Marked for Serginho
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 May 2028
Roman Shaparenko damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Illia Karavashchenko has just signed for Metalist, and for once the answer mattered.
Market22 May 2028
Serginho has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metalist they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom22 May 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Serginho has agreed terms with Kolos for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad22 May 2028
Nicolás Arévalo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout22 May 2028
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 May 2028
Oleh Kozhushko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Kozhushko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 May 2028
The Peter Itodo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Peter Itodo signs something — a contract at Metalist or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout1 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Metalist may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market1 May 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Metalist can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 May 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Metalist told Heorhii Yermakov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout1 May 2028
Peter Itodo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Metalist 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.
Market1 May 2028
The name of Nicolás Arévalo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metalist say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout1 May 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Oleh Kozhushko has written the date down.
Squad1 May 2028
A season on the outside for Serginho
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Metalist has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad1 May 2028
“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 Metalist will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Apr 2028
Vladyslav Kolisnyk damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
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.
Market24 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metalist is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Metalist
Denys Nahnoinyi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
6 new faces, and Metalist are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Kristian Mba
“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 dugout24 Apr 2028
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.
Market24 Apr 2028
The Peter Itodo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Peter Itodo signs something — a contract at Metalist or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Valerii Dubko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valerii Dubko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Apr 2028
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Metalist lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“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.
Market17 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Metalist is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Serginho in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denys Antiukh, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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.
Market17 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Carlos Paraco signs something — a contract at Metalist or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Apr 2028
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Metalist heard it as anything else.
Market3 Apr 2028
The phone has started ringing about Illia Krupskyi again, and this time the name on the line is Haugesund. Metalist are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Metalist
Serginho 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 dugout3 Apr 2028
Peter Itodo gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Peter Itodo is on it.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Oleh Kozhushko knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Kozhushko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Apr 2028
The name of Nicolás Arévalo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Metalist say nothing, which says plenty.
Market3 Apr 2028
Metalist have let the market know Andrii Bezhenar can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Diego Lorensi is 38, with 10 appearances behind him, and Metalist will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Mar 2028
Diego Lorensi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Metalist they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Oleh Kozhushko 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleh Kozhushko, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Metalist are still strangers to each other
6 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
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.
Market27 Mar 2028
The Peter Itodo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Peter Itodo signs something — a contract at Metalist or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Denys Antiukh has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Mar 2028
Rafael Profini damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Metalist
Denys Nahnoinyi 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 dugout6 Mar 2028
A promise honoured at Metalist
Something was said to Rafael Profini and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Diego
“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 dugout6 Mar 2028
Kristian Mba gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kristian Mba is on it.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Denys Antiukh knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Denys Antiukh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Feb 2028
Kuzma Vlasiuk breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market14 Feb 2028
Bukovyna paid $720.0K and Metalist took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market14 Feb 2028
Danylo Varakuta has left for Obolon in a $410.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
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.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
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.
Match12 Feb 2028
Metalist get the job done against Rukh
A 2‑1 win over Rukh, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jan 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bnei Yehuda had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Jan 2028
Serginho puts it in writing
“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 Metalist, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Jan 2028
Whatever happens, Metalist do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
3 matches without a goal for Metalist
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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Serginho wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Metalist know now that the thought has arrived.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.30 on the card, and the Metalist support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Metalist
Nicolás Arévalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Jan 2028
Still nobody has beaten Metalist
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nicholas Osei-Bonsu has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Metalist have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
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
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valerii Dubko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
7.47, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Metalist had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Denys Nahnoinyi
“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 dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Viktor Haiduchok was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Metalist dressing room was either.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 41. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Jan 2028
Cup progress for Metalist
A 3‑0 win over LNZ, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
A brace, and Kristian Mba takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kristian Mba provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom10 Jan 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market10 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yaroslav Protsenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Metalist the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Arévalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Metalist know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Dec 2027
Serginho puts it in writing
“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 Metalist, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Dec 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Metalist can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Metalist
Nicolás Arévalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valerii Dubko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
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 dugout27 Dec 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Viktor Haiduchok was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Metalist dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Volodymyr Saliuk: 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.” Metalist have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Metalist
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Arévalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ermir Rashica 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
A 1‑0 win over Kolos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Metalist
Oleh Kozhushko 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.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Viktor Haiduchok kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Diego
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The dugout
Serginho dropped after a run of poor form
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Looking ahead
A reunion for Oleh Bilyk
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Heorhii Yermakov out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Metalist will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Dec 2027
The run is over for Metalist
10 matches without defeat, and then Dynamo Kyiv. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
3 matches without a goal for Metalist
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.
Match11 Dec 2027
0‑1 to Dynamo Kyiv, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Oleh Kozhushko 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 dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Viktor Haiduchok to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denys Nahnoinyi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match4 Dec 2027
Whatever happens, Metalist do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad6 Dec 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad6 Dec 2027
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Metalist told Heorhii Yermakov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 7.59. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
67 days out for Heorhii Yermakov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Metalist will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 Nov 2027
Serginho puts it in writing
“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 Metalist, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Nov 2027
Still nobody has beaten Metalist
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings29 Nov 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rafael Profini commits to Metalist for another 4 years.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Arévalo 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.
Match27 Nov 2027
Metalist make home a hard place to visit
9 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Serginho wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Metalist know it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Dmytro Kapinus
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The dugout
Denys Antiukh knocks on the manager’s door
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The dugout
The view from the dugout