Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ettore Broggian obliged against Sambenedettese. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Vicenza.
32 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
A brace, and Nicola Rauti takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicola Rauti provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ettore Broggian did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Filippo Costa 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Vicenza heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Trento, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Nuno Matos falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vicenza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Riccardo Domeniconi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Trento moved on, Federico Tonin reports back to Vicenza, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vicenza know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vicenza has been clear about where Nuno Matos stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Filippo Costa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Leto 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicola Rauti. 1‑0 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Vicenza know it, and so does everybody who watches 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 33 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
20 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Every 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.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Loris Zonta
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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 board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Filippo Costa 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.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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. Paolo Donadoni 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. Dario Vitale is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from Torino for Nicola Rauti was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Filippo Costa has improved at 33, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Vicenza will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Vicenza heard it as anything else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rosario Di Benedetto is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Filippo Costa 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 5 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Filippo Alessio is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Filippo Costa 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Nicola Rauti has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Filippo Costa 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.
“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 Vicenza, 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
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.
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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Vicenza will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Stradiotto 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 at Vicenza will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Filippo Costa 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.
In brief
SquadMaxime Leverbe falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
The phone has started ringing about Maxime Leverbe again, and this time the name on the line is Giugliano. Vicenza are listening politely and promising nothing.
Filippo Costa 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.
“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 Vicenza, 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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 answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Vicenza told Maxime Leverbe something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Matteo Della Morte is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Filippo Costa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Cuomo 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.
Filippo Costa 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Leto 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filippo Costa signs something — a contract at Vicenza 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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 May 2028
Getting past Manuel Leto has become the hardest job in the division
16 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Filippo Alessio 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.
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.
Filippo Costa 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Francesco Corradini.
Filippo Costa 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 8.31 — 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.
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Vicenza, and it is a cruel one.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Michele Cavion's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filippo Costa signs something — a contract at Vicenza 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 Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Armand Rada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vicenza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Vicenza know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Filippo Costa 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 board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Manuel Leto
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Manuel Leto has come out of that comparison in the side, and Vicenza have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
29 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Filippo Costa 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Getting past Manuel Leto has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Pergolettese? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Vicenza 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Getting past Manuel Leto has become the hardest job in the division
13 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vicenza can tell you which week it ends in.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Filippo Costa 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vicenza is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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 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.
Filippo Costa 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vicenza, and 10 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
MarketFederico Tonin returns from a loan that gave him nothing
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
25 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Filippo Costa 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.
20 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.
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
“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 Vicenza, 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicola Rauti. 1‑0 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Cuomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Filippo Costa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Vicenza have had the benefit of it.
Filippo Costa 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Armand Rada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vicenza 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdoulaye Sall, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Cuomo 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.
Filippo Costa 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Davide Villa is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Filippo Costa 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vicenza, another week without a signature from Francesco Corradini.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Triestina will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Armand Rada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vicenza 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Triestina made Vicenza work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Filippo Costa 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.
19 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Virtus Verona, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Cuomo 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Filippo Costa 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I watch every Vicenza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pergolettese runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Dolomiti Bellunesi will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Vicenza were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Armand Rada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Vicenza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Armand Rada has agreed terms with Cesena for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Mattia Vitale was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.93. 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. 45 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.
Filippo Costa 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.
In brief
SquadGiuseppe Cuomo falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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.
Filippo Costa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 6.97 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vicenza know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Vicenza, 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Vicenza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pergolettese runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
19 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Mattia Vitale at his very best
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Filippo Costa
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Guidonia Montecelio go through and Vicenza go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A brace, and Nicola Rauti takes the afternoon — 8.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicola Rauti provided it, and the 8.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Filippo Costa 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.
18 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Nicola Rauti will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Vicenza escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 Vicenza, 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Davide Villa is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Filippo Costa 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 words a physio says slowly. 98 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Vicenza can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The words a physio says slowly. 105 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vicenza can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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 chase for Abdoulaye Sall ended with $330.0K changing hands and Carpi out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Filippo Costa 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Nicola Rauti has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fabio Ventura is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samuele Giordano has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jacopo Lombardo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
BoardroomNo investment in the facilities at Vicenza
BoardroomThe Vicenza production line keeps running
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Zaglebie for Filippo Alessio was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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 Vicenza they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matteo Davide Villa is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Filippo Costa 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vicenza has been clear about where Armand Rada stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Pergolettese will make the call about Federico Tonin this week. Vicenza have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Filippo Costa 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 Federico Tonin has come up in conversations Vicenza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Vicenza, 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Filippo Costa 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Vicenza will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vicenza, another week without a signature from Filippo Alessio.
$6.6M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Riccardo Gagno was one of the reasons people came, and $6.6M does not replace that by itself.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tommaso Corazza is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Hellas Verona paid $1.4M and Vicenza took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Andrea Ghezzi has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
In brief
SquadWords at Vicenza training over how hard people work
19 goals in 34 games at Vicenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vicenza updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Vicenza training over how hard people work
The offer from Cerro Porteno for Riccardo Gagno was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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.
Riccardo Gagno was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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.
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.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
21 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Capello 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Nobody at Vicenza will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Up for the corner, and Loris Zonta delivers — 7.24
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Loris Zonta scored, was marked 7.24, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.93, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Lecco defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. David Stückler 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.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Vicenza pretended it was anything other than a decision about 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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Vicenza, and 5 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
In brief
SquadLorenzo Caferri falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadMattia Golin dropped after a run of poor form
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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.
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.
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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 9 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Riccardo Gagno 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 Mar 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 1‑0 win over Dolomiti Bellunesi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
15 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Vicenza, and it is not being withdrawn.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vicenza lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicola Rauti. 2‑1 against Trento, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giuseppe Cuomo 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vicenza, another week without a signature from Nuno Matos.
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 Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shirt still fits. Mattia Golin is back at Vicenza, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giuseppe Cuomo, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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.
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.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The chase for Mario Prezioso ended with $360.0K changing hands and Giugliano out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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.
Guidonia Montecelio will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Robert Toma has pre-agreed a move to Vicenza, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Arzignano made Vicenza work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Andrea Ghezzi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Riccardo Gagno 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 Armand Rada has come up in conversations Vicenza were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Nicola Rauti has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Nicola Rauti was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Lecco, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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 watch every Vicenza game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Campobasso runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A brace, and Nicola Rauti takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicola Rauti provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Vicenza have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Riccardo Gagno was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8.66. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
SquadLorenzo Caferri falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza 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.
Marked 8.45 — 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Riccardo Gagno's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
6 goals in 9 games at Vicenza — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Vicenza updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Vicenza scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Riccardo Gagno 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.
20 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Corazza, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxime Leverbe is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vicenza this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Vicenza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Caferri 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.