Marked for Marcel Mischke
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Oct 2029
Elias Cobbaut 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Teplice
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christophe Kabongo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match27 Oct 2029
A 1‑0 win over Jablonec, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match29 Oct 2029
Halfway: Teplice sit in position 6
26 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad29 Oct 2029
“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 Teplice know it.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Issah Mohammed
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Window shuts: 23 in, 21 out at Teplice
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match1 Sep 2029
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Teplice asked and Jihlava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Matyáš Kozák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teplice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
Teplice offered $12.0K; Banik Ostrava said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Daniel Mareček 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
“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 dugout3 Sep 2029
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 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Aug 2029
Cup progress for Teplice
A 1‑0 win over Banik Ostrava, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market27 Aug 2029
“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.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Teplice may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match25 Aug 2029
Still nobody has beaten Teplice
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market27 Aug 2029
Teplice say no — this time
The offer from Pribram for Albert Kotlín 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Teplice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
The offer went to Banik Ostrava this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Marcel Mischke gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marcel Mischke has just signed for Teplice, and for once the answer mattered.