“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 The request is on a desk at Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Strogino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Alexeenkov 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denis Dragan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Strogino the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Adam Wierzbicki 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vagan Manukyan, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Lev Akulov 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
“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 The request is on a desk at Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergey Guzyuk, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Alexeenkov 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Strogino can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
0‑3 against Spartak Tambov, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sergey Guzyuk is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ilja Molibog 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Strogino can tell you which week it ends in.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilja Voronov 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adam Wierzbicki is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergey Guzyuk and Strogino agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Sergey Guzyuk was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrey Alexeenkov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Adam Wierzbicki 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Adam Wierzbicki 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.
The name of Denis Dragan has come up in conversations Strogino were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
12 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 words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
A first appearance Ivan Bobylev will want to forget — 5.62
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.62, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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 22 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.
Adam Wierzbicki 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.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Strogino
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Fyodor Kurlov has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Adam Wierzbicki's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Strogino know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Strogino can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Market5 Jun 2028
Ilja Molibog returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Strogino know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Strogino can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Strogino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torpedo Vladimir runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Strogino know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Ramil Khuranov 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Strogino now.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lev Akulov 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 words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Adam Wierzbicki 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 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 watch every Strogino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torpedo Vladimir runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Adam Wierzbicki 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 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 Strogino, and 4 appearances in 38 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrey Alexeenkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 at Strogino 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adam Wierzbicki signs something — a contract at Strogino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20, and nobody at Strogino signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Alexeenkov 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.
Adam Wierzbicki 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 watch every Strogino game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Torpedo Vladimir runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Thomas Vettoretto is 18, and Strogino have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
8 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.
Position 14, 25 points, and a crowd that arrives already braced. Relegation seasons are lost in exactly this atmosphere, and everybody who has lived through one recognises it immediately.
Caio César 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Caio César will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Strogino the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Strogino and Kvant, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Adam Wierzbicki 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.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Strogino can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Caio César 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sergey Guzyuk is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Caio César's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergey Guzyuk did not need any: 7.78, 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 Strogino 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Caio César will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Strogino the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergey Guzyuk did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
“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 Strogino know it.
Caio César 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Strogino, and 4 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Alexeenkov 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.
1‑4 to Spartak Tambov, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Strogino can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergey Guzyuk did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Caio César 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrey Alexeenkov 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Fernández provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Strogino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Sergey Guzyuk, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Caio César 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.
At 22 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Strogino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Caio César 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergey Guzyuk 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.
The goal that put SKA Khabarovsk 2 ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Strogino equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
In brief
SquadWords at Strogino training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Strogino is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vakhtang Kiteishvili. 2‑1 against Orel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilja Voronov 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Adam Wierzbicki provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Strogino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Strogino they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Monteiro 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Strogino they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 offer from Gzira United for Sergey Guzyuk was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gonçalo Monteiro is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Caio César 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Muldarov 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
Marcelão 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Muldarov 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Strogino, and 6 appearances in 41 say he has earned the hearing.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcelão 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Strogino, and 6 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Strogino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Strogino will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“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; Strogino are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marcelão 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.
Marked 4.79. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. SKA Khabarovsk 2 defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adam Wierzbicki did not need any: 8.28, 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 Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Strogino have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Amir Alizade did not need any: 8.68, 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 Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marcelão 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergey Kapanzhi 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Ryazan tried to reorganise, Strogino did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Muldarov 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Strogino, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Strogino training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Muldarov 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.
Marked 5.61. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
0‑3 against Znamya Truda, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 14 and 9 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.
Position 14, 9 points, and a crowd that arrives already braced. Relegation seasons are lost in exactly this atmosphere, and everybody who has lived through one recognises it immediately.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcelão 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Rotor 2 kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Strogino will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Strogino can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Strogino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Mateo Fernández decided otherwise. Rodina M had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
“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 Strogino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Mateo Fernández was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marcelão 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dylan Vera 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.