Adam Przybek damages knee ligaments — 135 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between PSM and Arema, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mauro Zijlstra 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Sheriddin Boboev at his very best
Player ratingsTaisei Marukawa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Arief Catur has just signed for PSM, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Latrell Aken 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. PSM told Matías Lucero something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kurniawan Darmawan kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Latrell Aken 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Aleksa Andrejić has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means PSM have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Lucero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.77, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
7 goals in one match, Sheriddin Boboev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of PSM and PSBS Biak.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Lucero 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.
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.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal that would have taken Kodai Tanaka to Dewa United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to PSM with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
73 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at PSM 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.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Andrew Jung 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.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Lucero 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. 63 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Buyung Ismu Lessy has just signed for PSM, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rizky Eka 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 fee is $1.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Persib drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Latrell Aken 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.
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.
A loan enquiry to Arsenal: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad24 Jan 2028
6 new faces, and PSM 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teguh Trisnanda 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Dewa United for Kodai Tanaka 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.
The chase for José Enrique ended with $210.0K changing hands and Persik out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Przybek trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Careers are short and most of them do not end in a deal like this one. José Enrique has just secured his, and nobody at PSM begrudges him it — out loud.
$210.0K settles it between the clubs for José Enrique
Persik have accepted the money. What PSM do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bali United paid $380.0K and PSM took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Latrell Aken 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.
PSM asked and Maluku Utara United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation PSM are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 PSM, 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Prince Kallon again, and this time the name on the line is Persis. PSM are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
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 Jacques Thémopelé is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSM 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 Fabricio Pérez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Sheriddin Boboev's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PSM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. PSM will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Čumić 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PSM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Abdul Rahman
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. PSM will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ananda Raehan 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kodai Tanaka signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutPrince Kallon asks for a word with the manager
SquadThe training reports on Kodai Tanaka are not good
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm 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.
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 Victor Dethan is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Latrell Aken 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 Ananda Raehan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yuran Lopes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Latrell Aken was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PSM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kodai Tanaka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one PSM will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Latrell Aken’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at PSM and a proper look at me.” He remains Bhayangkara Presisi’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Prince Kallon, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Ananda Raehan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at PSM has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Latrell Aken 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 Fabricio Pérez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kodai Tanaka signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 PSM 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 Yuran Lopes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
8 new faces, and PSM 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Luka Čumić has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
A season average of 7.36 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. PSM know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
0‑5 to Dewa United, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Position 8 on 53 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dedi Wibowo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hendro Darmawan 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. Bambang Arhan 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.
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 ratings20 Sep 2027
Fabricio Pérez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Latrell Aken 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.
Something was said to Latrell Aken and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kurniawan Darmawan after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ananda Raehan 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: 51. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PSM offered $280.0K; Persik 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabricio Pérez 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
9 new faces, and PSM 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.
Fabricio Pérez, 21, 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 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal with Bali United died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
PSM close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 11 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.
$280.0K on the table at Persik. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabricio Pérez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Persija is saying, and nobody at PSM is enjoying the guessing.
The fee is $340.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dewa United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
PSM have gone to Bali United 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.
Latrell Aken 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Andi Irfan has just signed for PSM, and for once the answer mattered.
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Dewa United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$300.0K on the table at Persik. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Latrell Aken 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. Fabricio Pérez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bali United have kept their man, and PSM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
PSM had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dewa United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
PSM have gone to Bali United 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$320.0K was the most the club would pay and Persik 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.
Persijap paid $210.0K and PSM took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. PSM have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Persik had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.36 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. PSM know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The offer went to Persik 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.
At 21 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Latrell Aken 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.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at PSM and a proper look at me.” He remains Bhayangkara Presisi’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PSM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
PSM had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Utrecht, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Latrell Aken 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 Fabricio Pérez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 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 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Dewa 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Latrell Aken 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.
Aloísio Soares 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Persebaya waiting with a shirt. Nobody at PSM is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” PSIM had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.29 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. PSM know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
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.
PSM 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. PSM will try not to make too much of it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 8.41, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deal with Groningen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Čumić 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.
PSM asked and Temperley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $42.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Semen Padang drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
PSM 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.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Persik scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Aqil Savik 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.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. PSM have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Fabricio Pérez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.42
A mark of 8.42 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Fahrul Aditia had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PSM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. PSM have done the hard part with Semen Padang, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.20, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Jacques Thémopelé has come up in conversations PSM were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Darmawan to a room that had heard them before.
