Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alavés will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A brace, and Lucas Boyé takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Boyé provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Marc Pubill 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.
“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 Alavés know it.
Minute 88, against Osasuna, 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.
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 dugout17 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jan Lozano was not hiding it after 3‑3, and nobody in the Alavés dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alavés will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
12 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Levante were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alavés told Carles Aleñá something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Apr 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jan Lozano to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alavés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Blanco signs something — a contract at Alavés or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Marc Pubill 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Alavés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Rodríguez 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.
Real Madrid top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Hugo Novoa 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Boyé signs something — a contract at Alavés or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Alavés 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.
Real Madrid next, and one man in the Alavés dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Toni Martínez 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.
Real Sociedad left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ander Guevara'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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
7.94, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Jon Pacheco 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Toni Martínez 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 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 0‑2 Jan Lozano left the room before anybody could ask which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antonio Blanco signs something — a contract at Alavés or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alavés, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Alavés will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Alavés have done the hard part with Almagro, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Oviedo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Madrid have kept their man, and Alavés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Hugo Novoa 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.
Marked 7.08 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 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 0‑4 Jan Lozano left the room before anybody could ask which.
Toni Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Pablo Ibañez 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.
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.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Sociedad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Alavés heard it as anything else.
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.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.65, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A brace, and Toni Martínez takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Toni Martínez provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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.
1 for Antonio Blanco, marked 7.99, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Jon Pacheco 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Toni Martínez in the middle of it, and Elche unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Ibañez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Antonio Blanco 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.
“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.
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.
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Mallorca defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Pablo Ibañez 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alavés, another week without a signature from Miguel Rodríguez.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Denis Suárez 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.
“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.
$13.7M settles it between the clubs for Jon Martín
Real Sociedad have accepted the money. What Alavés do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo La Coruña have kept their man, and Alavés go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Jon Pacheco 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Antonio Blanco'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.
“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.
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.
Davinchi is 18, and Alavés have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Àlex Núñez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Alavés training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Rodríguez 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.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutLucas Boyé asks for a word with the manager
The offer from Hellas Verona for Antonio Sivera 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.
“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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Garcés wants continental football; whether Alavés can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Ibañez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Alavés are dealing with a man who wants a different country.