0‑3 to Barcelona, 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.
Match2 Nov 2027
Álex Cardero wins it after the whistle should have gone
115 minutes played. Álex Cardero found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Cartagena went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peio Canales 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.87, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Peio Canales was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
2‑3 to Levante, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peio Canales 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Jacobo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout1 Nov 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 2‑3 Felipe Carrasco left the room before anybody could ask which.
19 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Carlos Fernández 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 Oviedo can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑2 to Racing Santander, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Nacho Vidal 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felipe Carrasco after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Oviedo told Brandon Domingues something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Jacobo has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Dani Rebollo
0‑3 to Betis, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Peio Canales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Alberto Reina 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ovie Ejaria 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alberto Reina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Ovie Ejaria has written the date down.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Oviedo would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Jacobo’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 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 Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑2 to Athletic Bilbao, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Nacho Vidal 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.
“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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Oviedo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
16 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oviedo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Oviedo and Sevilla, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nacho Vidal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Oviedo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felipe Carrasco after 2‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutPeio Canales knocks on the manager's door
15 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseda 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Peio Canales 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oviedo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
36 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Oviedo had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Valencia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Oviedo ran out of time with Huesca. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Alberto Reina 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.
Oviedo asked and Atlético Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Nacho Vidal 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
9 new faces, and Oviedo 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.
13 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oviedo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Oviedo asked and Ibiza 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 Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 17 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oviedo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A brace, and Ilyas Chaira takes the afternoon — 7.77
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ilyas Chaira provided it, and the 7.77 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oviedo can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Almería for Ruly 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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
In brief
SquadDavid Costas falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alberto Reina 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. Real Sociedad have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Oviedo have made the call to Newell's Old Boys. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jacobo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oviedo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Madrid have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nacho Vidal 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 Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
13 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.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Aarón Escandell has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Oviedo are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and José Álvarez clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
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. Olympiacos have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Oviedo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oviedo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
Carlos Fernández 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oviedo has been clear about where Dani Villahermosa stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oviedo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Alberto Reina 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ilyas Chaira 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevilla have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Oviedo will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oviedo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The fee is $2.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Albacete drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Alberto Reina 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 Oviedo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Oviedo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oviedo can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Pablo Sáenz was one of the reasons people came, and $4.9M does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brandon Domingues and Oviedo agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
$3.9M on the table at Villarreal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oviedo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Albacete have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
David Carmo 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Oviedo has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
David Carmo 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Oviedo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Athletic Bilbao is saying, and nobody at Oviedo is enjoying the guessing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joseda has just signed for Oviedo, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Carmo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oviedo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Oviedo, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Oviedo have done the hard part with Teruel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jun 2027
David Carmo 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A loan enquiry to Athletic Bilbao: 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. 28 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.
David Carmo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
Something was said to Ilyas Chaira and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Oviedo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Squad24 May 2027
David Carmo 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.
Alberto Reina 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutIlyas Chaira knocks on the manager's door
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oviedo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
10 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 Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Oviedo pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oviedo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Oviedo, 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 Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
13 goals in 36 games at Guadalajara — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Oviedo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jacobo.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Oviedo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑10 to Real Madrid, 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.
Diego López 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.
Match1 May 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Oviedo and Real Madrid in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Carmo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Oviedo can tell you which week it ends in.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Nacho Vidal
BoardroomNobody left the Oviedo dressing room in a hurry
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
0‑4 against Real Sociedad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and David Carmo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Oviedo lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Oviedo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Carmo 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 Aarón Escandell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Valencia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 José Álvarez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
5 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
David Carmo 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.
13 goals in 31 games at Guadalajara — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Oviedo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilyas Chaira, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 José Álvarez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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 Oviedo can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Carmo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Juan Cruz
35Edition
The Oviedo Post
29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondentUneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
David Costas damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
David Carmo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Colombatto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Atlético Madrid in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Dani Calvo has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Oviedo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Carmo 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” José Álvarez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Diego López 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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. Oviedo told Diego López something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” José Álvarez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Oviedo 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juan Cruz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Oviedo know it.
10 goals in 27 games at Guadalajara — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Oviedo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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.” José Álvarez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oviedo can pretend not to have heard.
David Carmo 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Oviedo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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: Tani Oluwaseyi. 1‑0 against Mallorca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Colombatto, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Carmo'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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oviedo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Santi Cazorla 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.
