Samuele Birindelli 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 Monza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 8.74 — 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.
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.
Marked 8.34 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Virtus Entella, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.10 — 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Sergio Marchetti could afford to be generous.
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 Samuele Birindelli is on it.
In brief
SquadWords at Monza training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Cesena the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Monza will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Varela provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.40 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Samuele Birindelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aleksandr Ballabio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aljaž Strajnar, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Omari Forson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
22 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jordan Longhi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sampdoria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monza is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1 for Filippo Calvo, marked 7.44, 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Idrissa Touré had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Monza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Paris Saint-Germain, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Add another name to the list: Sampdoria have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aleksandr Ballabio. The answer from Monza has not changed — yet.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tiziano Bruno 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Idrissa Touré again, and this time the name on the line is Crvena Zvezda. Monza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Samuele Birindelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Monza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monza 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 Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Monza asked and Chelsea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nicolas Galazzi 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.
“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 Monza know it.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Kevin Martins has moved up it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gustavo Varela signs something — a contract at Monza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Keita Baldé, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Filippo Calvo 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Samuele Birindelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and Monza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Jordan Longhi 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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The phone has started ringing about Gustavo Varela again, and this time the name on the line is Mamelodi Sundowns. Monza are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Monza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Monza have made the call to Olympique Lyonnais. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Samuele Birindelli is on it.
The offer from Padova for Idrissa Touré 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrea Ballanti is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina 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. Juventus have kept their man, and Monza go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at Monza 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aljaž Strajnar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monza have done the hard part with Südtirol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Samuele Birindelli 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Noah Moretti is living that version at Monza, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cremonese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monza is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Atalanta paid $6.7M and Monza took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Semuel Pizzignacco has gone, the accounts have $6.7M 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monza have done the hard part with Lazio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Samuele Birindelli 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 20 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.
In brief
SquadMatteo Pessina falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Alan Ovelar
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nicolas Galazzi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Jaguares for Keita Baldé 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.
Add another name to the list: Cremonese have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andrea Colpani. The answer from Monza has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Nicolas Galazzi 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Idrissa Touré had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Atalanta have accepted the money. What Monza do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Monza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Brentford, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 name of Jordan Longhi has come up in conversations Monza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Samuele Birindelli 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Monza have made the call to Leeds United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Liam Matoh Horvat is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Monza 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.
Matteo Pessina 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.
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 Semuel Pizzignacco is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Diego Prieto has written the date down.
Alessandro Berretta has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
Samuele Birindelli 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Monza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Orlando City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Samuele Birindelli is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Monza will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 65 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Nicolas Galazzi 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.
The dugout14 May 2029
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 Sergio Marchetti left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
20 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nicolas Galazzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Reggiana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
7 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.
Samuele Birindelli 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Monza can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Something was said to Idrissa Touré and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
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 Sergio Marchetti left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Monza 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.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The phone has started ringing about Aljaž Strajnar again, and this time the name on the line is Orlando City. Monza are listening politely and promising nothing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Monza told Matteo Pessina something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Andrea Ballanti.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Delli Carri 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.
Samuele Birindelli 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 had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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 ratings19 Mar 2029
Idrissa Touré was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Andrea Colpani had Monza level again within 4 minutes, and Juve Stabia never got to play with a lead at all.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Monza can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Nicolas Galazzi 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.
“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; Monza are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Position 2, 57 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Matteo Pessina 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 Filippo Delli Carri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sergio Marchetti on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A brace, and Keita Baldé takes the afternoon — 9.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Keita Baldé provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Samuele Birindelli 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Samuele Birindelli is on it.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Samuele Birindelli 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Andrea Colpani is on it.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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.” Sergio Marchetti chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Monza had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Catanzaro, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Südtirol; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Sarpsborg 08 have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jordan Longhi. The answer from Monza has not changed — yet.
Monza ran out of time with Ravenna. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
In brief
Looking aheadThe big one: Hellas Verona come into view
The clubs have shaken hands with Ravenna; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Monza 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Keita Baldé 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Esteghlal Khuzestan had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Südtirol were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
$1.0M on the table at Südtirol. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo Delli Carri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Nicolas Galazzi 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monza have done the hard part with Sheffield United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Keita Baldé 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 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Varela provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Keita Baldé 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Monza will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sergio Marchetti on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces18 Dec 2028
Monza are taken apart by Juventus — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-4. 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.
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.
Keita Baldé 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.
