Daniel Sappa 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 Dec 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Damián London did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Hadžikadunić 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 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.
It needed Damián London to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Dinamo Makhachkala, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitry Chistyakov commits to Rostov for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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: Yegor Golenkov. 2‑0 against Orenburg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.32 — 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.
A 1‑0 win over Spartak Kostroma, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.78, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Ivan Komarov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
Victor Melekhin 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 watch every Rostov game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shinnik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rostov 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Daniel Sappa 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrés Murillo Segura commits to Rostov for another 2 years.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
9 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Hadžikadunić 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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Daniel Sappa 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 did not go to Shinnik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Rostov and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad23 Oct 2028
6 new faces, and Rostov 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Melekhin signs something — a contract at Rostov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Dinamo Moscow will replay every second of the added time for a 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Hadžikadunić 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. Dimitris Kaloskamis 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 8.42 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Rostov hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Daniel Sappa 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Melekhin signs something — a contract at Rostov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 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 Rostov 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: Yegor Golenkov. 2‑1 against Ural, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Hadžikadunić 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.
Marked 8.22 — 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.
“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 Rostov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Daniel Sappa 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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 23 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.
15 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
24 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Hadžikadunić 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 24 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.
“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 Rostov, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The fee is $1.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Rubin drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vadim Rassadin is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
Add another name to the list: Chaika have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ivan Guryev. The answer from Rostov has not changed — yet.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Denis Yakuba has his answer from Rostov; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Rostov heard it as anything else.
Daniel Sappa 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: Victor Melekhin. 3‑2 against Krylya Sovetov, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 fee is $1.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sochi drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The bid was some way short and Rostov did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Mohebi 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 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.
“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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Jesús Espinosa has improved at 29, 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: St. Louis CITY SC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maxim Turischev. The answer from Rostov has not changed — yet.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vadim Rassadin is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Krylya Sovetov pay $220.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Hadžikadunić 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.
He is going to Avellino, the club has $5.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeny Chernov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sevada Torosyan is living that version at Rostov, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Spartak Moscow for Mohammad Mohebi 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Rostov hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The chase for Kirill Ushatov ended with $450.0K changing hands and Rodina out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Victor Melekhin 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
5 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Kirill Zaika is a Rostov player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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.
Vadim Rassadin 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeny Chernov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Rostov will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Rustam Yatimov, on 14 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammad Mohebi signs something — a contract at Rostov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evgeny Chernov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rostov the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
Vitaly Stezhko 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.
Alexey Mironov 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 Rostov 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 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 Apr 2028
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Spartak Moscow runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The phone has started ringing about Maxim Turischev again, and this time the name on the line is Philadelphia Union. Rostov are listening politely and promising nothing.
Victor Melekhin 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.
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
Chernomorets will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Igor Konovalov has pre-agreed a move to Rostov, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Alexey Mironov 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Sebastian Bauer has agreed terms with Rubin for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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 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 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadMichal Kroupa has become a man the manager trusts
The offer from Hammarby for Rustam Yatimov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammad Mohebi and Rostov agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Rostov game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Spartak Moscow runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rostov is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Victor Melekhin 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 Feb 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Alexey Mironov 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.
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.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
Hidajet Hankić has left for Dinamo Moscow in a $190.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Egor Filipenko has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Rostov have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Victor Melekhin. 2‑0 against Baltika, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
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 Dmitry Chistyakov.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitry Chistyakov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rostov know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Victor Melekhin 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
Krasnodar will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Vitaly Stezhko has pre-agreed a move to Rostov, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Rostov have had the benefit of it.
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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 2‑0 win over Spartak Moscow, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
8.70. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Alexey Mironov 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Rostov pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 3 and 39 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Michal Kroupa, 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadRonaldo falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Mohammad Mohebi decided nobody was going anywhere. Dinamo Makhachkala had no time left to answer.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Michal Kroupa did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ilja Zhbanov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
Three points for Rostov, 3‑2 the final word against Dinamo Makhachkala in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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 23 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Rostov 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.
16 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 12 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 26 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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 Nov 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Alexey Mironov 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Victor Melekhin 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Michal Kroupa 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadRonaldo falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Rostov and Baltika in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Mohammad Mohebi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rostov will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Dinamo Vladivostok go through and Rostov 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.
Position 3, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Michal Kroupa did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 26 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market11 Oct 2027
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Rostov have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
19 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.
92 minutes played. Konstantin Kuchaev found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Krylya Sovetov went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Victor Melekhin 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: Konstantin Kuchaev. 3‑2 against Krylya Sovetov, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
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.
Alexey Mironov 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: Konstantin Kuchaev. 1‑0 against Spartak Moscow, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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 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.
17 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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Michal Kroupa is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alex Matsukatov has just signed for Rostov, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsDennis Hadžikadunić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rostov know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Denis Yakuba is living that version at Rostov, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
The fee is $420.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dinamo Stavropol drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Khoren Bairamyan has come up in conversations Rostov 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.
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 have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
Alexey Mironov 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 7.47 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Rostov had the best player on the pitch.
Squad9 Aug 2027
5 new faces, and Rostov 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.
14 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.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
Ural made Rostov work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Ivan Komarov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. 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.
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.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Prokhor Kiselyov 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. Pavel Molchanov 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. Konstantin Biryukov 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ivan Guryev 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dennis Hadžikadunić and Rostov agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammad Mohebi signs something — a contract at Rostov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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 phone has started ringing about Oumar Sako again, and this time the name on the line is Shinnik. Rostov are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Komarov commits to Rostov for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 offer from Dinamo Moscow for Konstantin Kuchaev 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.
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.
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.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Medin Gashi arrives from HNK Gorica with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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 May 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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 Rostov 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 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.
Hidajet Hankić 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 watch every Rostov game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torpedo Moscow runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Rostov 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.
Victor Melekhin 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vadim Rassadin is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Victor Melekhin 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrés Murillo Segura and Rostov agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
Wassim Bouziane 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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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 Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 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.
“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 Rostov, and 1 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rostov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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 Feb 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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. 36 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 offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Wassim Bouziane, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.72
A mark of 8.72 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.
Dmitry Chistyakov 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Wassim Bouziane. 1‑0 against Orenburg, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
13 goals in 19 games at Fakel — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rostov updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Akron spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrej Kostić did not need any: 8.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The phone has started ringing about Konstantin Kuchaev again, and this time the name on the line is Dinamo Moscow. Rostov are listening politely and promising nothing.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadRonaldo falls out with a teammate over standards