6 goals in one match, Diego López on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Oviedo and Betis.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oviedo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
1 for Santiago Colombatto, marked 7.47, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
Oviedo asked and Sevilla 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oviedo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Diego López 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Costas commits to Oviedo for another 3 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
Oviedo ran out of time with Deportivo La Coruña. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of David Costas
Kwasi Sibo has left for Sanluqueño in a $3.0M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Oviedo close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Oviedo have done the hard part with Deportivo La Coruña, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Oviedo heard it as anything else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Alavés keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sanluqueño waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Oviedo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Oviedo, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 42 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.09 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
David Carmo 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
Oviedo asked and Elche 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Oviedo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Oviedo can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Carmo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diego López 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Oviedo have done the hard part with Leganés, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Mérida have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kwasi Sibo. The answer from Oviedo has not changed — yet.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Colombatto 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.
Santi Cazorla 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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. Valladolid have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Santi Cazorla 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 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
David Carmo 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.
Rayo Vallecano left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by José Álvarez 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A 0‑3 beating by Real Madrid was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad21 Dec 2026
David Carmo 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Oviedo can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” José Álvarez after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutChris Ramos dropped after a run of poor form
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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 Pablo Sáenz is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Real Sociedad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chris Ramos. 3‑1 against Girona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.” José Álvarez kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oviedo has been clear about where Ruly stands, which is more than many ever get.
Something was said to Estanis Pedrola and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
0‑4 to Atlético Madrid, 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.
David Carmo 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 Santiago Colombatto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Beaten 4 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Marked 4.80. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Aarón Escandell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” José Álvarez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Oviedo dressing room was either.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juan Cruz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutSanti Cazorla is not enjoying his job description
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oviedo has been clear about where Ilyas Chaira stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Pablo Sáenz is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oviedo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dani Calvo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Getafe had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Oviedo did not stop to explain themselves.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Santi Cazorla 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
3 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.” José Álvarez kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Fernández provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oviedo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Oviedo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aarón Escandell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Celta tried to reorganise, Oviedo did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Oviedo scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Celta in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Betis left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Colombatto 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 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Mallorca next, and one man in the Oviedo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Oviedo is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
David Carmo 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oviedo has been clear about where Kwasi Sibo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alberto Reina’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 Álvaro Lemos has written the date down.
0‑3 to Athletic Bilbao, 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
Alberto Reina 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.
11 combined actions and 6.73. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Oviedo 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” José Álvarez, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
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.
Athletic Bilbao next, and one man in the Oviedo dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
At 41 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oviedo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aarón Escandell 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: 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” José Álvarez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Carlos Fernández’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Oviedo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Kwasi Sibo
Oviedo ran out of time with Córdoba. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
7 goals in one match, Carlos Fernández on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Oviedo and Osasuna.
Squad14 Sep 2026
David Carmo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cortulua have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Aarón Escandell'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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Oviedo ran out of time with Almería. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The bid was some way short and Oviedo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
David Carmo 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.
Nacho Vidal 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and Oviedo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Juan Cruz is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Everything was agreed with Deportivo La Coruña and then the doctor spoke. Oviedo have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Oviedo have gone to Almería 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Fernández provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Oviedo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Córdoba 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $11.1M — a club that wants Federico Bonini enough to be asked twice.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aarón Escandell was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$7.6M on the table at Deportivo La Coruña. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Oviedo offered $1.4M; Real Sociedad said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cortulua keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Oviedo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Carmo 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.
Oviedo asked and Sport Recife said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$1.4M on the table at Real Sociedad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.5M — a club that wants Álvaro Odriozola enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gimnasia La Plata keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
David Carmo 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.
Sport Recife have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Oviedo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The deal with Gimnasia La Plata 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 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Lucas Suárez 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. Hugo Aguilar 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. Gonzalo Fernández 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. Mateo Duran 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.
In brief
Squad15 new faces, and Oviedo are still learning each other
The dugoutIlyas Chaira asks for a word with the manager
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Oviedo heard it as anything else.
Santi Cazorla 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 David Carmo 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. Crystal Palace have kept their man, and Oviedo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Ovie Ejaria again, and this time the name on the line is Guadalajara. Oviedo are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Oviedo know it.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.