Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rinat Kuat 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.
Words at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nnamdi Ahanonu 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.
Mansur Dil'murat 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.
Nnamdi Ahanonu 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.
Akzhaiyk asked and Taraz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Akzhaiyk who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Maxim Postnikov has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Abzal Dosmagambetov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Akzhaiyk have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Akzhaiyk have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 The request is on a desk at Akzhaiyk, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Astana 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.
Marat Nurgaliev 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.
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.
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 Maxim Postnikov is on it.
“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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Rinat Kuat is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Kairat paid $790.0K and Akzhaiyk took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
$85.0K on the table at Shakhter. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
2 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
In brief
SquadWords at Akzhaiyk training over how hard people work
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yerkebulan Nuserbayev provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akzhaiyk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 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.
The phone has started ringing about Abzal Dosmagambetov again, and this time the name on the line is Okzhetpes. Akzhaiyk are listening politely and promising nothing.