Marked for Denis Simonov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at Dinamo Moscow 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Alexandr Kutitskiy 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Moscow 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Dinamo Moscow 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Skopintsev 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.
Squad7 Dec 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 Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Dinamo Moscow 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Skopintsev 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 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 Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match7 Nov 2026
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Alexandr Kutitskiy 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.
Squad9 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Dmitry Alexandrov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Dinamo Moscow 2's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dinamo Moscow 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Oct 2026
7 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dmitry Skopintsev 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Dinamo Moscow 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gleb Miroshnichenko 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Danil Kuznetsov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match3 Oct 2026
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Dinamo Moscow 2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad5 Oct 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 Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kirill Krasnokhod is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alexandr Kutitskiy 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Market5 Oct 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Denis Simonov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dmitry Skopintsev 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alexandr Kutitskiy 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Dinamo Moscow 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Skopintsev 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Tyumen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ivan Sirotkin, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market31 Aug 2026
Rostov come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Moscow 2 did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Aug 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 Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gleb Miroshnichenko 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Alexandrov, and the manager let it.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ivan Sirotkin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Dinamo Moscow 2.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Dinamo Moscow 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaly Letechin 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 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 Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dmitry Alexandrov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Leningradets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 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 Dinamo Moscow 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Dinamo Moscow 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaly Letechin 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Dinamo Moscow 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match8 Aug 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Alania came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Moscow 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dmitry Alexandrov and Dinamo Moscow 2 agree another 5 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Denis Simonov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Dinamo Moscow 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Alexandrov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gleb Miroshnichenko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Dinamo Moscow 2 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.