The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bahia did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Marked 7.66 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Veres had the best player on the pitch.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Dmytro Hodia
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dmytro Hodia has come out of that comparison in the side, and Veres have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Pavlo Bondar, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Something was said to Mykhailo Protasevych and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Dmytro Hodia, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Dmytro Hodia 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.
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Pavlo Bondar, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nobody at Veres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mykhailo Protasevych and Veres agree another 4 years.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pavlo Bondar after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Fabrício Yan is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Wesley Pomba has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pavlo Bondar was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Veres dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Polissia defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Nobody at Veres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Veres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Veres would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabrício Yan, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Pavlo Bondar to a room that had heard them before.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Vladyslav Sharai has come out of that comparison in the side, and Veres have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Yuriy Kravchuk watches a signing take the shirt he was promised
At 32 the pathway was supposed to be open. Instead Veres went to the market, and a local readership is asking the question the academy staff are too diplomatic to ask out loud.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Veres than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Nobody at Veres will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The offer went to Metalist this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Wesley Pomba 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. Veres will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
In brief
The dugoutFabrício Yan dropped after a run of poor form