Half the programme played, position 8, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Something was said to Dmitry Prokhorov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nikita Lobov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alexei Silaev was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Rubin 2 dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Khimik? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Nosta in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rubin 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Dmitry Prokhorov did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sokol waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rubin 2 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 The request is on a desk at Rubin 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexandr Zotov 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Rubin 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
1 for Adel Teshkin, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Lenar Fattakhov 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: Dmitry Prokhorov. 2‑1 against Nosta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Adel Teshkin 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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Alexei Silaev kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Rival Gumerov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rubin 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rubin 2, another week without a signature from Lenar Fattakhov.
16 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It needed Rival Gumerov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Khimik, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alexei Silaev was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Rubin 2 dressing room was either.