It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Albacete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lorenzo and Albacete agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Carlos Neva 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Munir. 1‑0 against Eibar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.59 on the card, and the Albacete support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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.” Santiago Fuentes kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Pereyra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Albacete the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Albacete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Valverde 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Albacete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Pacheco signs something — a contract at Albacete or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The phone has started ringing about Carlos Neva again, and this time the name on the line is Hajduk Split. Albacete are listening politely and promising nothing.
Antonio Puertas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Albacete go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Albacete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Valverde 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.
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.
Nobody at Albacete 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Albacete, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Antonio Puertas 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Albacete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Soberón 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barcelona have kept their man, and Albacete go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lluís trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Munir signs something — a contract at Albacete or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position, and Jesús Vallejo suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Albacete have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
4 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Mario Soberón 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Albacete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Albacete know it.
Something was said to Antonio Pacheco and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Soberón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 90, against Valladolid, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Marked 7.30 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Albacete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout22 Mar 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.” Santiago Fuentes chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Antonio Puertas commits to Albacete for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Mario Soberón 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Héctor Fort is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Santiago Fuentes on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Antonio Puertas 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mario Soberón 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Mario Soberón 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.
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
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 Santiago Fuentes left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Albacete than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Tyler Deric is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Albacete this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Albacete training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Soberón 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.
“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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Lluís has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Albacete, and both men came out saying it was fine.