From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for Mantova
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Mantova are no longer polite ones.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Flavio Paoletti: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mantova have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vanja Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market21 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simone Trimboli signs something — a contract at Mantova or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Mantova
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andrea Meroni 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 ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Giorgio Silvestri after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Fiorello Allushi 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.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
A test against the best for Mantova
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Monza.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Match7 Dec 2026
Mantova sink to position 18
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Mantova
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Mantova are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vanja Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Dec 2026
Vanja Vlahović scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Sampdoria, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Mantova
Francesco Ruocco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stefano Baraldi and Mantova agree another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Rareş Ilie is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Rareş Ilie has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
Nowhere to hide for Mantova
1‑4 against Venezia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Mantova
Vanja Vlahović and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad30 Nov 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
114% of the income goes out in wages at Mantova
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Doors closed at Mantova
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Mantova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Wieser 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Giorgio Silvestri left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Nicolò Buso
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
Nowhere to hide for Mantova
1‑4 against Frosinone, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Mantova
Vanja Vlahović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Mantova dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Giorgio Silvestri after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Fiorello Allushi 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Beaten 4 times, with 5 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Rareş Ilie asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simone Trimboli signs something — a contract at Mantova or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Mantova
Rachid Kouda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Mantova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vanja Vlahović 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad16 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Andrea Meroni sits out. Mantova lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Flavio Paoletti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad16 Nov 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Vanja Vlahović has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Südtirol came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Shots: 5. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match4 Nov 2026
The small margins put Mantova out
Out, 0‑2 to Lecce, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Bari will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mantova were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.49, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Wieser was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Catanzaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Rareş Ilie gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 114% of everything Mantova earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Giorgio Silvestri to a room that had heard them before.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fiorello Allushi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
Market2 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Meroni signs something — a contract at Mantova or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Mantova
Andrea Meroni and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vanja Vlahović 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Mantova against Empoli
0‑1 to Empoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Giorgio Silvestri left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mantova are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
David Wieser gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rareş Ilie’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mantova needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
No place in the plan for Rareş Ilie
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Cella, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Mantova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Wieser 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Empoli in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Mantova
Rachid Kouda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match10 Oct 2026
Padova made Mantova work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Simone Trimboli at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mantova.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.13 — 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Giorgio Silvestri on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fiorello Allushi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ettore Gliozzi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mantova needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rachid Kouda 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vanja Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
144% of the income goes out in wages at Mantova
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rareş Ilie, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match3 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Reggiana came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
David Wieser gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David Wieser is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 57. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match23 Sep 2026
Mantova through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Guidonia Montecelio, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Kostas Chrysopoulos delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kostas Chrysopoulos scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rachid Kouda in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Mantova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Wieser 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.71, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mantova are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolò Buso, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Mantova
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Mantova are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andrea Meroni 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match19 Sep 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Vanja Vlahović had Mantova level again within 4 minutes, and Palermo never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Stefano Cella
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Giorgio Silvestri to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Mantova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fiorello Allushi 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alessio Castellini and Mantova agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Vanja Vlahović 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Avellino left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alessio Castellini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Francesco Bardi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mantova needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Fiorello Allushi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Mantova until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Mantova
Andrea Meroni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vanja Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Sep 2026
A goal on 94 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mantova can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Mantova
Vanja Vlahović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Carrarese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Giorgio Silvestri left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Mantova
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Mantova will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Looking ahead31 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Virtus Entella in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Nicolò Buso
Nobody at Mantova is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Mantova
Rachid Kouda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vanja Vlahović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Manuel Ceccarelli and Mantova agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Mantova say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mantova, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
Next up on the road: Carrarese, position 3. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Mantova
Rachid Kouda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Mantova
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Wieser was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Rachid Kouda in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mantova this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Manuel Ceccarelli is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luigi Medici is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrea Meroni and Mantova agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Mantova
Andrea Meroni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Mantova training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vanja Vlahović 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Andrea Meroni's contract
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mantova are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mantova, another week without a signature from Nicolò Radaelli.