Marked for Timofey Falchenko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Timofey Falchenko is a better footballer than he was
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Batyr Umirov'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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Daniil Grada 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rotor 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Aug 2026
Rotor 2 cannot find the net
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.40 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Rotor 2 had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Semyon Zubarev
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
The one thing Adrian Platon could not do
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Match15 Aug 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kvant defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Rotor 2
Timofey Falchenko 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Strogino left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Batyr Umirov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Vasily Chaykovsky left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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 Rotor 2 would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The plan did not have a place for Stepan Pravkin
Nobody at Rotor 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Rotor 2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.