Marked for Daniel Pérez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Alberto Varo
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nea Salamis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Alberto Varo 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 Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Álex Guti runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Nea Salamis's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nea Salamis has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Álex Guti runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mons Bassouamina 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mons Bassouamina, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Aris, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Clinton Duodu: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nea Salamis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match10 Oct 2026
5 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Álex Guti
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alberto Varo 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Denys Vakulyk is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match10 Oct 2026
AE Kition left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A mark of 5.56 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
5.65. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Sep 2026
Ethnikos Achnas ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 13 of the 26 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alberto Varo 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mons Bassouamina 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Alberto Varo
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Alberto Varo knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
5.30. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Nea Salamis, 1‑0 the final word against Anorthosis in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
One of those days for Álex Guti
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.35, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
16 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Pontikos 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ivo Visona could not find anything
5.79. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 8. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alberto Varo 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 Nea Salamis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alberto Varo 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Nea Salamis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgos Pontikos 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Konstantinos Ilia has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Nea Salamis.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alberto Varo 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody is after Álex Guti’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Álex Guti suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Nea Salamis have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.