A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Tula 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Arsenal Tula 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodislav Trefilov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Roman Izotov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Yegor Belyaev 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.
7 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.
Something was said to Giacomo Carobbio and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Tula 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Izotov signs something — a contract at Arsenal Tula 2 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Arsenal Tula 2 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Arsenal Tula 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Arsenal Tula 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arsenal Tula 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Yegor Belyaev 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Arsenal Tula 2 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
52 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula 2 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Michael McSorley 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Artem Kuzin 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“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 Arsenal Tula 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jakob Tschöll will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Abdulaziz Al-Marzooqi 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Artem Kuzin 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.
“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 Arsenal Tula 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
“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 Arsenal Tula 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“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 Arsenal Tula 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ivano Gubo has, at Arsenal Tula 2, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Abdulaziz Al-Marzooqi 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Arsenal Tula 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Kuzin 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ivan Salikhov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Giacomo Carobbio is 19, and Arsenal Tula 2 have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Arsenal Tula 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula 2 can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulaziz Al-Marzooqi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Arsenal Tula 2 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vadim Lukjanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Arsenal Tula 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Roman Izotov 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Arsenal Tula 2 will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.