It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Giorgi Shelia's mistake
Miroslav Bogosavac 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 8.52 — 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Vadim Uljanov knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
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 Akhmat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akhmat 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 Akhmat 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.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Akhmat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Akhmat have had the benefit of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Akhmat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
In brief
MarketAkhmat may not be able to give Ismael what he wants
The words a physio says slowly. 147 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.
Moisés 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Akhmat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Konaté 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brian Mansilla 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: Mohamed Konaté. 2‑1 against Zenit, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.