“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 The request is on a desk at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Denis Polyakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Zaleskiy 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Vladislav Vasilyuchek will call it something else in private.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mikita Klimovich after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vadim Tkachenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Dinamo Minsk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 6.83, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Zaleskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Mikita Klimovich left the room before anybody could ask which.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against BATE.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikolay Sotnikov did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Zaleskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Mikita Klimovich could afford to be generous.
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.
Isloch go through and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
Denis Polyakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmitriy Lutik and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 3 years.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Oreshkevich 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Marked 4.92. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Dzerzhinsk can pretend not to have heard.
Denis Polyakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Zaleskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Artem Gurenko
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Artem Gurenko has come out of that comparison in the side, and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mikita Klimovich chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, another week without a signature from Danila Slesarchuk.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Mark Mokin, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Dzerzhinsk they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrey Zaleskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nikolay Sotnikov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It needed Mark Mokin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dinamo Minsk, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mikita Klimovich was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Arsenal Dzerzhinsk dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Fedortsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Denis Polyakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Sotnikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Denis Polyakov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nikolay Sotnikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Fedortsov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Denis Polyakov and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Arsenal Dzerzhinsk know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Nikolay Sotnikov 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sergey Sazonchik is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Astapenkov 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.
7 goals in 6 games at Volna Pinsk — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I did not go to Dnepr Mogilev to sit and watch. I want to come back to Arsenal Dzerzhinsk and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danila Slesarchuk signs something — a contract at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
17 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Sotnikov 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 remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal Dzerzhinsk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Mark Mokin, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk has to find a result from somewhere.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Mark Mokin had Arsenal Dzerzhinsk level again within 3 minutes, and Vitebsk never got to play with a lead at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Renat Nikiforov and Arsenal Dzerzhinsk agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Denis Polyakov 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“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 Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Artem Gurenko'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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikolay Sotnikov 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Mikita Klimovich left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Yuriy Lovets'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 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 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.
7 goals in 6 games at Volna Pinsk — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Arsenal Dzerzhinsk updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Yuriy Lovets will want back
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Mark Mokin, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zalgiris, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Add another name to the list: Smorgon have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vladislav Vasiljev. The answer from Arsenal Dzerzhinsk has not changed — yet.
BATE will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Maxim Mardas has pre-agreed a move to Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
7.25, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The deal with Zalgiris is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Denis Polyakov 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Egor Skavysh has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dzmitry Filipenko 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. Vitaliy Skavysh is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andrei Noyok 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.