From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Pineto
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Pellegrino, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Filippo D'Andrea asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Pineto will feel it on Saturday.
Market22 Feb 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Francesco Marone has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Pineto.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pineto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Filippo D'Andrea scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Livorno, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Filippo D'Andrea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Silvano Biggi
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tommaso Ruggiero after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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 Marco Delle Monache is on it.
Market15 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Giovanni Di Renzo signs something — a contract at Pineto or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Federico Baggi to Trento has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Pineto with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Pineto
Luca Schirone 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 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matteo Borsoi and Pineto agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Amadio, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Alessandro Tonti has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pineto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Trento waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pineto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Stefano Amadio: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pineto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Pineto 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Marcos González is in the works
Pineto have made the call to Real Madrid. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Erdis Kraja
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Luca Schirone decided nobody was going anywhere. Sambenedettese had no time left to answer.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pineto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The deal with Napoli died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Federico Baggi has come up in conversations Pineto were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match23 Jan 2027
Three points for Pineto, 2‑1 the final word against Sambenedettese in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Pineto asked and Cavese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Schirone, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Milton Pereyra is in the works
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Player ratings
Filippo D'Andrea beats them one at a time
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match9 Jan 2027
Campobasso made Pineto work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Cavese: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
AS Roma have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tommaso Ruggiero could afford to be generous.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pineto have done the hard part with Inter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Patronato have kept their man, and Pineto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.57, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Luca Schirone was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silvano Biggi, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pineto told Luca Lombardi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Felipe Micael
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Pineto against Ravenna
0‑1 to Ravenna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 103% of the Pineto income
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Tommaso Ruggiero to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pineto told Felipe Micael something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad28 Dec 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Filippo D'Andrea has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Pineto
Filippo D'Andrea was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Three points for Pineto, 2‑1 the final word against Forli in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Filippo D'Andrea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.91. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match21 Dec 2026
Halfway: Pineto sit in position 8
25 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tommaso Ruggiero on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Erdis Kraja gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ank Asmussen 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.
In brief
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The dugout
Felipe Micael asks for a word with the manager
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Squad
The division's best last weekend was a Pineto man
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Squad
A Pineto teenager takes the young player award
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luciano Bianco 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Marco Delle Monache is on it.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alessandro Tonti’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pineto needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gianluca Vigliotti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anass Serbouti and Pineto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Tommaso Ruggiero to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Alessandro Tonti has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Pineto 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Three points for Pineto, 1‑0 the final word against Gubbio in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Filippo D'Andrea at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Pineto.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Pineto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Tommaso Ruggiero could afford to be generous.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Amadio, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Pineto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ank Asmussen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Luca Schirone
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pineto told Luca Schirone something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Tommaso Ruggiero chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match21 Nov 2026
No goals between Pineto and Bra
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Bra will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Alessandro Pellegrino is on it.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Gubbio next, and one man in the Pineto dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market23 Nov 2026
The name of Luca Lombardi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Pineto say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.99, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gianluca Germinario. 2‑1 against Pianese, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luca Schirone 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Luca Schirone at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Pineto.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tommaso Ruggiero on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Nov 2026
Pineto out of the cup
Fiorentina ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad9 Nov 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Filippo D'Andrea takes the afternoon — 8.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filippo D'Andrea provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match7 Nov 2026
At last: Pineto win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Guidonia Montecelio. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silvano Biggi, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” Tommaso Ruggiero, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for Pineto
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Pineto are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Filippo D'Andrea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 99% of everything Pineto earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stefano Amadio, and the manager let it.
Match31 Oct 2026
It needed Filippo D'Andrea to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Perugia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Tommaso Ruggiero after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Felipe Micael asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad2 Nov 2026
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Pineto will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Pineto
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Pineto are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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 Oct 2026
Filippo D'Andrea falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Pineto
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pineto can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Pineto are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Tommaso Ruggiero was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Pineto dressing room was either.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
A test against the best for Pineto
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 Perugia.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marco Spina beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Pineto
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Pineto are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Pineto against Livorno
0‑2 to Livorno, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ank Asmussen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Leandro Costa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Matteo Troisi 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Torres will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody at Pineto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Schirone, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 131% of the Pineto income
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
No time for Vis Pesaro to settle
The goal that put Vis Pesaro ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Pineto equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Giovanni Di Renzo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Giovanni Di Renzo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pineto have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match3 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2026
Pineto march on in the cup
Union Brescia are out and Pineto go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.39 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 20 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Pineto are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.11 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Pineto had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Tommaso Ruggiero to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Erdis Kraja gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Francesco Marone’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pineto needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Domenico Frare speaks, and the room listens
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Pineto was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gianluca Vigliotti did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Pineto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo D'Andrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alfonso Ferrara 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match12 Sep 2026
Late, late show earns Pineto a point
Minute 91, against Campobasso, 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Pineto will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Gianluca Vigliotti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Campobasso, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Pineto leave it late against Carpi
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Carpi spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Giovanni Di Renzo delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Giovanni Di Renzo scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 13 in, 0 out at Pineto
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Torino is saying, and nobody at Pineto is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Colón have kept their man, and Pineto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filippo D'Andrea. 2‑1 against Carpi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Federico Baggi 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Gianluca Vigliotti, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is 21 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Ravenna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Pineto are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Colón: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan move for Flynn Macnack is in the works
Pineto have made the call to Torino. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tommaso Ruggiero on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Felipe Micael for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Pineto will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Pineto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo D'Andrea 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Fabio Polinari is in the works
Pineto have made the call to Lazio. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
AS Roma have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Pineto say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pineto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Universitario 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cremonese keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio 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 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giovanni Di Renzo and Pineto agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ignazio Zanetti 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Fabio Rizzi joins the Pineto first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fabio Rizzi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tommaso D'Orazio and Pineto agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Pineto
Tommaso D'Orazio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Pineto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filippo D'Andrea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Pineto are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.