Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Illaijh de Ruijter 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The name of Anton Shamin has come up in conversations ADO Den Haag were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Vitesse made ADO Den Haag work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issam El Maach 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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Narek Janoyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Tobías Quinteros is in the works
The dugoutSem Eekhout knocks on the manager's door
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Misakyan 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ascoli have kept their man, and Shirak go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Donald Kodia 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Mishiev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Narek Janoyan 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.
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.
Jan Žambůrek 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Reischl 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. ADO Den Haag will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Nigel Thomas's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Evan Rottier trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 21 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shirak has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Misakyan 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.
Shirak asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Urartu had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shirak lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Noah go through and Shirak go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shirak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shirak lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with Ararat is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Lyova Mryan 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Shirak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafik Misakyan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juho Kilo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juho Kilo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Matěj Šín 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Issam El Maach was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. ADO Den Haag will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
5 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.