Herculano Nabian and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Leo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
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.
Nobody at Pontedera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Kouakou Kouadio, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout9 Nov 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 Gabriele Donati left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Pontedera training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Davide De Battisti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Three points for Pontedera, 1‑0 the final word against Ternana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Pablo Vitali was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Umberto Saracco is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.” Gabriele Donati, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Leo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Philip Yeboah 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 8.34 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alessandro Raffi is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Pontedera training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Leo 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.
Umberto Saracco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Herculano Nabian 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; Pontedera are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriele Donati on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 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.” Gabriele Donati chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Words at Pontedera training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Leo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pontedera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 18 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.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.78 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Herculano Nabian was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Gabriele Donati to a room that had heard them before.
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Andrea Caponi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Herculano Nabian 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Arezzo scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gabriele Donati was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Pontedera dressing room was either.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Perugia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pontedera has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AZ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Pontedera asked and Partizan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Daniel Leo 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 needed Herculano Nabian to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Livorno, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gabriele Donati was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Pontedera dressing room was either.
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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Pontedera had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bodo/Glimt, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Pontedera asked and Parma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pontedera 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 Daniel Leo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Sep 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 0‑1 Gabriele Donati left the room before anybody could ask which.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Davide De Battisti has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
3‑0, and Philip Yeboah took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Pontedera tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Philip Yeboah takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Philip Yeboah provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Louis Buffon, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with Bodo/Glimt 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.
Pontedera had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Napoli, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Pontedera go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Philip Yeboah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 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.
Pontedera had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Udinese, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Herculano Nabian 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.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Davide De Battisti and Pontedera agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alberto Gastaldello is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martino Piras has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manuel Bertoni has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alessio Bernardi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pontedera have done the hard part with Napoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Venezia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ignacio Della Vedova is living that version at Pontedera, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Udinese have kept their man, and Pontedera go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Philip Yeboah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Pontedera training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Lugano 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pontedera has been clear about where Luciano Ballan stands, which is more than many ever get.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Pontedera have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Udinese keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Herculano Nabian 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.
Pontedera have gone to Monza 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.
Pontedera asked and Frosinone said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pontedera 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 Luca Piana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Pontedera, another week without a signature from Luca Piana.