Marked for Ruslan Leonov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Kosmos's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kosmos has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces29 Jan 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market29 Jan 2029
Ruslan Leonov 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 Kosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Jan 2029
The phone has started ringing about Victor Daza again, and this time the name on the line is Cherepovets. Kosmos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad29 Jan 2029
66 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Jan 2029
A bad afternoon for Kosmos against Zvezda
0‑1 to Zvezda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad29 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Victor Daza
“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.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Kosmos
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kosmos is running low.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
The numbers do not look good at Kosmos
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Match28 Oct 2028
The wait goes on for Kosmos
6 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.76 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Wages eat 123% of everything Kosmos earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match28 Oct 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Oct 2028
“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
Crisis
Market23 Oct 2028
“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 Kosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kosmos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match21 Oct 2028
5 matches without a win for Kosmos
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Kosmos are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Goncharov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 7.65 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Kosmos had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Aug 2028
Nikita Yershov scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Yenisey 2, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad28 Aug 2028
The manager makes an example of Nikita Yershov
“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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.60 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Aug 2028
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Kosmos have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vladislav Protasov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Kosmos
Samir Masimov 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Daniil Goncharov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kosmos.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonlevitt Osiago, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
A mark of 7.98, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kosmos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market7 Feb 2028
The name of Yegor Axionov keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kosmos say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Kosmos
22 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
“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 ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Dec 2027
Yenisey 2 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Ilsur Valeev
“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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A mark of 5.26 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Market13 Dec 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kosmos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
5.65 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.