Matteo Pessina 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Monza can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Cienciano for Keita Baldé 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza 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 Matteo Pessina 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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matteo Pessina 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Keita Baldé was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Varela 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 point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
5 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Varela provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 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 Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jordan Longhi 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
7.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Keita Baldé 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 8.09 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sergio Marchetti, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutDiego Prieto dropped after a run of poor form
Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Nicolas Galazzi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Varela 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Sergio Marchetti could afford to be generous.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Diego Prieto
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Gustavo Varela had Monza level again within 4 minutes, and Hellas Verona never got to play with a lead at all.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Monza, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“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; Monza are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad2 Oct 2028
6 new faces, and Monza are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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.” Sergio Marchetti kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Sep 2028
Jordan Longhi wins it after the whistle should have gone
115 minutes played. Jordan Longhi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Monopoli went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Keita Baldé 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.60 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Matteo Pessina 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 Samuele Birindelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Sergio Marchetti could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Diego Prieto
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have 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 Monza know it.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
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 0‑2 Sergio Marchetti left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Matteo Pessina, marked 7.93, 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Monza close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 13 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Monza have gone to Lecco with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Victor Madu has agreed terms with Campobasso for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Keita Baldé has improved at 33, 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.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with Sassuolo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The offer from Kryvbas for Jordan Longhi 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.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
Monza offered $90.0K; Reggiana 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monza have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Reggiana have accepted the money. What Monza do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Juventus keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Luca Milesi 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 had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alan Ovelar has just signed for Monza, and for once the answer mattered.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kevin Martins is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Martins again, and this time the name on the line is Hellas Verona. Monza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina 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 Monza can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Lusitânia Lourosa for Keita Baldé 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 Sassuolo 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monza people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Al Ahli for Jordan Longhi 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.
At 20 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.
$800.0K on the table at Carrarese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 27 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Monza asked and Juve Stabia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Südtirol for Kevin Martins 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Varela is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Everything agreed with Krasnodar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Luca Milesi 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Nacional had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Everything agreed with Campobasso, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Monza hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
At 20 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 name of Kevin Martins has come up in conversations Monza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at Monza, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Monza hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The phone has started ringing about Keita Baldé again, and this time the name on the line is Nacional. Monza are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer went to Perugia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monza have done the hard part with Gubbio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Monza. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Salernitana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monza is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuele Birindelli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The phone has started ringing about Valentin Antov again, and this time the name on the line is Udinese. Monza are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Semuel Pizzignacco signs something — a contract at Monza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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 Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Monza would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Monza, 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.” Monza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Luca Milesi 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Patrick Ciurria has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
Luca Milesi 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Colpani signs something — a contract at Monza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Samuele Birindelli has written the date down.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Monza says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Monza interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Elia Colombo keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 19 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.” Valentin Antov has his answer from Monza; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Monza can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
Samuele Birindelli 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
BoardroomNobody left the Monza dressing room in a hurry
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Luca Milesi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omari Forson, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Elia Colombo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Monza dressing room was either.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentin Antov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Monza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Andrea Colpani 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.
Day 9 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentin Antov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Elia Colombo to a room that had heard them before.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Carlo Agostini clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Monza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
The 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Varela provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Antov 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.” Carlo Agostini after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Monza 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.
In brief
The dugoutIdrissa Touré asks for a word with the manager
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Monza 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 Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Monza and Fiorentina, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Monza will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
In brief
SquadWords at Monza training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matteo Pessina 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Monza can tell you which week it ends in.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Manuel Villa commits to Monza for another 5 years.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Carlo Agostini to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Monza has been clear about where Filippo Delli Carri stands, which is more than many ever get.
The offer from Udinese for Valentin Antov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Keita Baldé 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Monza will try again when the window opens; Lecce may not be selling by then.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Carlo Agostini after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Monza 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Monza can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Monza and Lecce have settled on $420.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Monza close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 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 name of Valentin Antov has come up in conversations Monza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Keita Baldé 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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ravenna have kept their man, and Monza 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 Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
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 Monza will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer went to AlbinoLeffe this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Pro Patria; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Genoa for Valentin Antov 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.
Matteo Pessina 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.
17 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monza will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Monza asked and AlbinoLeffe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Carlo Agostini after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Position 19 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Andrea Colpani will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Monza escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Andrea Colpani was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
15 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.
0‑5 to Juventus, 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 Monza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matteo Pessina 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.
14 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.
19 combined actions and 7.08. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
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 Patrick Ciurria is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Colpani signs something — a contract at Monza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A point taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Nobody at Monza 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
12 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Napoli.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monza can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matteo Pessina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
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.
Samuele Birindelli 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Carlo Agostini after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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 Patrick Ciurria is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matteo Pessina signs something — a contract at Monza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.