The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The medical room confirms 42 days on the sidelines for Andri Beckham, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 50 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Tegar Islami 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Najeeb Yakubu 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Alexis Gómez 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.
“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 dugout10 Sep 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 1‑2 Septian Lilipaly left the room before anybody could ask which.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Muhammad Ridwan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persijap needing him to play as if none of it matters.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Persijap close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 6 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fariz Alfitrah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persijap the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Najeeb Yakubu 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Septian Putra is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and PSBS Biak waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Persijap is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persijap they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Muhammad Ridwan has his answer from Persijap; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
PSM held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Persijap answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 104% of the Persijap income
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persijap people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Borja Martínez 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persijap have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap 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 Dika Nurdiansyah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Najeeb Yakubu 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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 Fariz Alfitrah again, and this time the name on the line is PSBS Biak. Persijap are listening politely and promising nothing.
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Persijap had all but put away. Persis will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
A brace, and Sudi Abdallah takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sudi Abdallah provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap 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 Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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.
Minute 96, against Bali United, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Wahyudi Hamisi has agreed terms with PSM for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
7.51, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Persijap had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Septian Lilipaly was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Persijap dressing room was either.
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 Bali United.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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 Persijap, 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. Persijap 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.” Persijap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persijap they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Najeeb Yakubu 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sudi Abdallah. 2‑0 against Bhayangkara Presisi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Najeeb Yakubu 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 Alexis Gómez 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.
Borja Martínez 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout2 Jul 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 1‑2 Septian Lilipaly left the room before anybody could ask which.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Borja Martínez 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Alexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Septian Lilipaly could afford to be generous.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rakhmatsho Rakhmatzoda’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persijap needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A brace, and Sudi Abdallah takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sudi Abdallah provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Najeeb Yakubu 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 3‑1 win over Arema, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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.
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.
1 for Lucas Morelatto, marked 7.75, 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.
Najeeb Yakubu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Fachri Asnawi
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Najeeb Yakubu 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Borja Martínez 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arlyansyah Abdulmanan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 May 2029
The division's best last weekend was a Persijap man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Sudi Abdallah was the best thing in any of them.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Borja Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout14 May 2029
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.” Septian Lilipaly kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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 Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Dewa United next, and one man in the Persijap dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 36. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Septian Lilipaly to a room that had heard them before.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arlyansyah Abdulmanan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 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.
“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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
Borja Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Sudi Abdallah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.68. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
14 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
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.” Septian Lilipaly, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Borja Martínez 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persijap now.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Alexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ambrizal Umanailo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persijap needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
He is 19, he is averaging 6.59, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.66 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sudi Abdallah. 3‑1 against Persis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Persijap and Bali United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Alexis Gómez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Beaten 6 times, 3 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Borja Martínez 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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.
0‑2 to Borneo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 Septian Lilipaly to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
A brace, and Sudi Abdallah takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sudi Abdallah provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Borja Martínez 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.
9 combined actions and 7.67. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Septian Lilipaly on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Arlyansyah Abdulmanan obliged against PSIM. 2‑2 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Persijap.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Agung Wibowo did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Alexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 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.
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1 for Lucas Morelatto, marked 7.68, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Persebaya made Persijap work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Fachri Asnawi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fachri Asnawi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Persijap have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Borja Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Fachri Asnawi 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadDicky Kurniawan falls out with a teammate over standards
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Borja Martínez 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
PSIM next, and one man in the Persijap dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Aly Ndom scored, was marked 7.99, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap 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 Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Alexis Gómez 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.
Day 11 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.67, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 88% of everything Persijap earn
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Persijap has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Persijap 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.
3 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fachri Darmawan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Borja Martínez 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Alexis Gómez 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.
“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; Persijap are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sendri Johansyah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rendy Razzaqu
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persijap can pretend not to have heard.
Borja Martínez 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 medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Borja Herrera, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Alexis Gómez 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Raia Irvanza and Persijap agree another 3 years.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dicky Kurniawan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Witan Putra has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Borja Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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.
Nobody at Persijap will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
In brief
The dugoutRizky Lilipaly loses the manager who believed in him
The mood at Persijap has turned into something else
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 Persijap, and it is not being withdrawn.
Borja Martínez 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Raia Irvanza is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tegar Infantrie has his answer from Persijap; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lucas Morelatto is on it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Persijap will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Borja Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Persijap now.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dicky Kurniawan 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.
Nobody at Persijap 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 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutRaia Irvanza asks for a word with the manager
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Tiri 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.
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 Wahyudi Hamisi is on it.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persijap can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dicky Kurniawan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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 words a physio says slowly. 46 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Persijap 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 Muhammad Ridwan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Tiri 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.
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.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persijap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Borja Martínez 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.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Borja Martínez 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.
