Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Felipe Loyola 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.
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Arezzo.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Avellino; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pisa heard it as anything else.
Felipe Loyola 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 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.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Gabriele Piccinini, marked 7.71, 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gabriele Piccinini wants continental football; whether Pisa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
$8.0K was the most the club would pay and Cittadella were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Stojilković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Stojilković 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 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Carpi for Daniel Denoon was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Felipe Loyola 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.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Minute 90, against Carrarese, 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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 Pisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Pisa close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 16 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Felipe Loyola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$8.0K on the table at Cittadella. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pisa 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 Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pisa 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 Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$9.0K on the table at Cittadella. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hellas Verona have kept their man, and Pisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andrea Bertolini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Flavio Ferraro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
MarketOne of our own: Ciro Gatti joins the Pisa first team
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of İsak Vural
SquadOmar Correia falls out with a teammate over standards
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pisa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Sassuolo for Rosen Bozhinov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Felipe Loyola 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Caracciolo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Wassim Elasri has written the date down.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Loyola wants continental football; whether Pisa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Stojilković 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.
Rosen Bozhinov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Yverdon waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pisa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pisa asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Omar Correia 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Pisa will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Filippo Pittarello has come up in conversations Pisa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simone Canestrelli signs something — a contract at Pisa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pisa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Felipe Loyola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Stojilković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pisa asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pisa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Felipe Loyola 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.
Pisa asked and AC Milan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Omar Correia 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 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.
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 Arturo Calabresi is on it.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Pisa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Pisa and Foggia have settled on $450.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filip Stojilković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
30 appearances and 16 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The chase for Jacopo Bacci ended with $1.8M changing hands and Sorrento out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The fee is $300.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Torres drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Pisa are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Reggiana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pisa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pisa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Pisa asked and Reggiana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Filip Stojilković 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 offer went to Forli this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
14 goals in 37 games at Carrarese — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
$63.0K settles it between the clubs for Jacopo Furlan
Lecco have accepted the money. What Pisa do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer went to Reggiana this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Pisa will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriele Piccinini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutIchem Ferrah has become a man the manager trusts
Pisa have gone to Casarano with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
İsak Vural, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Casertana for Ichem Ferrah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Pisa asked and Sorrento said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Elia Giani’s exile
The terracesPisa supporters have found a favourite in İsak Vural
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 appearances and 1 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Caracciolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 7.75. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.” Raffaele Ricci, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adrian Lahdo did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Felipe Loyola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pisa heard it as anything else.
14 goals in 36 games at Carrarese — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorran 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.
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pisa heard it as anything else.
Felipe Loyola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Caracciolo 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.
13 goals in 35 games at Carrarese — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adrian Lahdo did not need any: 8.07, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Caracciolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Raffaele Ricci could afford to be generous.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mateusz Machaj commits to Pisa for another 1 years.
The dugout3 May 2027
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 Raffaele Ricci to a room that had heard them before.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Antonio Caracciolo.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ichem Ferrah is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Filip Stojilković 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 Antonio Caracciolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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 Raffaele Ricci left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriele Piccinini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Virtus Entella will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Pisa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrea Petagna provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7.92, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pisa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pisa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Felipe Loyola 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 had been thinking. Antonio Caracciolo 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.
13 goals in 31 games at Carrarese — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Raffaele Ricci was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Pisa dressing room was either.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rosen Bozhinov is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pisa can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Caracciolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pisa heard it as anything else.
Felipe Loyola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Caracciolo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pisa know it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.
Felipe Loyola 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Stojilković trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Caracciolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 Raffaele Ricci to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pisa know it.
14 goals in 25 games at Carpi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“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 Pisa, and 5 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 19 actions, 6.97, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“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; Pisa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Felipe Loyola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 20 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.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Pisa know now that the thought has arrived.
A 1‑1 draw with Arezzo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Raffaele Ricci was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Pisa dressing room was either.
Felipe Loyola 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.
“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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pisa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutIchem Ferrah has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Caracciolo 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.
Pisa ran out of time with Renate. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Casarano have kept their man, and Pisa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8 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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pisa have done the hard part with Renate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“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 Pisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pisa close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 4 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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Felipe Loyola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Eskimó is living that version at Pisa, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pisa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Cremonese for Simone Canestrelli was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Pisa asked and Crotone said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A point taken on 94 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.
Samuele Angori has gone, the accounts have $18.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deal with Universitatea Craiova is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The name of Filippo Pittarello has come up in conversations Pisa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
500 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pisa have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alessandro Confente had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Add another name to the list: Inter have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Samuele Angori. The answer from Pisa has not changed — yet.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gabriele Piccinini scored, was marked 7.66, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Felipe Loyola 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 phone has started ringing about Arturo Calabresi again, and this time the name on the line is Crotone. Pisa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Pisa asked and Como said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Mehdi Léris was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
Felipe Loyola 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at Pisa 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa 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 Gabriele Piccinini 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.” Gabriele Piccinini has his answer from Pisa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody at Pisa 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Raffaele Ricci after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
AS Roma go through and Pisa go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Stefano Moreo takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefano Moreo provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorran did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Pisa can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorran 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Simone Scuffet has moved up it.
Filip Stojilković 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 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Virtus Entella next, and one man in the Pisa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Ichem Ferrah is on it.
“I watch every Pisa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Frosinone runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Filippo Pittarello’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pisa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Pisa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Benevento are out and Pisa go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match4 Nov 2026
Tiago Malfatti wins it after the whistle should have gone
106 minutes played. Tiago Malfatti found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Benevento went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tiago Malfatti did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Felipe Loyola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
“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.
Felipe Loyola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pisa heard it as anything else.
A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout2 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.” Raffaele Ricci, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
Lorran 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad26 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Pisa 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Raffaele Ricci on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.64, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Pisa is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“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.
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.
Filip Stojilković 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 shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Pisa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
İsak Vural has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pisa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
3 goals in 9 games at NK Maribor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pisa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filippo Pittarello signs something — a contract at Pisa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Felipe Loyola 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.98, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Raffaele Ricci left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Pisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 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. 8.14 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Filip Stojilković in the middle of it, and Ascoli unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
7 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Pittarello, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 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.” Raffaele Ricci, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I watch every Pisa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Frosinone runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
İsak Vural is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andrea Petagna’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pisa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
İsak Vural, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. İsak Vural 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Pisa can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Raffaele Ricci after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
Squadİsak Vural is the weekend's best young player
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pisa can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Pisa will try again when the window opens; Sassuolo may not be selling by then.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Pisa than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
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 Avellino.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriele Piccinini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Pisa would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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.
“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 Pisa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Schalke 04 paid $15.4M and Pisa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
$3.9M on the table at Sassuolo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Mattéo Tramoni has gone, the accounts have $15.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Pisa offered $3.7M; Avellino said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $3.7M — a club that wants Fali Candé enough to be asked twice.
He is 22 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.
Pisa have gone to Avellino with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The phone has started ringing about Filip Stojilković again, and this time the name on the line is Bari. Pisa are listening politely and promising nothing.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.0M — a club that wants Luca Palmiero enough to be asked twice.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Filippo Pittarello’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pisa needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The name of Samuele Angori keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Pisa say nothing, which says plenty.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Samuele Angori
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Pisa would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Filip Stojilković 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 trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pisa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pianese waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pisa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pisa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pisa hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pisa heard it as anything else.
Felipe Loyola was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pisa, another week without a signature from Stefano Moreo.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and Pisa are still learning each other