Marked for Danil Shatalov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Murom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Dvoretskov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Murom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Danil Shatalov
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ruslan Bolov 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 Murom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Murom training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philipp Dvoretskov 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Nikita Sergeev has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Murom 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Danil Shatalov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Murom, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikita Zheimo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Murom may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Murom
Denis Faizullin 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Evgeny Livadnov
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
19 new faces, and Murom 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
Murom counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Murom now.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Murom, another week without a signature from Danil Shatalov.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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 Nikita Sergeev is on it.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ruslan Bolov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Murom needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Murom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ruslan Bolov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Kuban, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Philipp Dvoretskov 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Danil Shatalov
“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 dugout28 Sep 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Viktor Zimin to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Rasul Guseinov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Murom 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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Torpedo Miass in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Murom, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Murom this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Philipp Dvoretskov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Danil Shatalov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
19 new faces, and Murom 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alikadi Saidov has his answer from Murom; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alikadi Saidov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Murom counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Murom now.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Murom, and both men came out saying it was fine.