Istra 1961 will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Lokomotiva Zagreb were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiva Zagreb can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavle Smiljanić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiva Zagreb the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokomotiva Zagreb have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thanasis Triantafyllou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiva Zagreb the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 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.
Marko Rog 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dino Godec and Lokomotiva Zagreb agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Lokomotiva Zagreb know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Medin Gashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody at Lokomotiva Zagreb 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Lokomotiva Zagreb people have started saying his name in the past tense.
HNK Gorica paid $780.0K and Lokomotiva Zagreb took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Lokomotiva Zagreb asked and Sparta Prague 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Lucko had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dugopolje, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Niko Vučetić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sesvete have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Muhammad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Lucko know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Kristijan Blaževski 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dženis Totić is living that version at Lucko, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dugopolje have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Muhammad 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frane Runjić, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
David Tabak 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leon Belcar and Lokomotiva Zagreb agree another 4 years.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Lokomotiva Zagreb, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotiva Zagreb, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 4, 26 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Lokomotiva Zagreb that is a harder question to answer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Mićić 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.
Abdoul Salla Camara 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
In brief
The dugoutNiko Cindrić knocks on the manager’s door
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Lucko lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 15 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Hassan Muhammad 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lucko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fran Karačić 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Sabra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Lokomotiva Zagreb game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Croatia Zmijavci runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotiva Zagreb, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leon Grgić signs something — a contract at Lokomotiva Zagreb or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4 on 26 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Jakov-Anton Vasilj has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lucko have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Muhammad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Antonio Buneta 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Andrej Mićić is on it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Hassan Muhammad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Andrej Mićić 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.
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.
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.
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 Lucko would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Filip Mihaljević trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marko Vešović and Lokomotiva Zagreb agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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; Lokomotiva Zagreb are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mate Antunović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
2 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Lokomotiva Zagreb argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Kristijan Blaževski 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.
“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; Lucko are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Muhammad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lucko will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: HNK Rijeka keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Telmo have kept their man, and Lucko go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Muhammad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Filip Mihaljević 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Sabra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leon Grgić signs something — a contract at Lokomotiva Zagreb or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4 on 26 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“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 Lokomotiva Zagreb will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lucko will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Hassan Muhammad 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 had been thinking. Andrej Mićić 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiva Zagreb lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiva Zagreb this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ibrahim Sabra 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 go to Hrvatski Dragovoljac to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokomotiva Zagreb and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Lokomotiva Zagreb 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Fran Karačić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Lokomotiva Zagreb needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Beni Redzic 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.
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.
“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 Lucko will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutRevaz Kobidze asks for a word with the manager
Hassan Muhammad 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Mićić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Radnik Krizevci will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
David Tabak 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 run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lucko are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andrej Mićić 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Lucko have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hrvatski Dragovoljac in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Marko Vešović 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.
“I did not go to Grobnican to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokomotiva Zagreb and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Medin Gashi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
HNK Gorica next, and one man in the Lokomotiva Zagreb dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
16 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luka Dajčer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Mićić 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.
13 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Duje Ivanovic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niko Đolonga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bjelovar top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting David Tabak'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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hassan Muhammad provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Lucko asked and HNK Rijeka said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Beni Redzic was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Beni Redzic 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lucko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Lucko know which stage they are at.