Marked for Aidas Cernych
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Marius Kuklys damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Atlantas can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Atlantas have done the hard part with Kauno Zalgiris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Marko Pavić 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan move for Paulius Satkus is in the works
Atlantas have made the call to Trakai. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Nemanja Ilić knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlantas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonçalo Churro, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Utenis waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Pavić 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Atlantas asked and Kauno Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Godfrey Joseph 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.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
“I did not go to FCSB to sit and watch. I want to come back to Atlantas and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan move for Marko Konatar is in the works
Atlantas have made the call to Kauno Zalgiris. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“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 dugout28 Jun 2027
Álex Sánchez knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atlantas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
“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 Atlantas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The deal with Suduva 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Atlantas offered $430.0K; Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Lazar Sajčić 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Atlantas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad21 Jun 2027
No place for Francisco Lino in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Atlantas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jun 2027
Atlantas sink to position 8
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
Anger at Atlantas spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market7 Jun 2027
Suduva come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Atlantas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Jun 2027
Aidas Cernych 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 Atlantas can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Pavić 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Godfrey Joseph 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 terraces7 Jun 2027
He is 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Atlantas's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atlantas has to find a result from somewhere.
Market17 May 2027
Aidas Lasickas has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 2027
Marko Pavić 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.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Atlantas
Godfrey Joseph and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 May 2027
0‑2 to Stumbras, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Jovan Krneta
“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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rokas Paulauskas after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Atlantas
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.
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atlantas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Lazar Sajčić 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Jovan Krneta
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Time is catching up with Álex Sánchez
Everybody at Atlantas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad19 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Rokas Paulauskas to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlantas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atlantas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Godfrey Joseph 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Nemanja Ilić gets it from the manager
“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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rokas Paulauskas after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vikintas Lasickas 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
Atlantas bow out of the cup
Kauno Zalgiris go through and Atlantas go home, 1‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
1-4. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $11.1K — a club that wants Andrius Satkus enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lazar Sajčić 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Atlantas asked and Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Aidas Mikoliunas 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Atlantas 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Ventspils have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Deividas Lasickas. The answer from Atlantas has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aidas Mikoliunas and Atlantas agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Stumbras 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.
Squad10 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 Atlantas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Suduva have kept their man, and Atlantas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Lazar Sajčić 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Aidas Cernych 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Atlantas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aidas Mikoliunas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Jovan Krneta
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Atlantas will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ignas Dubickas and Atlantas agree another 1 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Kauno Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Kauno Zalgiris have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aidas Mikoliunas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Paulius Slavickas has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Atlantas.
Market3 Aug 2026
Atlantas bring in an old head
Jovan Krneta is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.