128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Girona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Girona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 phone has started ringing about Gonzalo Lozano again, and this time the name on the line is Huesca. Girona are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Girona, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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 be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Joel Roca wants continental football; whether Girona can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.34, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Arnau 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.
Squad11 May 2037
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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 a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Córdoba kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Girona will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.87 — 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
A season average of 7.37 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Girona know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Arnau 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.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Arnau 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.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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.
“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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Girona and Celta, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Girona 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 Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Girona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Three points for Girona, 2‑1 the final word against Mallorca in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings2 Feb 2037
André Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.00. 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.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yeray Cabanzón 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Girona can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.94 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Arnau 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.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Girona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Girona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yeray Cabanzón and Girona agree another 2 years.
Player ratings8 Dec 2036
André Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.22. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Girona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.23 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Joel Roca wants continental football; whether Girona can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Girona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Arnau 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.
Squad3 Nov 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Francés 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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Girona lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Girona will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yaser Asprilla provided it, and the 8.85 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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabricio Iacovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Girona the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Arnau 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Girona 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 Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Gonzalo Lozano has come up in conversations Girona were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Girona have had the benefit of it.
Arnau 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.
Squad26 May 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arnau Martínez signs something — a contract at Girona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
Arnau 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.
An average of 7.05 in a first team he is several years too young for. Girona have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad12 May 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yaser Asprilla signs something — a contract at Girona or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Two goals and a mark of 9.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Luka Lorenzo, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
Arnau 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.
At 18 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Girona heard it as anything else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Girona they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Abel Ruiz 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.71 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Arnau 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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arnau Martínez signs something — a contract at Girona or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Zaragoza kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Girona will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.59 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Girona is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings24 Mar 2036
André Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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.
561 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Arnau 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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Joel Roca. 3‑1 against Osasuna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
André Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.21. 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.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Joel Roca was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.17. 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabricio Iacovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Girona the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Abel Ruiz 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.16 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Arnau 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.
“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 Girona hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abel Ruiz 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 phone has started ringing about Gonzalo Lozano again, and this time the name on the line is Betis. Girona are listening politely and promising nothing.
1 for César Tárrega, marked 7.21, 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Almería moved on, Gonzalo Lozano reports back to Girona, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Arnau 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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Girona have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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 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.
The offer from Betis for Gonzalo Lozano 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Abel Ruiz 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 touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Girona have had the benefit of it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.64 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Girona have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Arnau 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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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 phone has started ringing about Gonzalo Lozano again, and this time the name on the line is Betis. Girona are listening politely and promising nothing.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Josías Palais obliged against Espanyol. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Girona.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.63 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
Josías Palais was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.73. 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Espanyol spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Player ratingsRoberts Kukulis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.25 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Miguel Alonso did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings3 Dec 2035
Miguel Alonso, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Abel Ruiz 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Miguel Alonso 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings19 Nov 2035
A brace, and César Tárrega takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. César Tárrega provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.84 — 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.
13 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Miguel Alonso did not need any: 9.43, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.44 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
26 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Girona 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.54 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Arnau 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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.
12 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Miguel Alonso did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
28 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Girona this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Abel Ruiz 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.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Joel Roca was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.44. 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Arnau 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words at Girona training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaser Asprilla 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.
Marked 9.39 — 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.
At 20 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.