Marked for Brian Lopez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
A brace, and Vakho Bedoshvili takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Vakho Bedoshvili provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Saburtalo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Saburtalo have gone to Giugliano with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“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 Saburtalo know it.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Palermo have kept their man, and Saburtalo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Vakho Bedoshvili 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.
Match3 Jul 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vakho Bedoshvili. 2‑0 against Zugdidi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
$879.2K on the table at Saburtalo
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Marked 8.28 — 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.
Match22 May 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Sioni leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Brian Lopez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 May 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad24 May 2027
A Saburtalo teenager takes the young player award
Guram Okriashvili is 17, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout24 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guram Kvaratskhelia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 May 2027
Archil Kashia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Saburtalo 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.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Phillip Čančar’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 May 2027
Viktor Bliznichenko 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.
Market10 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bachana Kobiashvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sandro Lobjanidze is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match8 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Beka Dartsmelia. 1‑0 against Sapovnela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Ninety minutes of Beka Dartsmelia at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Saburtalo.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guilherme Santos, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
Home is on Léo's mind
“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; Saburtalo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout10 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Dato Gamsakhurdia could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khvicha Ananidze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saburtalo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2027
“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 Saburtalo know it.
Match1 May 2027
0‑2 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luiz Carlos, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 May 2027
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 0‑2 Dato Gamsakhurdia left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Viktor Bliznichenko
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Viktor Bliznichenko has come out of that comparison in the side, and Saburtalo have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad3 May 2027
The armband comes off Kaká
Saburtalo will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nobody at Saburtalo 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A brace, and Viktor Bliznichenko takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Viktor Bliznichenko provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Beka Dartsmelia pops up at the right end — 7.96
7.96, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play Saburtalo right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Saburtalo
Jemal Tabidze 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Viktor Bliznichenko. 3‑1 against Kolkheti, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Saburtalo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Viktor Bliznichenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luigi Gaspar and Saburtalo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Dato Gamsakhurdia could afford to be generous.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Ibrahim Alhassan has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Saburtalo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Saburtalo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Saburtalo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Viktor Bliznichenko 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 terraces29 Mar 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.42 on the card, and the Saburtalo support went home talking about one name.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Brian Lopez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
Match27 Mar 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Chikhura defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad29 Mar 2027
At 16 years old, Davit Kobiashvili became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Kaká takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kaká provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match20 Mar 2027
Zugdidi made Saburtalo work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dato Gamsakhurdia on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Asad Asadov changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Saburtalo had a different afternoon.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Viktor Bliznichenko has let it be known that he does not like the way Saburtalo are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.