Tiri 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Alexis Gómez 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.
Tiri 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every 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 Wahyudi Hamisi is on 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 Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Tiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Alexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Persijap will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Romi Cohen's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Alexis Gómez 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.
Tiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Persijap can tell you which week it ends in.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Tiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Alexis Gómez 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.
“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 dugout11 Sep 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 Witan Putra to a room that had heard them before.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Muhammad Ridwan’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persijap needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Persijap close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Alexis Gómez 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.
21 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout4 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 0‑1 Witan Putra left the room before anybody could ask which.
Tiri 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout28 Aug 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Witan Putra to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Aly Ndom's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Two goals and a mark of 9.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
A brace, and Sudi Abdallah takes the afternoon — 9.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sudi Abdallah provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Tiri 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Alexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rizky Lilipaly has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marinus Irawan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marinus Kurniawan 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Alexis Gómez 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persijap can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persijap can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Fariz Alfitrah has just signed for Persijap, and for once the answer mattered.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Iker Guarrotxena has his answer from Persijap; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Tiri 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
A season average of 6.53 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Persijap know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Diogo Brito will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persijap the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Tiri 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Alexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a 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 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 Bhayangkara Presisi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Persijap, another week without a signature from Muhammad Ridwan.
The dugout17 Jul 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Witan Putra to a room that had heard them before.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
In brief
SquadMufdi Iskandar falls out with a teammate over standards
Lucas Morelatto had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Maluku Utara United were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap 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 Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Alexis Gómez 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Tiri 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 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Alexis Gómez 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez 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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Witan Putra after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against PSIM in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Borja Martínez 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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 dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Witan Putra was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Persijap dressing room was either.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Wahyudi Hamisi is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Achmad Maulana’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persijap needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
A brace, and Sudi Abdallah takes the afternoon — 9.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sudi Abdallah provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Tiri 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 2‑2 draw with Persik leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mufdi Iskandar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persijap is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Tiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Alexis Gómez 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persijap can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout22 May 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.” Witan Putra, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Persijap 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mufdi Iskandar 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 Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Madura United next, and one man in the Persijap dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Tiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sudi Abdallah is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Persijap is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persijap 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Borja Martínez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Iker Guarrotxena. 2‑0 against Semen Padang, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mufdi Iskandar 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 dugout24 Apr 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.” Witan Putra kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Persijap 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Raia Irvanza’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Persijap needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 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 Witan Putra to a room that had heard them before.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mufdi Iskandar, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The division's best last weekend was a Persijap man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Sudi Abdallah was the best thing in any of them.
Nobody at Persijap 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Semen Padang in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Tiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals in one match, Sudi Abdallah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Persijap and Persis.
Persis made Persijap work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Sudi Abdallah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.70. 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Alexis Gómez 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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persijap they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout3 Apr 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 1‑3 Witan Putra left the room before anybody could ask which.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Wahyudi Hamisi has his answer from Persijap; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Diogo Brito
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persijap lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sudi Abdallah. 1‑0 against Bhayangkara Presisi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.78 on the card, and the Persijap support went home talking about one name.
The dugout20 Mar 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.” Witan Putra, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
2‑0 against Maluku Utara United, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persijap will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tiri was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Maluku Utara United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persijap they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap 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 Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Alexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It needed Sudi Abdallah to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Arema, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Witan Putra was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Persijap dressing room was either.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimas Aryaguna 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against PSIM in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persijap will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tiri 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Alexis Gómez 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 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 Witan Putra to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sendri Johansyah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persijap will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Persijap 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persijap they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Diogo Brito has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
6 goals in one match, Sudi Abdallah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Persijap and Persik.
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.
In brief
SquadAlexis Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persijap will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Persijap will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persijap will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persijap know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Sendri Johansyah has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Persija moved on, Tegar Infantrie reports back to Persijap, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The deal with Dewa United 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.
Persijap asked and Maluku Utara United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persijap will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Persijap had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The phone has started ringing about Tegar Infantrie again, and this time the name on the line is Persija. Persijap are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadWords at Persijap training over how hard people work
Tiri 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 Alexis Gómez 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 Borja Martínez signs something — a contract at Persijap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Persijap had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Persijap, and 7 appearances in 49 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persijap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persijap will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Alexis Gómez 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Persijap can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gómez 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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Andritany Adhiyasa's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Gómez signs something — a contract at Persijap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Borja Martínez signs something — a contract at Persijap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persijap 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 Persijap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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 Tegar Infantrie is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Morelatto signs something — a contract at Persijap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Tiri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Persijap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gómez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mufdi Iskandar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mufdi Iskandar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Tiri was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
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 Lucas Morelatto is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Gómez signs something — a contract at Persijap or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.