Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Adrián Dalmau and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmad Agung trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zulkifli Lukmansyah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Nermin Haljeta has written the date down.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at PSIM that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
A new face in his position, and Ezequiel Vidal suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. PSIM have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
Reva Adi Utama 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Irfan Asnawi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bambang Hardiyanto 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.
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 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ginanjar Wahyu decided nobody was going anywhere. Bhayangkara Presisi had no time left to answer.
“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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adrián Dalmau was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A 1‑0 win over Bhayangkara Presisi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nueva Chicago have kept their man, and PSIM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Minute 85, against Maluku Utara United, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
PSIM asked and Chacarita Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Reva Adi Utama 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Persebaya were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
Player ratingsNermin Haljeta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around PSIM are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
PSIM close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PSIM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM 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 Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persebaya have kept their man, and PSIM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Adrián Dalmau was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Marked 8.17 — 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 86, against Arema, 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.
PSIM have made the call to Nueva Chicago. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Adrián Dalmau 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 Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
PSIM asked and Chacarita Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dedi Pato is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marinus Abimanyu 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. Rizky Hardiyanto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
0‑2 to Persik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Aug 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Kurniawan Hardiyanto to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Julián Gurzi is in the works
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PSIM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Tomás Migliore is in the works
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nermin Haljeta. 2‑1 against Madura United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. PSIM will try not to make too much of it.
PSIM have made the call to Chacarita Juniors. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Glenn Alvin 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 Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
PSIM asked and Chacarita Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Kurniawan Hardiyanto could afford to be generous.
Everything agreed with Nueva Chicago, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at PSIM has been clear about where Fahreza Sudin stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Zahir Fazya has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSIM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM 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 Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Semen Padang spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The deal with Persita 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.
Adrián Dalmau 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Temperley have kept their man, and PSIM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Jun 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 Kurniawan Hardiyanto left the room before anybody could ask which.
PSIM have made the call to Almirante Brown. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
PSIM asked and Bhayangkara Presisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The 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.
“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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Andy Setyo has gone, the accounts have $410.0K 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.
The deal with Colón 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
PSIM asked and Madura United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Adrián Dalmau wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Adrián Dalmau found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Borneo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Adrián Dalmau 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. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
A 2‑0 win over Bhayangkara Presisi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Half the programme played, position 8, 28 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Kurniawan Hardiyanto could afford to be generous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSIM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dony Tri Pamungkas, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Kurniawan Hardiyanto 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.
Maluku Utara United next, and one man in the PSIM dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSIM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. PSIM will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stefano Septian is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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. 11 actions, 7.98, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout10 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.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSIM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dony Tri Pamungkas 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 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSIM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Franco Ramos Mingo 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: 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.
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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the PSIM dressing room was either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zulkifli Lukmansyah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Arema next, and one man in the PSIM dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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 PSIM will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSIM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Adrián Dalmau 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 Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Firman Jaya 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. Ricky Riyadi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSIM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSIM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Adrián Dalmau was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at PSIM can tell you which week it ends in.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PSIM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM 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. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 6.84, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSIM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSIM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Harlan Suardi: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
PSBS Biak go through and PSIM go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSIM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Franco Ramos Mingo 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. Rio Hardiawan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Adrián Dalmau and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSIM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Adrián Dalmau 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. Rio Hardiawan 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Kurniawan Hardiyanto could afford to be generous.
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
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 words a physio says slowly. 86 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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
PSIM close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
PSIM had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Persija, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PSIM asked and Nueva Chicago said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at PSIM than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Borneo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM 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 PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PSIM have made the call to Nueva Chicago. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
“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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PSIM asked and Bali United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Hardiawan 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.
Madura United 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. PSIM have done the hard part with Madura United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmad Irawan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
PSIM have made the call to Bhayangkara Presisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
“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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Bali United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Hardiawan 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.
Adrián Dalmau and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
Dony Tri Pamungkas 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutZahir Fazya asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Franco Ramos Mingo 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 Rio Hardiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at PSIM the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSIM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Make Aldo Maulidino 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
Adrián Dalmau and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
SquadWords at PSIM training over how hard people work
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ahmad Agung
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSIM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Adrián Dalmau was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hardiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Firman Saddil 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. Stefano Firmansyah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zulkifli Lukmansyah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutAhmad Agung knocks on the manager's door
“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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ramos Mingo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ramos Mingo 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.
Dony Tri Pamungkas 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutRendra Teddy knocks on the manager's door
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zulkifli Lukmansyah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSIM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at PSIM. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rendra Teddy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Franco Ramos Mingo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Zulkifli Lukmansyah has, at PSIM, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Syahrian Irawan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hardiawan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
Zulkifli Lukmansyah is 20, and PSIM have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zahir Fazya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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. Andy Setyo has moved up it.
Adrián Dalmau 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adrián Dalmau. 1‑0 against Bhayangkara Presisi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Ahmad Agung
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.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Adrián Dalmau 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Ramos Mingo, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Kurniawan Hardiyanto chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Afreza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSIM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andi Supriadi 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. Dedi Irawan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nermin Haljeta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around PSIM are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at PSIM 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Persik keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
6 goals in one match, Ezequiel Vidal on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of PSIM and Persib.
$160.0K was the most the club would pay and Madura United 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persijap have kept their man, and PSIM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Persik 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The offer went to Madura United 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.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSIM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSIM can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Tel Aviv have kept their man, and PSIM go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Out, 0‑3 to Maluku Utara United, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The offer from PSBS Biak for Andi Irfan 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.
$250.0K on the table at Persija. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSIM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Adrián Dalmau 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 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dimas Firmansyah 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. Andri Hardiyanto 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. Ahmad Hardiyanto 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Witan Beckham is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 PSIM, and it is not being withdrawn.
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Rio Hardiawan 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at PSIM, another week without a signature from Franco Ramos Mingo.
The dugout3 Aug 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Kurniawan Hardiyanto to a room that had heard them before.