“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 35 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cavese can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cavese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Filippo Mengoni has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Benevento made Cavese work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Kimarni Smith 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.
8.03. 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Cavese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Antonio Caracciolo 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.
0‑1 to Catania, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ciro Loreto 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.
“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 Cavese know it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cavese has been clear about where Ale Hernández stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Fella signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Cavese can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Kimarni Smith 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.
Matteo Carbone 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 21 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
The shirt still fits. Nehemías Almaraz is back at Cavese, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Antonio Caracciolo is a Cavese player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
“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; Cavese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Francesco Orlando 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Nehemías Almaraz from Pianese for $440.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Ale Hernández has improved at 32, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dario Tedesco has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Christian Vechiu is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The fee is $430.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Virtus Verona drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$1.1M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Sten Kremers was one of the reasons people came, and $1.1M does not replace that by itself.
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.
Francesco Orlando 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 35 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Ciro Loreto 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cavese can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Carbone is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Add another name to the list: Spezia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sten Kremers. The answer from Cavese has not changed — yet.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Carbone 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alvin Obinna Okoro is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Christian Vechiu is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Ciro Loreto 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.
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.
Francesco Orlando 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 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.
Ciro Loreto 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cavese, another week without a signature from Alvin Obinna Okoro.
Umberto Landucci is 20, and Cavese 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Orlando 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.
Sten Kremers 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Dmitriy Kaplunov is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Cavese training over how hard people work
The paperwork is done: Alvin Obinna Okoro joins from Venezia in a deal worth $440.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Orlando 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Fella signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Cavese 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Francesco Orlando 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
SquadNicolai Apland 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.
Rudi Almeida 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.
Giuseppe Forte, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.34
A mark of 8.34 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Orlando 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Giuseppe Forte 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.
Nobody at Cavese 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Fella signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giuseppe Fella, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Lenn De Smet was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.64. 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.
Siracusa held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Cavese answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The terracesThe press have found their man in Lenn De Smet
92Edition
The Cavese Sentinel
1 May 2028
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Player ratings1 May 2028
Up for the corner, and Davide Munari delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Davide Munari scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Francesco Orlando 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.
A 2‑1 win over Audace Cerignola, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cavese told Luca Munaretti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Brando Moruzzi 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Ciro Loreto 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 pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.45 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Brando Moruzzi 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 Apr 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Orlando 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.
A mark of 8.03 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
23 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Raffaele Maria Di Costanzo. 1‑0 against Casertana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ciro Loreto 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.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Fernando Dickes's mistake
Francesco Orlando 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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.
At 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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.
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.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Fernando Dickes 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Francesco Orlando 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen had Cavese level again within 2 minutes, and Picerno never got to play with a lead at all.
It needed Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Picerno, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Fella signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolò Evangelisti provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Francesco Orlando 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 Feb 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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.
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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Cavese who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen. 1‑0 against Salernitana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A season-long audition: Willem II still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Cavese's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Sten Kremers 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Orlando 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: Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen. 1‑0 against Benevento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Cavese will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giuseppe Fella signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Catania defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
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.
Brando Moruzzi 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.
Elios Minaj has left for Trento in a $380.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Fella 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cavese can tell you which week it ends in.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Fernando Dickes 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
4 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.
Francesco Orlando 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Gabriele Platto is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
7 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 words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Raffaele Maria Di Costanzo and Cavese agree another 4 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
A mark of 7.85 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.
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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
90 minutes played. Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Potenza went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lenn De Smet 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Francesco Orlando 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.
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 27 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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 8.12 — 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A mark of 7.83 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.
Brando Moruzzi 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cavese and Trapani in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 23 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.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lenn De Smet 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A 1‑0 win over Casertana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Lenn De Smet was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Valerio Boffelli: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Francesco Orlando 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brando Moruzzi 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.
Sorrento held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Cavese answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
It needed Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sorrento, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadBrando Moruzzi falls out with a teammate over standards
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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.
Fernando Dickes 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kimarni Smith signs something — a contract at Cavese 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen. 2‑1 against Altamura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lenn De Smet 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.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Cavese will not try tonight.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cavese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Francesco Orlando 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriele Platto 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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and Cavese are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It needed Leonardo Ubaldi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Salernitana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolai Apland 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.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
4 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Catania kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Cavese will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fernando Dickes is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivanildo Siga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Francesco Orlando 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: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Manuel Peretti has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco Orlando signs something — a contract at Cavese or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“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; Cavese are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Kimarni Smith 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Giorgio De Santis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sten Kremers 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Cavese training over how hard people work
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Raffaele Maria Di Costanzo is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivanildo Siga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Francesco Orlando 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kimarni Smith 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Giovanni Sirico has his answer from Cavese; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide Munari 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.
Valerio Boffelli 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. 50 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cavese may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Davide Munari 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivanildo Siga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Sten Kremers 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.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cavese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Cavese training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
“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 Cavese, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cavese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolai Apland has just signed for Cavese, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Fella 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 words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniele Bolcano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadGiuseppe Fella falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cavese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francesco Orlando 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. 72 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriele Guarino 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 words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.65 at 33, 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 Cavese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sten Kremers 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 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 8.15 — 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.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese 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 Cavese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
4 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cavese can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sten Kremers 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.
The loan was meant to give him football. 2 games and 0 goals later he is back at Cavese no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Macchi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alessio Luciani 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Cavese can tell you which week it ends in.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Luciani 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.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivanildo Siga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ivanildo Siga has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marlon Ubani 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.
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniele Bolcano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Francesco Orlando 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Getting past Sten Kremers has become the hardest job in the division
11 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nicolò Evangelisti has his answer from Cavese; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cavese lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Casertana spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mattia Macchi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cavese 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.73 — 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.
“I watch every Cavese game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pineto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Sten Kremers 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cavese they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alessio Luciani 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cavese 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marlon Ubani 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sten Kremers 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.
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.
Alessio Luciani 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sten Kremers, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Marlon Ubani 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.
Position 3, 38 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marlon Ubani, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
12 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cavese is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Sten Kremers 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Fella 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Mattia Saitta has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Cavese have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ale Hernández, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ale Hernández'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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cavese 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 Cavese 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.
“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 Cavese, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Sten Kremers 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.
Lecco paid $240.0K and Cavese took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ilann Garin has just signed for Cavese, and for once the answer mattered.
“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 Cavese, 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Cavese training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriele Guarino 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.
Position 2, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The offer from Sassuolo for Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.87 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Valerio Boffelli is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Alessio Luciani 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 before the ground had finished arriving. Latina spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
SquadMarlon Ubani falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Ale Hernández's mistake
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Cavese will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“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 Cavese, 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 Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Cavese game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pineto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Sten Kremers 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sten Kremers 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Marlon Ubani 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.
17 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cavese told Sten Kremers something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Leonardo Ubaldi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Cavese training over how hard people work
Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Sten Kremers 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen decided nobody was going anywhere. Foggia had no time left to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cavese have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alessio Luciani 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sten Kremers 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.05. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cavese told Gabriele Guarino something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.81, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Alessio Luciani 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 needed Sveinn Aron Guðjohnsen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Casertana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Cavese game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pineto runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cavese, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Sten Kremers 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cavese 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.
8 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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Valerio Boffelli is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Sten Kremers 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.