4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Latina 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Davide Mastrantonio has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guilherme trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Alessio Riccardi 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.
Words at Latina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guilherme 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.
Guilherme 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.
Giacomo Tomaselli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Latina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Iacopo Lipani has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Latina 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 Latina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Guilherme 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gianmarco Zenoni is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefano Armani 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 Latina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Diab Metawie again, and this time the name on the line is Triestina. Latina are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Latina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guilherme 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 Latina this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Still no offer on the table, and Alessio Riccardi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Alessio Riccardi 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Latina have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Latina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Pace 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Giacomo Parigi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.