Marked for Ibrahim Auger
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match24 Mar 2029
0‑5 to Lernayin Artsakh, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match24 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Pyunik-2
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Pyunik-2
Ike Givenson 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad19 Mar 2029
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match17 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Pyunik-2
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Ibrahim Auger, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.44
A mark of 8.44 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match17 Mar 2029
14 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Pyunik-2 and Van-2 in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Pyunik-2
Ibrahim Auger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Mar 2029
It finished 7‑7, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Mar 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 22 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match10 Mar 2029
Beaten 1‑6 by Bentonit Ijevan, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Pyunik-2
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
No sign of nerves from Mkhitar Spertsyan at 17 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mkhitar Spertsyan did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market12 Mar 2029
Only the photograph left for Alexandr Konev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Konev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pyunik-2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom12 Mar 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad12 Mar 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 Pyunik-2 know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Mar 2029
There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match3 Mar 2029
5 matches without a win for Pyunik-2
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Pyunik-2 are no longer polite ones.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“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.
Match3 Mar 2029
5 matches without a goal for Pyunik-2
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Ibrahim Auger asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Ibrahim Auger moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Pyunik-2 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Match3 Mar 2029
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Sardarapat came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad5 Mar 2029
The captaincy goes to Alexandr Konev. It is not a job that wins matches, but a dressing room always notices who is given it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Pyunik-2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Pyunik-2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Jan 2029
“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 Pyunik-2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market29 Jan 2029
Kamil Mullin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pyunik-2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Jan 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 Pyunik-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jan 2029
Sam Hart puts it in writing
“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 Pyunik-2, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
No hiding place for Sam Hart
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sam Hart, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Jan 2029
A season on the outside for Ibrahim Auger
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pyunik-2 has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jan 2029
A season on the outside for Rafael Tanque
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pyunik-2 has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Ibrahim Auger has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Pyunik-2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pyunik-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Nov 2028
“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; Pyunik-2 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Nov 2028
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad6 Nov 2028
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Oct 2028
Nowhere to hide for Pyunik-2
0‑3 against Ararat-2, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match9 Oct 2028
Pyunik-2 finish in position 14
11 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Match7 Oct 2028
No end in sight to Pyunik-2's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pyunik-2 has to find a result from somewhere.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Sep 2028
0‑3 to Mika, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match30 Sep 2028
3 matches without a goal for Pyunik-2
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Ibrahim Auger
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ibrahim Auger has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pyunik-2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 Sep 2028
Every point is an argument now for Pyunik-2
Position 14 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market25 Sep 2028
Kamil Mullin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pyunik-2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match23 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market25 Sep 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Timur Nikolov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad25 Sep 2028
At 34 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Pyunik-2 are won quietly and lost loudly.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2028
0‑7 to Lernayin Artsakh, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match16 Sep 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Pyunik-2 and Lernayin Artsakh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
In brief
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Pyunik-2
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: Noah-2 at home
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The dugout
Timur Nikolov keeps his manager's vote
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Sep 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ibrahim Auger commits to Pyunik-2 for another 4 years.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Ibrahim Auger, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Pyunik-2 would like this to lead.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Timur Nikolov knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timur Nikolov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Pyunik-2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market11 Sep 2028
The window shut and Rafael Tanque is still in the building
Pyunik-2 spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Sep 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Van-2, and it could have been more.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.50, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Rafael Tanque, 36, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match2 Sep 2028
Pyunik-2 cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market4 Sep 2028
Add another name to the list: Gandzasar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kamil Mullin. The answer from Pyunik-2 has not changed — yet.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pyunik-2 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Rafael Tanque wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Pyunik-2 know now that the thought has arrived.
The terraces4 Sep 2028
He is 20 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ibrahim Auger in the middle of it, and Van-2 unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Aug 2028
Pyunik-2 sink to position 15
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market28 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pyunik-2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Timur Nikolov, 20, steals the show — 7.95
Marked 7.95 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Age has not caught Tiago Recife yet — 7.93
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Robert Darbinyan 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.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
He is 20 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Three points for Pyunik-2, 2‑0 the final word against Urartu-2 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Looking ahead28 Aug 2028
A six-pointer for Pyunik-2
Van-2 next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A Pyunik-2 teenager takes the young player award
Timur Nikolov is 20, 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2028
It had gone 27 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match19 Aug 2028
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Pyunik-2 scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market21 Aug 2028
Kamil Mullin has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pyunik-2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Pyunik-2 is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match19 Aug 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edgar Sarkisov. 1‑0 against Andranik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Looking ahead21 Aug 2028
Everything rides on Urartu-2
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Pyunik-2 know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Daniel Tonica 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.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Pyunik-2's wait for a win
27 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pyunik-2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pyunik-2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match12 Aug 2028
Nowhere to hide for Pyunik-2
1‑4 against Hayq, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Pyunik-2
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Darbinyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Pyunik-2
Ibrahim Auger and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Pyunik-2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Aug 2028
26 matches without a win for Pyunik-2
The run now stands at 26, and the questions being asked around Pyunik-2 are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Aug 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pyunik-2 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Aug 2028
Timur Nikolov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pyunik-2 can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Timur Nikolov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market7 Aug 2028
Gandzasar are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Pyunik-2 will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Robert Darbinyan 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.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Pyunik-2 who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Pyunik-2 will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for Pyunik-2
25 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match31 Jul 2028
Pyunik-2 are in real trouble now
Position 16, 1 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match29 Jul 2028
Pyunik-2 are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 11 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market31 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Tiago Recife
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tiago Recife will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pyunik-2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match29 Jul 2028
A bad afternoon for Pyunik-2 against BKMA-2
1‑2 to BKMA-2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Auger, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Pyunik-2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Pyunik-2 have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Pyunik-2's wait for a win
24 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pyunik-2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Jul 2028
Pyunik-2 leaking at the back
10 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Pyunik-2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Darbinyan 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.
Match22 Jul 2028
1‑2 to Ararat-Armenia-2, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Jul 2028
Pyunik-2 have let the market know Daniel Tonica can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 20 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Pyunik-2 are won quietly and lost loudly.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Ibrahim Auger knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Auger trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad24 Jul 2028
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Pyunik-2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for Pyunik-2
23 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market17 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Pyunik-2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match15 Jul 2028
Pyunik-2 leaking at the back
9 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Ibrahim Auger, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Pyunik-2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Darbinyan 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.
Match15 Jul 2028
Ibrahim Auger scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Van, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Pyunik-2
Tiago Recife 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Pyunik-2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Jul 2028
The wait goes on for Pyunik-2
22 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match8 Jul 2028
Beaten 0‑5 by Urartu, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match8 Jul 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Pyunik-2
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Market10 Jul 2028
Gandzasar are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Pyunik-2 will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Nobody left the Pyunik-2 dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pyunik-2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Pyunik-2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
Nikos Kainourgios damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Pyunik
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hovhannes Harutyunyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Pyunik is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad29 Nov 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 Pyunik know it.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 100% of everything Pyunik earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Matas Vareika gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matas Vareika is on it.