A loan enquiry to Bhayangkara Presisi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
93 minutes played. Sheriddin Boboev found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Dewa United went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Fabricio Pérez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.44
A mark of 8.44 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. PSM will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sheriddin Boboev. 3‑2 against Dewa United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Dewa United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
Aloísio Soares 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.
Jacques Thémopelé had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Dewa United were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 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 PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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.
Fabricio Pérez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20
A mark of 8.20 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between PSM and Semen Padang, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 21 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Bhayangkara Presisi continues; the message travels home.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Aloísio Soares 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 Henhen Herdiana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout26 Apr 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 Darmawan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 25 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Luka Čumić scored in the 87th minute, Bali United had already begun thinking about the journey home, and PSM took the lot.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aloísio Soares 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
Player ratingsLuka Čumić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PSM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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.
At 21 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Reza Arya Pratama has his answer from PSM; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at PSM, and 2 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. PSM told Fabricio Pérez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Successful dribbles: 60. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PSM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Maluku Utara United; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout29 Mar 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 Darmawan left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Čumić signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at PSM 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at PSM is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
7 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.98, and 2 involvements.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Pérez 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.
6 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gilang Ardha has just signed for PSM, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.53 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 50. 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.
5 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around PSM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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.
Aloísio Soares 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 dugout1 Mar 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 Darmawan, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 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 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fabricio Pérez did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luka Čumić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Aloísio Soares 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about PSM and PSBS Biak in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olimpia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Čumić 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 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.
A 2‑0 win over Madura United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Rizky Eka was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsBoth jobs done by Daisuke Sakai — 7.02
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. PSM have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
PSM close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 3 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. PSM have done the hard part with Olimpia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Temperley is saying, and nobody at PSM is enjoying the guessing.
Bhayangkara Presisi paid $230.0K and PSM took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
PSM asked and Cruzeiro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everything agreed with Temperley, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cruzeiro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Add another name to the list: Semen Padang have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Victor Dethan. The answer from PSM has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bhayangkara Presisi have kept their man, and PSM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Beitar Jerusalem is saying, and nobody at PSM is enjoying the guessing.
Hilman Syah 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beitar Jerusalem have kept their man, and PSM go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheriddin Boboev signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around PSM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Add another name to the list: Madura United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Hilman Syah. The answer from PSM has not changed — yet.
Hilman Syah 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 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.
“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 PSM, 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beitar Jerusalem 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Čumić signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Muhammad Arfan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one PSM will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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 Yuran Lopes has written the date down.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheriddin Boboev signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at PSM. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PSM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Čumić signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reza Arya Pratama 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 Yuran Lopes has written the date down.
Hilman Syah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheriddin Boboev signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Hilman Syah 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 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSM 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 PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Čumić signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
SquadGledson is training like a man with a point to make
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.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one PSM will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheriddin Boboev signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 23 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. PSM told Or Israelov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutHilman Syah knocks on the manager's door
The dugoutThe manager makes Kodai Tanaka a promise
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bagus Nugroho 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 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luka Čumić signs something — a contract at PSM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Kodai Tanaka a promise
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sheriddin Boboev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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. Sávio has moved up it.
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 Syahrul Lasinari has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. PSM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
Hilman Syah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mufli Hidayat is on it.
Hilman Syah 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.
8.06. 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Daisuke Sakai is still being punished for one mistake
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PSM can pretend not to have heard.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Septian Hidayat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and PSM 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.
“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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Persija in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Fahrul Aditia to Persijap has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to PSM with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Maluku Utara 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.
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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match29 Aug 2026
Luka Čumić wins it after the whistle should have gone
96 minutes played. Luka Čumić found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Persijap went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Danubio keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The offer went to Maluku Utara 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.
Add another name to the list: Persebaya have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rasyid Bakri. The answer from PSM has not changed — yet.
In brief
Player ratingsSheriddin Boboev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Luka Čumić at his very best
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSM 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 PSM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Nagoya Grampus keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Hilman Syah 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason PSM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nagoya Grampus 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.
“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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at PSM has been clear about where Akbar Tanjung stands, which is more than many ever get.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer from Bali United for Dušan Lagator 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.
The deal with Heracles 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.
Hilman Syah 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Egy Hidayat has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hendro Wibowo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Wahyu Saddil 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.
12 seasons and 167 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has 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 PSM can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Bhayangkara Presisi tried to reorganise, PSM did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.