Marked for Mirko Sušak
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Dec 2026
Mirko Sušak hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiva Zagreb can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Sabra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Marcel Lorber 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Mirko Marić
“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.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
18 appearances at Kustosija and the goals keep coming. Lokomotiva Zagreb are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
When it matters, Mirko Marić plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jakov-Anton Vasilj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Lokomotiva Zagreb would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
18 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Mario Šitum yet — 8.33
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Marko Vešović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibrahim Sabra 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jan Vertonghen and Lokomotiva Zagreb agree another 2 years.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The team sheet said everything about Mirko Sušak
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Mirko Sušak.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dejan Knezevic, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Luka Dajčer gets it from the manager
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Mirko Sušak
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Lokomotiva Zagreb this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ibrahim Sabra 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Uljanik Pula to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokomotiva Zagreb and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Fran Karačić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lokomotiva Zagreb needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Marcel Lorber 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.
The dugout16 Nov 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 Franjo Posavac is on it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Lokomotiva Zagreb that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marko Vešović 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
Words at Lokomotiva Zagreb training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Sabra 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Mario Šitum did the work nobody counts — 6.89
10 combined actions and 6.89. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Dugo Selo to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokomotiva Zagreb and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dejan Knezevic chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Mirko Sušak dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. HNK Rijeka will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.97, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotiva Zagreb may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Marko Vešović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match25 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oliver Heiðarsson. 3‑1 against Dinamo Zagreb, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ibrahim Sabra 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 terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
The big one: Slaven Belupo come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Lokomotiva Zagreb will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Oliver Heiðarsson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Marko Vešović and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Lokomotiva Zagreb training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Lorber 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The dugout28 Sep 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Lokomotiva Zagreb lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. NK Varazdin will be the happier side with the point.