32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
106 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.38 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Cesena and Pescara, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The phone has started ringing about Renato Scalise again, and this time the name on the line is Cagliari. Cesena are listening politely and promising nothing.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cesena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Simone Pieraccini 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.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrea Caruso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The phone has started ringing about Fabio Canali again, and this time the name on the line is Guidonia Montecelio. Cesena are listening politely and promising nothing.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valerio Tagliabue is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirko Franchi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Avellino for Niccolò Fontana was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cesena heard it as anything else.
Pol Tristán 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The phone has started ringing about Silvio Salvatore again, and this time the name on the line is Lumezzane. Cesena are listening politely and promising nothing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena 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 Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Ospitaletto for Silvio Salvatore 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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 Cesena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Pro Patria for Fabio Canali 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 116 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.” Cesena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Pol Tristán 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Cesena have had the benefit of it.
Cristian Shpendi 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 offer from Gubbio for Silvio Salvatore 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 130 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Shpendi 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 Cesena training over how hard people work
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pol Tristán will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena 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 Cesena 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.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Salvatore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.44 at 34, 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Cesena and Südtirol, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mario Mariani at his very best
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.26 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings3 May 2038
Fabio Canali, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.57
A mark of 8.57 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mario Mariani. 3‑1 against Carrarese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.27 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
23 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Mario Mariani was at the centre of it, Empoli were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.75 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. 9.18 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
42 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Marked 9.12 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.76 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
252 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Shpendi 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mario Mariani has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.53 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Padova kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Cesena will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena 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 8.92 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsFilippo Galvagno was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.10 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Salvatore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Venezia kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Cesena will be asked about the last half hour all week.
19 goals and a season average of 7.73 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
A brace, and Tommaso Berti takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tommaso Berti provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.77 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cesena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Shpendi 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 Cesena training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena 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 Cesena 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.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 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. 9.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Astemir Khezhev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and Bologna in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filippo Galvagno provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dávid Krčík will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirko Franchi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2038
Mario Mariani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.72. 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mario Mariani. 1‑0 against Cremonese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2038
A brace, and Mario Mariani takes the afternoon — 9.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mario Mariani provided it, and the 9.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Salvatore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Parma for Mirko Franchi 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giovanni Percassi scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.79 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cesena has been clear about where Omar Traoré stands, which is more than many ever get.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.66 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Schiavone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and Südtirol in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 9.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.75 at 34, 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mario Mariani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
7 goals and a season average of 7.51. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad14 Dec 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Cesena, 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. 8.89 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.67, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabio Canali will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Dávid Krčík has agreed terms with Como for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Marked 9.71 — 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Salvatore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
13 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Mario Mariani
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena 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 Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cristian Shpendi signs something — a contract at Cesena or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 9.34 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
“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 Cesena, and it is not being withdrawn.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Salvatore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Cesena and Venezia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 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. 8.98 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Schiavone will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Cesena and Mantova, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mario Mariani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Cesena and Virtus Entella, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Cesena, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.35 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Cesena did not have in the autumn.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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. 78 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvio Salvatore will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 9.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
At 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Cristian Shpendi 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 Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Cesena and Cremonese, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.11 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 Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Lazio made Cesena work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings21 Sep 2037
Mario Mariani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.05. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Valentino Coveri at his very best
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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 a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Valentino Coveri provided it, and the 9.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Cesena, 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. 9.04 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Siracusa for Fabio Canali 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.
The deal that would have taken Mirko Franchi to Cittadella has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cesena with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and Pescara in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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. 8.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
2‑3 to Spezia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Aug 2037
13 academy players handed senior numbers at Cesena
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.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Umberto Colletti 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Edoardo Caputo 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Cesena interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesena can pretend not to have heard.
Cristian Shpendi 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. 134 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Day 40 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
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 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.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Cesena, and it is not being withdrawn.
243 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Silvio Salvatore again, and this time the name on the line is Picerno. Cesena are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Mosca is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Forli for Federico Schiavone 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.
Cristian Shpendi 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Cesena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mirko Franchi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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 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.
12 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Pergolettese will make the call about Stefano Sartori this week. Cesena have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at Cesena, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesena can pretend not to have heard.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena 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 Cesena 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cesena lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesena can pretend not to have heard.
Cristian Shpendi 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 Cesena training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cristian Shpendi 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 Jun 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cesena has been clear about where Dávid Krčík stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 Cesena, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cesena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Simone Pieraccini 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena 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.
25 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Cristian Shpendi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 May 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cesena know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
24 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.54 at 36, 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mariano Parise is living that version at Cesena, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 27 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Position 20 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 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 Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Shpendi 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 in one match, Gaël Lafont on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cesena and Atalanta.
26 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and AC Milan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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 8.63 — 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.
25 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
21 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A season average of 7.85 with 30 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
A brace, and Tommaso Berti takes the afternoon — 9.85
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tommaso Berti provided it, and the 9.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cesena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Cristian Shpendi 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 in one match, Tommaso Berti on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cesena and Fiorentina.
1‑4 to Inter, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
36 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Filippo Galvagno will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Cesena escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cesena can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.62 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathijs Menu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 22 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
18 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.
27 goals and a season average of 7.81 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
A brace, and Gaël Lafont takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gaël Lafont provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and Napoli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Valentino Coveri at his very best
SquadWords at Cesena training over how hard people work
21 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
20 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
16 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Pol Tristán knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Day 8 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
15 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Position 19 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
94 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 18 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 goals in one match, Filippo Galvagno on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cesena and AS Roma.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 17 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cesena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 goals in one match, Tommaso Berti on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cesena and Bologna.
Bologna left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.87 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Filippo Galvagno at his very best
16 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
15 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. the manager has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
10 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
7 goals in one match, Cristian Shpendi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cesena and Juventus.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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.
Player ratings26 Jan 2037
Tommaso Berti was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.75. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Lecce kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Cesena will be asked about the last half hour all week.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.71 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alessandro Giovannini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Cristian Shpendi 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 Jan 2037
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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.
8.47. 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
522 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.58 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mathijs Menu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cesena 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mathijs Menu has agreed terms with Juve Stabia for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
10 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Simone Pieraccini 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.
8 goals in one match, Cristian Shpendi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cesena and Frosinone.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Traoré 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Cristian Shpendi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cesena has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Traoré 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one 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 Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and AC Milan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Dec 2036
Omar Traoré 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.
Marked 9.05 — 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.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
0‑2 to Fiorentina, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Cena 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.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Omar Traoré 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.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Cesena could ask drops and the wages Alessandro Giovannini can ask rise.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tommaso Berti. 4‑3 against Lazio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and Lazio in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings17 Nov 2036
Tommaso Berti was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.87. 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.
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings17 Nov 2036
Gaël Lafont was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.95. 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
Player ratingsFilippo Bertaccini was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Cesena, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Ravenna will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Juan Carlos Portillo has pre-agreed a move to Cesena, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cesena know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.51 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and Picerno in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
31 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.71 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cesena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Oct 2036
Omar Traoré 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Palermo spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cesena will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 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. 8.55 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Cristian Shpendi 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.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Cesena and Hellas Verona in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Words at Cesena training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Pieraccini 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.