Marked for Facundo Melivilo
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Krylya Sovetov 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Krylya Sovetov 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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; Krylya Sovetov 2 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Krylya Sovetov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arseny Abzalilov 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Emin Eskerov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Krylya Sovetov 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Krylya Sovetov 2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Mar 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Krylya Sovetov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Kirill Stolbov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dani Fernández commits to Krylya Sovetov 2 for another 4 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Vladislav Panteleev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Danila Saveljev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad8 Mar 2027
No place for Ahmed Raed in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Krylya Sovetov 2 are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market8 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Krylya Sovetov 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market8 Mar 2027
Krylya Sovetov 2 have made Ahmed Raed available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Market22 Feb 2027
The offer from Ufa for Kirill Pechenin 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Fernando Costanza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets22 Feb 2027
Krylya Sovetov asked and Arsenal Tula said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
24 appearances away from home and 14 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market22 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Melivilo signs something — a contract at Krylya Sovetov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Yury Gorshkov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Krylya Sovetov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
No deal for Matvey Lukin at that price
Krylya Sovetov offered $3.5M; CSKA Moscow said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rotor have kept their man, and Krylya Sovetov go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Fernando Costanza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Mihajlo Banjac falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amar Rahmanović, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jimmy Marín'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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market15 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernando Costanza signs something — a contract at Krylya Sovetov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kirill Pechenin had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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 Krylya Sovetov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Krylya Sovetov go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match6 Feb 2027
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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The offer went to CSKA Moscow this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Grasshopper is saying, and nobody at Krylya Sovetov is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Krylya Sovetov
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Krylya Sovetov are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Thomas Galdames 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match30 Jan 2027
CSKA Moscow left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ufa are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Krylya Sovetov will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
The goals keep arriving from Vladislav Shitov’s exile
13 goals in 22 games at Torpedo Moscow — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Krylya Sovetov updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market1 Feb 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Facundo Melivilo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Krylya Sovetov.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Kokarev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The team sheet said everything about Sergey Pesjakov
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 Sergey Pesjakov.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 43. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match6 Jan 2027
0‑2 against Rotor, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Krylya Sovetov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Krylya Sovetov can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match9 Jan 2027
Zenit left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kirill Pechenin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Krylya Sovetov dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Dec 2026
Krylya Sovetov make home a hard place to visit
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Vadim Rakov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikita Kokarev and Krylya Sovetov agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Foma Pyankov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mihajlo Banjac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.23, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Artyom Zolotov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Vadim Rakov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 45. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match5 Dec 2026
Krylya Sovetov make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Thomas Galdames 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
Vadim Rakov is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Krylya Sovetov will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vladlen Anisimov commits to Krylya Sovetov for another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ivan Ignatjev slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ivan Ignatjev is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Artyom Zolotov was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Krylya Sovetov dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Nikita Chernov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Krylya Sovetov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Thomas Galdames and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Krylya Sovetov can tell you which week it ends in.
Match24 Oct 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Valentin Paltsev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Artyom Zolotov was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Krylya Sovetov dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Krylya Sovetov told Martin Kramarič something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Krylya Sovetov lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CSKA Moscow? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Melivilo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
0‑4 to Spartak Moscow, 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladimir Ignatenko and Krylya Sovetov agree another 5 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Fernando Costanza 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Maksim Popov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mihajlo Banjac 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.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Krylya Sovetov are still strangers to each other
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Artyom Zolotov after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amar Rahmanović, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Krylya Sovetov's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Krylya Sovetov has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Sep 2026
7 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Fernando Costanza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑2 to Zenit, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
The cruellest goal, and it is Rai Vloet's
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Krylya Sovetov will not try tonight.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Sergey Pesjakov
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Krasnodar wanted more than $1.8M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Krylya Sovetov asked and Nizhniy Novgorod said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Krylya Sovetov are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Krylya Sovetov
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Thomas Galdames and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Vadim Rakov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Vadim Rakov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Artyom Zolotov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Krylya Sovetov asked and Ural said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Vadim Rakov beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Thomas Galdames and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Krylya Sovetov
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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Pechenin, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match29 Aug 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Dinamo Moscow defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Krylya Sovetov and Akron have settled on $4.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Krylya Sovetov did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Lech is saying, and nobody at Krylya Sovetov is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Fernando Costanza 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Krylya Sovetov asked and Haladas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Krylya Sovetov are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to KV Oostende: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 6.99, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.