The Zalgiris Courier
Squad1 Jan 2029
Bryan Teixeira is named among the best
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Zalgiris will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market1 Jan 2029
Martin Bednár asks to leave Zalgiris
“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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Zalgiris
Rokas Klimavicius 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.
Market1 Jan 2029
Jaloliddin Masharipov told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jaloliddin Masharipov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zalgiris.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Rokas Klimavicius gets picked when it counts
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 Rokas Klimavicius is on it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Keehan Willows is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Keehan Willows 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Vilius Armalas 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 dugout1 Jan 2029
Vilius Armalas gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
A door opens for Anton Tolordava
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.
In brief
- The dugout Martin Bednár asks for a word with the manager
- Market Vytis Pavilonis leaves for nothing