Andorra. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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 targets7 Jun 2027
Alavés asked and Andorra said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Jun 2027
Lucas Boyé wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Alavés hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Alavés still without a manager
37 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The deal with Girona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad7 Jun 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 Alavés this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alavés lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout31 May 2027
Pablo Ibañez: 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.” Alavés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Alavés
Ander Guevara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Alavés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Blanco 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 dugout31 May 2027
No hiding place for Mariano
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mariano, and the manager let it.
Market31 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Antonio Blanco’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout31 May 2027
Jonny knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonny trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 May 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Saba Sazonov may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout31 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giacomo Quagliata
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alavés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Alavés
10 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Alavés
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Alavés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ander Guevara 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Alavés
Denis Suárez 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Athletic Bilbao left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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 1‑2 Hugo Castillo left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
A promise honoured at Alavés
Something was said to Miguel Rodríguez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Giacomo Quagliata
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alavés lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Alavés's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alavés has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Javier García: 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.” Alavés have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Alavés
Ander Guevara 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Antonio Blanco 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
0‑2 to Barcelona, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market19 Apr 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gustavo Albarracín wants continental football; whether Alavés can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
In brief
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The dugout
Jonny gets it from the manager
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The dugout
Fabricio dropped after a run of poor form
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Market
Lucas Boyé linked with a move away
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
There were 9 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Alavés's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alavés has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Alavés
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Blanco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Alavés
Denis Suárez 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Hugo Castillo to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Pablo Ibañez left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Pablo Ibañez will call it something else in private.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Garcés, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Jonny dropped after a run of poor form
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.
In brief
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Market
Lucas Boyé linked with a move away
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Looking ahead
Adrián faces his old club
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Squad
Country calls for Abde
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
There were 17 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ander Guevara 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Alavés
Denis Suárez 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Pablo Ibañez
“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.
Market22 Feb 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Alavés can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Hugo Castillo to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Javier García dropped after a run of poor form
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.
In brief
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The dugout
Jon Pacheco is still being punished for one mistake
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Market
Lucas Boyé linked with a move away
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Market
Jonny placed on the list
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jan 2027
At last: Alavés win one
14 matches without a win, and then this, against Mallorca. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market25 Jan 2027
Saba Sazonov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alavés can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Alavés
Ander Guevara 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Alavés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Blanco 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 targets25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Alavés have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Mallorca, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market25 Jan 2027
No place for Jonny in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jonny has his answer from Alavés; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Facundo Garcés
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Jonny dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Jan 2027
14 matches without a win for Alavés
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Alavés are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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 Alavés, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Alavés did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Alavés
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Blanco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Alavés
Denis Suárez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Toni Martínez at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Alavés.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Kiko Olivas 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Honours even between Alavés and Betis
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hugo Castillo was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Alavés dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
11 matches without a win for Alavés
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Alavés are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
6 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Alavés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Blanco 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Alavés
Denis Suárez 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Alavés are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
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.
Match28 Dec 2026
Halfway: Alavés sit in position 15
15 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Alavés's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alavés has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Dec 2026
27 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ander Guevara 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 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Alavés
Denis Suárez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Kiko Olivas 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Jon Pacheco's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Alavés pick somebody else ahead of Jonny
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
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 Alavés, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Alavés
6 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Alavés
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Alavés can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Alavés
Ander Guevara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Alavés
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Blanco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Jon Pacheco 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Pablo Ibañez
7.83, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Alavés had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.