Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
$440.0K settles it between the clubs for Léo Bolgado
CFR Cluj have accepted the money. What Sepsi OSK do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 The request is on a desk at Sepsi OSK, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Hermannstadt, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh Lewis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sepsi OSK the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Robert Silaghi 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Sepsi OSK training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Ishkov 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Eduardo Monteiro has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sepsi OSK have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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 Sepsi OSK know it.
Nobody at Sepsi OSK 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.
Voluntari next, and one man in the Sepsi OSK dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stará Ľubovňa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Malženice is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Malženice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Malženice this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.71, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilan Mila 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.
In brief
Player ratingsLionel Ekoule beats them one at a time
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Zlate Moravce is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Viktor Sliacky 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.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Turanský 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Malženice, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Malženice know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with AS Trencin, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Viktor Sliacky 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Turanský 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 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 Malženice know it.
Nobody at Malženice 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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Malženice will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malženice can pretend not to have heard.
Dávid Balog 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Malženice training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Tyshchuk 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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 Malženice know it.
“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 Malženice, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 13 on 31 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Viktor Sliacky 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.
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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Slovan Bratislava U21 had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.