The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Monopoli now.
Squad24 May 2032
Freddi Greco 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 Monopoli 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.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ciro Monti did not need any: 8.37, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Marked 8.66. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monopoli.
Squad17 May 2032
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Ierardi 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.
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.
Something was said to Vilim Krušlin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2032
Freddi Greco 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 8.06 — 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 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.
In brief
Player ratingsDavide Merola beats them one at a time
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Davide Merola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2032
Freddi Greco 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.
At 18 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.
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Ierardi 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Freddi Greco 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 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Audace Cerignola; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
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 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Three points for Monopoli, 2‑1 the final word against Potenza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Davide Merola was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monopoli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mario Ierardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Monopoli will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Davide Merola signs something — a contract at Monopoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Noa Engels has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Salvatore Longo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Casertana spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Marked 8.86 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
Raffaele Pucino 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 Mar 2032
Freddi Greco falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout8 Mar 2032
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 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Raf Smekens has, at Monopoli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Monopoli scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 9.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A performance of 9.12 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
Davide Merola was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Raffaele Pucino 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 Feb 2032
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.42 — 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
The dugout9 Feb 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Noah Ajayi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Freddi Greco 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ascoli have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Ierardi 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli 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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ascoli keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Monopoli asked and Modena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Monopoli know it.
Davide Merola 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monopoli and Benevento in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Beaten 7 times, 5 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑3 to Catania, 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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Monopoli had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
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.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 17 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Monopoli, 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not 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.
Joyce Anacoura 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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Freddi Greco 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 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.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Monopoli would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Davide Merola 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, Salvatore Longo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Monopoli and Audace Cerignola.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Salvatore Longo. 4‑2 against Audace Cerignola, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Salvatore Longo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.68. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Enea Florio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.98. 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 dugoutThe manager makes an example of Davide Merola
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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Monopoli, another week without a signature from Mouhamed Dosso.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Monopoli dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutVilim Krušlin knocks on the manager’s door
Davide Merola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vilim Krušlin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luca Braccia has his answer from Monopoli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Monopoli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Foggia had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Monopoli did not stop to explain themselves.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Raffaele Pucino was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
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 dugout10 Nov 2031
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
Foggia next, and one man in the Monopoli dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
1 for Freddi Greco, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Monopoli, another week without a signature from Joyce Anacoura.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Salvatore Longo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Monopoli and Giugliano.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
Salvatore Longo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.60. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
Davide Merola 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monopoli.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Chelfaoui 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
A brace, and Davide Merola takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Davide Merola provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Freddi Greco 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
Salvatore Longo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Monopoli, another week without a signature from Joyce Anacoura.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Salvatore Longo. 2‑1 against Picerno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 brace, and Enea Florio takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enea Florio provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Enea Florio scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Cosenza, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Enea Florio 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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Monopoli know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Chelfaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Davide Merola's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
BoardroomWages eat 90% of everything Monopoli earn
Beaten 1‑4 by Benevento, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 23 signed and 25 gone
That is the business done at Monopoli 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monopoli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Joyce Anacoura 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.
The deal with Palermo is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Monopoli
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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Freddi Greco 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Davide Ferrari has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gabriele Villa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Elia Farina has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Davide Merola 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Garritano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Monopoli know it.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pianese have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Juventus is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniel Emmanuel is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Vilim Krušlin has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Freddi Greco 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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Raffaele Pucino was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 29 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.
Pescara will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Fabrizio Lombardo has pre-agreed a move to Monopoli, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Garritano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Joyce Anacoura 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.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Monopoli now.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Freddi Greco 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Patricio Núñez has improved at 24, 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.
5 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.
Nobody at Monopoli 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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pescara keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Freddi Greco 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.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Monopoli know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lazio have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Monopoli, another week without a signature from Jovan Đokić.
Monopoli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Juventus, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Monopoli offered $92.0K; Empoli said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Monopoli are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Modena have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Ulrich Ndong was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Empoli keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Davide Merola 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Monopoli asked and Monza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Monopoli were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Monopoli will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutGiorgi Todua is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutJovan Đokić knocks on the manager's door
Raffaele Pucino 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Monopoli now.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Freddi Greco falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luigi Vitale 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gianluca Bertolini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Giacomo Guerra has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Edoardo Colombo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Nicola Albergo has gone, the accounts have $290.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Lecco paid $290.0K and Monopoli took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benevento have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Ulrich Ndong was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monopoli lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Lecco for Nicola Albergo was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deal with Benevento is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Raffaele Pucino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddi Greco is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Monopoli know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Freddi Greco signs something — a contract at Monopoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriele Martena has just signed for Monopoli, and for once the answer mattered.
