Marked for Mikhail Slepov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Sochi 2's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sochi 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Yegor Totskiy 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Vladislav Dys 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.
Match28 Dec 2026
Sochi 2 at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 19, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout28 Dec 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.” Viktor Rybakov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Dinamo Makhachkala 2 will be the happier side with the point.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
9 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Sochi 2's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sochi 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yegor Totskiy and Sochi 2 agree another 3 years.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
At 20 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Vladislav Dys 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
Philipp Nuretdinov is still being punished for one mistake
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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Viktor Rybakov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market7 Dec 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alexandr Metsiev may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
4.70 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Sochi 2
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sochi 2 are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Sochi 2
Yegor Totskiy 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Roman Chenchikov did the work nobody counts — 7.17
13 combined actions and 7.17. 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Sochi 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Dys 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Sochi 2 lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Market9 Nov 2026
The name of Mikhail Slepov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sochi 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Roman Chenchikov has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Sochi 2 know, and have known for weeks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 22 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Daniil Silev 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.70. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Mikhail Slepov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mikhail Slepov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sochi 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Ilja Syrovatskiy
Nobody at Sochi 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sochi 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Oct 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Sochi 2 — 7.63
1 for Mikhail Slepov, marked 7.63, 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sochi 2 and Nart in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match24 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Sochi 2 against Nart
2‑4 to Nart, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sochi 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladislav Dys 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Beaten 4 times: a bad day for Daniil Silev
2 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Boris Kosjanov
“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
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Roman Shmelev is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market12 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Boris Kosjanov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Sochi 2.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A Sochi 2 teenager takes the young player award
Roman Shmelev is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Roman Chenchikov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sochi 2 say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Boris Kosjanov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Daniil Silev
There were 10 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.91 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Sochi 2
Yegor Totskiy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Roman Chenchikov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It needed Roman Shmelev to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rubin Yalta, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 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 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Yegor Totskiy knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yegor Totskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dinamo Stavropol in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Sochi 2
0‑5 against Pobeda, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market31 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 Sochi 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Aug 2026
Sochi 2 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Vladislav Dys did the work nobody counts — 6.68
12 combined actions and 6.68. 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Silev, and the manager let it.
Boardroom31 Aug 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Druzhba, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sochi 2 are still strangers to each other
14 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.
The dugout10 Aug 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 0‑3 Viktor Rybakov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Sochi 2, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Roman Tkachev is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A new face in his position, and Yegor Totskiy suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Sochi 2 have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Sochi 2
2‑5 against Rostov 2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Roman Chenchikov takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roman Chenchikov provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Sochi 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Robert Gamalyan at 19 — 7.73
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Robert Gamalyan did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 3 of the 14 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikhail Slepov and Sochi 2 agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match1 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Sochi 2 and Rostov 2, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Yegor Totskiy 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
At 21 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Sochi 2 training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Roman Shmelev
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Sochi 2 dressing room in a hurry