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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.16 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Sampdoria and Bari, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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 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.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Estanis Pedrola commits to Sampdoria for another 2 years.
Boardroom6 Sep 2038
An order from above at Sampdoria: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Pietro Traversa 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.
1‑4 to Cesena, 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 Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings30 Aug 2038
A first appearance Rafal Jozwiak will want to forget — 5.37
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.37, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 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.
Squad30 Aug 2038
A last season at home is what Miguel Mota is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Pietro Traversa at his very best
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Aug 2038
9 academy players handed senior numbers at Sampdoria
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Renato Armani 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. Giuseppe Agostini 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sampdoria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Salvatore Esposito signs something — a contract at Sampdoria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
Giulio Simi 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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Pietro Traversa 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.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 Salvatore Esposito signs something — a contract at Sampdoria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Miguel Castro is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Sambu Ricardo 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sampdoria will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 89% of everything Sampdoria earn
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Pietro Traversa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Miguel Mota will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Franco Saccone has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad6 new faces, and Sampdoria are still learning each other
621Edition
The Sampdoria Sentinel
21 Jun 2038
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces21 Jun 2038
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
“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 Sampdoria, 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sampdoria will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Sambu Ricardo 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.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sampdoria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Pietro Braccioforte 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
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.
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.
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.
252 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Boardroom7 Jun 2038
An order from above at Sampdoria: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Pietro Traversa 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 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 Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Salvatore Esposito 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 will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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 Luigi Samele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Giulio Simi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody 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.
12 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. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Monza kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Sampdoria will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filippo Galafassi provided it, and the 8.86 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 Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Sambu Ricardo 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 145% of everything Sampdoria earn
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gioele Venuti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Salvatore Esposito 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.02 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thijs Ossevoort will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Pietro Traversa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gioele Venuti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A season average of 7.21 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad5 Apr 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.74 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sampdoria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shots: 15. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
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.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thijs Ossevoort will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sampdoria know it.
9.11. 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.
Pietro Traversa had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Mantova were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.74 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Pietro Traversa at his very best
601Edition
The Sampdoria Sentinel
1 Feb 2038
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces1 Feb 2038
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Pietro Traversa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sampdoria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Two goals and a mark of 9.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Pietro Traversa will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Sampdoria escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
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.
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 8.54 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thijs Ossevoort has agreed terms with Palermo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
6 goals in one match, Filippo Galafassi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Sampdoria and Catanzaro.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Adriano Negri at his very best
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Théodore Pierre has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 18 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces4 Jan 2038
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Adriano Negri decided otherwise. Lazio had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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: Adriano Negri. 3‑2 against Monza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Adriano Negri in the middle of it, and Monza unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Pietro Traversa 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.
Marked 8.49 — 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sampdoria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sampdoria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sampdoria and Spezia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
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.
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
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.
511 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.74 at 34, 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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Dec 2037
An order from above at Sampdoria: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
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.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sampdoria has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sampdoria and Südtirol, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Adriano Negri 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Position 18 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paulo Sambu Ricardo 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. Sampdoria told Gaëtan Coucke something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
28 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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.
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.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Sampdoria and Cesena, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
0‑4 to Modena, 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.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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 Sampdoria know it.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Sampdoria and Padova, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
91 minutes played. Filippo Galafassi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Avellino went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.01 at 34, 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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Adriano Negri 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Sampdoria, 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Oct 2037
Pietro Traversa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Latina go through and Sampdoria go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pietro Traversa provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces28 Sep 2037
A cup hiding at Latina leaves Sampdoria explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sampdoria will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Adriano Negri 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.
Giulio Simi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every 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.
Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
There were 9 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.
Match12 Sep 2037
Adriano Negri wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Adriano Negri found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Bologna went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Salvatore Esposito 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him 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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2037
An order from above at Sampdoria: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 Sampdoria know it.
“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 Sampdoria, 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Aug 2037
7 academy players handed senior numbers at Sampdoria
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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Achille Marini 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. Leonardo Fortunato is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Filippo Gamberini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad24 Aug 2037
A last season at home is what David Kobesov is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Adriano Negri 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sampdoria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Gioele Venuti has come up in conversations Sampdoria were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
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.
Squad10 Aug 2037
7 new faces, and Sampdoria 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.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad3 Aug 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
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.
Pietro Traversa 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 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 Sampdoria know it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Adriano Negri 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 name of Gioele Venuti has come up in conversations Sampdoria were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sampdoria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stefano Girelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Sampdoria, 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
In brief
Boardroom102% of the income goes out in wages at Sampdoria
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
Pietro Traversa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sampdoria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jens Lien will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sampdoria can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
377 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petro Marku will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Salvatore Esposito 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 will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria 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 Estanis Pedrola signs something — a contract at Sampdoria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 May 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sampdoria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
24 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Fabio Depaoli 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.53 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petro Marku will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad11 May 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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.
9.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.09 at 33, 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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sampdoria and Reggiana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Apr 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sampdoria know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.72 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gioele Venuti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
7 goals in one match, Estanis Pedrola on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Sampdoria and Pisa.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Sampdoria dressing room in a hurry
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Antonio Kasala
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Gaëtan Coucke
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampdoria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petro Marku will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 ratings13 Apr 2037
Pietro Traversa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.35. 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Fabio Depaoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Carrarese the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Sampdoria will enjoy reviewing.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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 upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fabio Depaoli 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gerardo Bellini 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Petro Marku will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sampdoria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Estanis Pedrola had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Monza were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 ratings2 Mar 2037
Pietro Traversa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.36. 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
A brace, and Luigi Samele takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luigi Samele provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampdoria can pretend not to have heard.
Fabio Depaoli 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.
8.97. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampdoria they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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.
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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces2 Feb 2037
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Marked 8.43 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Luigi Samele
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sampdoria is running low.
“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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
24 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Fabio Depaoli 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sampdoria is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.26 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 Salvatore Esposito signs something — a contract at Sampdoria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces5 Jan 2037
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sampdoria, another week without a signature from Paulo Sambu Ricardo.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.71 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Sampdoria, 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fabio Depaoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filippo Galafassi 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 Salvatore Esposito signs something — a contract at Sampdoria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces8 Dec 2036
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom8 Dec 2036
An order from above at Sampdoria: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Fabio Depaoli 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.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria, 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 Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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.
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings1 Dec 2036
Pietro Traversa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.40. 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.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria 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.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
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.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampdoria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Words at Sampdoria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salvatore Esposito 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sampdoria can tell you which week it ends in.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces10 Nov 2036
The mood at Sampdoria has turned into something else
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.
Fabio Depaoli 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑3 to Juve Stabia, 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.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Luigi Samele could not do
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fabio Depaoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
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.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sampdoria 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 Sampdoria, and it is not being withdrawn.
27 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Salvatore Esposito 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.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.