Marked for Ivan Sorochinskiy
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑16 by Rubin Yalta, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Chaika M
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Chaika M are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a goal for Chaika M
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Chaika M are shipping goals 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 16 goals between Chaika M and Rubin Yalta, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nikita Pavlov lets one through his hands
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑16, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑14 to Sevastopol, 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Chaika M
7 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Chaika M
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaika M can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match19 Sep 2026
Chaika M leaking at the back
7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match19 Sep 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
14 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chaika M and Sevastopol in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad21 Sep 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Nikita Pavlov knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑14 Anatoly Milyukov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Chaika M needed to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nikita Pavlov slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nikita Pavlov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nikita Pavlov 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Chaika M
A 0‑15 beating by Zarya Lugansk was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Chaika M
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
The goals have deserted Chaika M
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaika M can tell you which week it ends in.
Match29 Aug 2026
Chaika M leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
15 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chaika M and Zarya Lugansk in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑15, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Chaika M
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Sorochinskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 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.