“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zlin 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 Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Zlin and Sparta Prague, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” David Machalík has his answer from Zlin; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
SquadWords at Zlin training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniil Denisov 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 Zlin can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zlin 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 Zlin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Déca Nzuzi has just signed for Zlin, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Cletus Nombil 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sochaux will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Otis Caporusso is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Julien Masson 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.
Three points for Sochaux, 1‑0 the final word against Dijon in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Sofyan Chader was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.52. 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Arthur Vitelli has his answer from Sochaux; what he does with it is the next window’s story.