Marked for Iván Torregrosa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Apr 2031
Antonio Navas damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match14 Apr 2031
AEL Larisa are in real trouble now
Position 12, 18 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market14 Apr 2031
The offer from Atlanta United FC for Gabriel Kodrasi 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; AEL Larisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Yvann Maçon 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 AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Apr 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Apr 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikos Melissas and AEL Larisa agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Erick Ferigra 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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Andreas Makris 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.
Market7 Apr 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iván Torregrosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Mar 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Antonio Navas
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AEL Larisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Mar 2031
AEL Larisa are in real trouble now
Position 12, 18 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Yvann Maçon 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 AEL Larisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andreas Makris 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
“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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Dimitrios Fortounis, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Feb 2031
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Yvann Maçon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Andreas Makris 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
The manager makes an example of Yuriy Kravchuk
“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 dugout24 Feb 2031
Iván Torregrosa asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
A promise honoured at AEL Larisa
Something was said to Amor Layouni and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market24 Feb 2031
Julien Ngoy runs his contract down
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs AEL Larisa money.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
Janoa Elias 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Feb 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad10 Feb 2031
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match8 Feb 2031
Beaten 0‑3 by AEK, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match8 Feb 2031
No end in sight to AEL Larisa's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AEL Larisa has to find a result from somewhere.
Match8 Feb 2031
No clean sheets in sight for AEL Larisa
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad10 Feb 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Labros Smyrlis and AEL Larisa agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at AEL Larisa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Torregrosa 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 targets10 Feb 2031
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.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Jan 2031
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market27 Jan 2031
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Jan 2031
Erick Ferigra goes up and wins it — 7.79
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.79 for the rest of it.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Giannis Gazis gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Giannis Gazis has just signed for AEL Larisa, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
The deal with Stade Rennais 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Yvann Maçon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Jan 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AEL Larisa and PAOK, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match25 Jan 2031
PAOK left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Jan 2031
The knee: Antonio Navas out for 106 days
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AEL Larisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match20 Jan 2031
AEL Larisa are in real trouble now
Position 12, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match18 Jan 2031
AEL Larisa throw away a 3-goal lead
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Panetolikos the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that AEL Larisa will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings20 Jan 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market20 Jan 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AEL Larisa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad20 Jan 2031
A move Iván Torregrosa 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. Iván Torregrosa is living that version at AEL Larisa, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market20 Jan 2031
“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 AEL Larisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AEL Larisa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Everything agreed with Lech, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.