Words at Noah-2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Korolev 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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Noah-2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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 Gabriel Chagas has written the date down.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 18 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Korolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 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.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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.” Narek Bayramyan chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Dmitry Korolev 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.
Squads form friendships and that is healthy; this is not that. 3 separate groups, 2 players belonging to none of them, and a set of tables at lunch that have stopped rearranging themselves. It very rarely fixes itself.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Bentonit Ijevan had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
A 2‑2 draw with Bentonit Ijevan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Narek Bayramyan was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Noah-2 dressing room was either.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Noah-2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Narek Bayramyan after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Noah-2 could ask drops and the wages Dmitry Korolev can ask rise.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Noah-2. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
Market4 Sep 2028
The window shut and Gabriel Chagas is still in the building
Noah-2 spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah-2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Noah-2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmitry Korolev 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Beaten 4 times, 5 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Next up on the road: Mika, position 6. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
Denys Yefremov 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Ararat-2 were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Korolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hovhannes Sarkisov. 2‑0 against Ararat-2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Narek Bayramyan could afford to be generous.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Dmitry Korolev 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Noah-2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 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.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Noah-2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denys Yefremov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Noah-2 has been clear about where Davit Davtyan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Position 14 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Korolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Narek Bayramyan was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Noah-2 dressing room was either.
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.
“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 dugout24 Jul 2028
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Narek Bayramyan to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Davit Davtyan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Noah-2 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
0‑4 to Shirak-2, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Korolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Lukas De Clerck's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Beaten 4 times, 3 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Noah-2 and BKMA-2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Denys Yefremov 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.
At 23 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.
14 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.
2‑8 to Ararat-Armenia-2, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Noah-2 and Ararat-Armenia-2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Korolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lukas De Clerck has, at Noah-2, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dmitry Korolev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 14, 5 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Noah-2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Davit Davtyan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Narek Bayramyan after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davit Davtyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
9 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Noah-2 and Mika, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑6, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dmitry Korolev's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match13 May 2028
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Noah-2 and Syunik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Davit Davtyan knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout15 May 2028
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 0‑7 defeat, delivered by Narek Bayramyan to a room that had heard them before.
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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Narek Bayramyan after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Syunik next, and one man in the Noah-2 dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Noah-2 and Lernayin Artsakh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Narek Bayramyan after 0‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout1 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Davit Davtyan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
5 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Clinton Dombila, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Narek Bayramyan to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Dmitry Korolev will want back
0‑4 to Andranik, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Noah-2 can tell you which week it ends in.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Davit Davtyan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Noah-2 was different afterwards.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Noah-2 can tell you which week it ends in.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
At 23 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Noah-2 have a decision that made itself.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Noah-2 and Shirak-2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Narek Bayramyan after 0‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Davit Davtyan has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
0‑10 against Araks Ararat, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match18 Mar 2028
Nobody could stop scoring
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Noah-2 and Araks Ararat in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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 0‑10 defeat, delivered by Narek Bayramyan to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Noah-2 was different afterwards.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It needed Gabriel Chagas to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Ararat-Armenia-2, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against BKMA-2 in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriel Chagas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
The offer from Dinamo Brest for Clinton Dombila was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Noah-2 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Position 14 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Clinton Dombila trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Davit Davtyan signs something — a contract at Noah-2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Noah-2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Aram Khamoyan 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.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Noah-2 could ask drops and the wages Aram Khamoyan can ask rise.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Noah-2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah-2 can pretend not to have heard.
Davit Davtyan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aram Khamoyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Davit Davtyan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Add another name to the list: Syunik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Davit Davtyan. The answer from Noah-2 has not changed — yet.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Noah-2 know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Davit Davtyan is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Davit Davtyan 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Davit Davtyan 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.
“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 Noah-2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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.” Narek Bayramyan kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Position 15 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Noah-2 can tell you which week it ends in.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
6 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Davit Davtyan 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Noah-2 can pretend not to have heard.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Everybody at Noah-2 saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Narek Bayramyan after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Noah-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Noah-2. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Noah-2 was different afterwards.
In brief
The dugoutAram Khamoyan knocks on the manager’s door
Bertrand Mani 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gandzasar know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Annan Mensah 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.