Marked for Dmitry Shantaliy
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Rostov 2
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Danil Ryazanov 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Murad Alimov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Zubenko, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Cheburakov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
The afternoon belonged to Ilja Zhbanov
A mark of 7.24, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Eyad El Askalany 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Dinamo Makhachkala 2, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Murad Alimov
“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.
Match5 Sep 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Dinamo Makhachkala 2 tried to reorganise, Rostov 2 did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Vladimir Kasparyan 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ilja Zhbanov 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 Rostov 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Rostov 2, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Danil Ryazanov and Rostov 2 agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.