Marked for Joseph Ceesay
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Nov 2026
Empoli march on in the cup
Ravenna are out and Empoli go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Marco Curto delivers — 7.53
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Marco Curto scored, was marked 7.53, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Empoli
Andrea Ghion 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Andrea Ghion gets it from the manager
“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.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match7 Nov 2026
Empoli come up short against Pisa
Pisa left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Karim Zedadka ran the middle of the pitch — 6.70
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Adriano Bertolini to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Empoli
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Empoli are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Empoli
Filippo Romagna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Curto, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Empoli told Filippo Romagna something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Empoli are still strangers to each other
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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adriano Bertolini after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Empoli
Filippo Bandinelli 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adriano Bertolini chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
14 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
No place in the plan for Andrea Ghion
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Cremonese will be the happier side with the point.
Squad5 Oct 2026
He goes off to be somebody else’s player for a fortnight. Empoli lose him for the window and would like him returned in the condition he left.
Squad5 Oct 2026
André Silva called up by his country
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Empoli that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Filippo Distefano has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andrea Ghion 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 Empoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Empoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lorenzo Ignacchiti, and the manager let it.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Empoli against Padova
0‑1 to Padova, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Empoli dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Empoli will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
Empoli say no — this time
The offer from Frosinone for Lorenzo Ignacchiti 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reggiana have kept their man, and Empoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filippo Bandinelli. 1‑0 against Benevento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Empoli
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Adriano Bertolini kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Empoli will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Empoli asked and Como said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stiven Shpendi and Empoli agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Empoli
Tyronne Ebuehi 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Joseph Ceesay’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Stiven Shpendi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Empoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.