Marked for Dmytro Sliusar
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Mar 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dmytro Sliusar
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Karpaty lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 Mar 2031
42 days out for Dmytro Forsiuk after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Karpaty will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Karpaty
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Karpaty is running low.
Market31 Mar 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Karpaty, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Karpaty
Xeber Alkain and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Karpaty
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Calero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Mar 2031
Dmytro Sliusar damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Mar 2031
“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.
Market24 Mar 2031
Matvii Kashuba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Karpaty they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Karpaty
Xeber Alkain 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Karpaty training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Calero 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 dugout24 Mar 2031
Yaroslav Karabin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Karpaty 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 dugout24 Mar 2031
“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 dugout24 Mar 2031
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.