Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 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. 8.65 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Abu Kamara 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, Lukas Mai on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Grasshopper and Zurich.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lukas Mai. 4‑2 against Zurich, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Lee Young-Jun 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 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. 9.42 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
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.
Abu Kamara 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.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Lee Young-Jun falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lee Young-Jun is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Noah Gomes. 2‑1 against Luzern, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.98 — 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Nikolas Muci had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and St. Gallen were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.67 at 38, 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Nikolas Muci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings16 Aug 2038
Noah Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.97. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Young Boys kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Grasshopper will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 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. 8.86 at 38, 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lee Young-Jun 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. 18 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. 9.70 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
189 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.
8 goals in one match, Lee Young-Jun on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Grasshopper and Vaduz.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings26 Jul 2038
A brace, and Alseny Cissé takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alseny Cissé provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Lee Young-Jun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolas Muci 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: 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Kevin Csoboth falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
17 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Christian Freuler 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grasshopper heard it as anything else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lee Young-Jun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Abu Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Kevin Csoboth 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sion paid $520.0K and Grasshopper took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Nikolas Muci falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Grasshopper hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2038
Kevin Csoboth 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.
Lee Young-Jun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 May 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Gomes 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.
Abu Kamara 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. Nico Zakaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 May 2038
Kevin Csoboth 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.
In brief
SquadLukas Mai has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lee Young-Jun is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Justin Hammel signs something — a contract at Grasshopper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
BoardroomThe Grasshopper production line keeps running
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2038
Nikolas Muci 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Abu Kamara 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 Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Kevin Csoboth 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.
In brief
SquadLukas Mai has become a man the manager trusts
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lee Young-Jun 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 Grasshopper training over how hard people work
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grasshopper heard it as anything else.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassane Imourane and Grasshopper agree another 2 years.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Basel go through and Grasshopper go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.61 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 Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Justin Hammel signs something — a contract at Grasshopper or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
BoardroomThe Grasshopper production line keeps running
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
189 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.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Grasshopper hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The offer from Zurich for Djibril Rieder 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.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The phone has started ringing about Noah Freuler again, and this time the name on the line is Zurich. Grasshopper are listening politely and promising nothing.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
115 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Abu Kamara 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.
129 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibril Rieder will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Nov 2037
Noah Gomes 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.
Luzern are out and Grasshopper go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
Morgan Clarke could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.25
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.25, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Player ratings23 Nov 2037
Noah Freuler, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
A performance of 9.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Nov 2037
Cedric Rieder was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.87. 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.
Sion held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Grasshopper answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Lee Young-Jun was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Gomes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grasshopper heard it as anything else.
Abu Kamara 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 Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Nov 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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 8.65 — 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.
Abu Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Kevin Csoboth falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 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. 8.28 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibril Rieder will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match17 Oct 2037
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Grasshopper. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.36 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Abu Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
4 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Alseny Cissé was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alseny Cissé has just signed for Grasshopper, and for once the answer mattered.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Grasshopper hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nico Zakaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.97 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Grasshopper and Vaduz, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abu Kamara. 4‑2 against Vaduz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
132 graduates from an academy now rated 15 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Justin Hammel 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.
Squad21 Sep 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth 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: 13. 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.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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. 9.20 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
19 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.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Zurich kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Grasshopper will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Lee Young-Jun 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. Nico Zakaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simone Stroscio and Grasshopper agree another 2 years.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Abu Kamara was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
3 goals inside twenty minutes with Lukas Mai in the middle of it, and Thun unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.14 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth 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. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑3 to Luzern, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Even Knudsen has improved at 30, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
18 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.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Noah Gomes 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Remo Aebischer is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth 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.
8.69. 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: St. Gallen will make the call about Amine Messoussa this week. Grasshopper have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Abu Kamara
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Nikolas Muci
BoardroomThe Grasshopper production line keeps running
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.58 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grasshopper heard it as anything else.
Abu Kamara 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. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Lee Young-Jun 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Grasshopper know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.76 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Grasshopper moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Interim Coach, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Abu Kamara 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. Djibril Rieder will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
Boardroom20 Jul 2037
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Grasshopper
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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nico Zakaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper can pretend not to have heard.
171 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Grasshopper hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thiago González will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth 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.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Jun 2037
A muscle injury sidelines Nikolas Muci for 19 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Grasshopper will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
140 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Thiago González has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Lee Young-Jun 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 Grasshopper 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.
147 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Abu Kamara 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
Kevin Csoboth 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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Grasshopper will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadWords at Grasshopper 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. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Abu Kamara 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadKevin Csoboth falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Abu Kamara 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.
Squad27 Apr 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadWords at Grasshopper 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. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grasshopper heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Abu Kamara 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.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
Lee Young-Jun 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. Nico Zakaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Gomes 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Kevin Csoboth 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Noah Gomes 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.
Basel go through and Grasshopper go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.42 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 Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.48 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth 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. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Abu Kamara 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 Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadKevin Csoboth falls out with a teammate over standards
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Grasshopper lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grasshopper heard it as anything else.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Amine Messoussa reports back to Grasshopper with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Words at Grasshopper training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Csoboth is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simone Stroscio and Grasshopper agree another 2 years.
The offer from Vaduz for Amine Messoussa was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Lee Young-Jun 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.
Nobody at Grasshopper will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Grasshopper have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nico Comert is living that version at Grasshopper, and it tends to show in the first month.
Abu Kamara 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Lindrit Kamberi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Grasshopper have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Grasshopper will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Lee Young-Jun 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. 91 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper 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. 98 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A 5‑4 win over St. Gallen, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings24 Nov 2036
A brace, and Even Knudsen takes the afternoon — 8.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Even Knudsen provided it, and the 8.10 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 Grasshopper they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings24 Nov 2036
Cedric Rieder was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.99. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
9 goals in one match, Even Knudsen on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Grasshopper and St. Gallen.
In brief
Player ratingsMehdi Bouhekan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Grasshopper and Sion, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Zurich will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Lee Young-Jun 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 Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Three points for Grasshopper, 3‑2 the final word against Zurich in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings10 Nov 2036
Noah Gomes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. 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
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Justin Hammel
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Abu Kamara
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Nikolas Muci
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper 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. 8.67 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Grasshopper heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nico Zakaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Grasshopper the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lee Young-Jun 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 is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Lee Young-Jun
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Grasshopper will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Grasshopper is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mehdi Bouhekan has agreed terms with Sion for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Grasshopper 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 Grasshopper and Luzern in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.