The offer from Forli for Lorenzo Mazza was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monopoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Joyce Anacoura 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Freddi Greco 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Davide Merola 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.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Chelfaoui 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.
The dugout26 May 2031
Giorgi Todua is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Position 5 on 68 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 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 Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Davide Merola was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Salvatore Longo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Latina spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jean Ulrich Ndong has, at Monopoli, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Marked 8.37 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsSalvatore Longo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monopoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Davide Merola 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raffaele Pucino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicola Albergo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monopoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Davide Merola 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raffaele Pucino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Monopoli, another week without a signature from Joyce Anacoura.
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 Joyce Anacoura is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli 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.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddi Greco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Three points for Monopoli, 3‑1 the final word against Foggia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Davide Merola was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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 dugoutThe manager makes an example of Vilim Krušlin
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monopoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luca Garritano 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 first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Trapani; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Farès Bousnina provided it, and the 9.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Salvatore Longo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Luca Lungu 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Arinze Ogbonna scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monopoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
In brief
SquadA muscle injury and 19 days out for Jovan Đokić
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raffaele Pucino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli 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. 8.04 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monopoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luca Garritano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 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 Monopoli 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cesena have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Farès Bousnina. 1‑0 against Casarano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Farès Bousnina provided it, and the 9.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monopoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Davide Merola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monopoli and Picerno in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
That is the business done at Monopoli 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.
Davide Merola 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raffaele Pucino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vis Pesaro waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monopoli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pro Patria is saying, and nobody at Monopoli is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli 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.
Monopoli asked and Pontedera said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 ratings20 Jan 2031
Freddi Greco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
Player ratingsFarès Bousnina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The offer from Alcione Milano for Nicola Albergo 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monopoli have done the hard part with Sassuolo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Monopoli and Benevento, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raffaele Pucino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Farès Bousnina provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eugen Ciban will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monopoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cremonese is saying, and nobody at Monopoli is enjoying the guessing.
Raffaele Pucino 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 Monopoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luca Garritano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Latina made Monopoli work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings30 Dec 2030
Farès Bousnina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.24. 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.
Luca Garritano 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Monopoli and Crotone in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A season average of 7.35 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raffaele Pucino 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 ratings23 Dec 2030
Salvatore Longo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli 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 Monopoli 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 Monopoli 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monopoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luca Garritano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Monopoli now.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Luca Braccia 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Matteo Serioli has his answer from Monopoli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Joyce Anacoura is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giovanni Borgognoni trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
11 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raffaele Pucino is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Farès Bousnina provided it, and the 9.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Farès Bousnina’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Monopoli.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raffaele Pucino 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 ratings11 Nov 2030
Salvatore Longo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 19 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Out, 0‑3 to Napoli, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces4 Nov 2030
Monopoli are taken apart by Napoli — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lorenzo Mazza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monopoli the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 7.46, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Luca Garritano 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.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raffaele Pucino 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Luca Braccia
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicola Albergo 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daddy Abdulrahman 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli 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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eugen Ciban will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monopoli 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 Monopoli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.55 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.50, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Oct 2030
Davide Merola was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Braccia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monopoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monopoli 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monopoli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Monopoli interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Luca Garritano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raffaele Pucino 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mantova have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monopoli they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
20 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benevento have kept their man, and Monopoli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Monopoli close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 16 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fiorentina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Marked 7.99. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Valerio Giuliani clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monopoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Luca Garritano 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.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Monopoli
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raffaele Pucino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Salvatore Longo 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 Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raffaele Pucino 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.
Raffaele Pucino was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Romano Pavan has just signed for Monopoli, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Words at Monopoli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Garritano 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monopoli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Valerio Giuliani has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Monopoli, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Benjamín Durán is living that version at Monopoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monopoli lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monopoli is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fiorentina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daddy Abdulrahman is living that version at Monopoli, and it tends to show in the first month.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monopoli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monopoli can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monopoli have done the hard part with Fiorentina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Luca Garritano was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monopoli will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monopoli have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gregorio Catalano is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Monopoli asked and Frosinone said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Giorgi Todua has improved at 24, 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The offer from Südtirol for Nicola Albergo 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monopoli have done the hard part with Vis Pesaro, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicola Albergo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Raffaele Pucino 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.
Monopoli asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal with Bologna is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Monopoli asked and Virtus Entella said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Mouhamed Dosso is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Freddi Greco signs something — a contract at Monopoli or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.