Marked for Danila Strebtsov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Luki-Energiya may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market30 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Artem Yegorov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Artem Yegorov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ilja Salnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alexandr Galimov 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Torpedo Vladimir left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Luki-Energiya will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Yegorov, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Daniil Vaulin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniil Vaulin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Luki-Energiya the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Alexandr Kukharchuk 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ilja Salnikov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Danila Strebtsov commits to Luki-Energiya for another 3 years.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.30. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Igor Kurbanov
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nikita Aliyev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Luki-Energiya dressing room was either.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Ilja Salnikov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Luki-Energiya training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Salnikov 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Cherepovets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Luki-Energiya
9 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nikita Aliyev after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Luki-Energiya man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Yegor Pankov was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Alexey Pipo makes the position his own
At 26 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at Luki-Energiya are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.