Marked for Axel Gnapi Dable
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fakel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Fakel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilnur Alshin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anderson Lessa, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Axel Gnapi Dable has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Fakel 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Danil Karpov has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Danil Karpov has written the date down.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fakel, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match18 Nov 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Axel Gnapi Dable obliged against Ural. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Fakel.
Match21 Nov 2026
No mercy from Fakel
Chernomorets will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Fakel were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Axel Gnapi Dable takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Axel Gnapi Dable provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.96, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Fakel right now
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wins at Fakel
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Fakel
Vyacheslav Yakimov 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.