“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Slovan Liberec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lukáš Mašek 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dominik Hašek has just signed for Slovan Liberec, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Forshaw 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Afolabi Soliu 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.
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.
Lukáš Mašek 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Forshaw 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ermin Mahmić 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.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
A brace, and Ermin Mahmić takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ermin Mahmić provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nathan Cachorrão has left for Banik Ostrava in a $150.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Forshaw 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 8.54 — 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.
19 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
“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 Slovan Liberec, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.83. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Slovan Liberec.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Marek Icha falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Slovan Liberec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrik Dulay 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Šimon Gabriel’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Slovan Liberec.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Marek Icha 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Václav Drchal 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.
Christian Huérfano 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 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Slovan Liberec training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jan Mikula 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.
Václav Drchal 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lukáš Mašek 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.
20 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lukáš Masopust and Slovan Liberec agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than 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 Slovan Liberec 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lukáš Mašek 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 8.31 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Lukáš Letenay at his very best