Imanol García 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Persik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reno Piscopo 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Irkham Mila trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reno Piscopo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Evan Santoso after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Persik 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.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Bali United kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Persik will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persik can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reno Piscopo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Imanol García 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.
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Jon Toral was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gavin Kwan Adsit’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persik needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persik know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Reno Piscopo
The dugoutThe manager makes Satrio Azhar a promise
Player ratingsSergio Castel beats them one at a time
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persik can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persik have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Fortuna Sittard 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Evan Santoso could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Bali United for Irkham Mila 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.
Imanol García and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Reno Piscopo 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.
Persik have made the call to Fortuna Sittard. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Persik has been clear about where Husna Al Malik stands, which is more than many ever get.
A brace, and José Enrique takes the afternoon — 8.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. José Enrique provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persik this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reno Piscopo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fortuna Sittard have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.