Marked for Vikintas Lasickas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match8 May 2027
The wait goes on for Atlantas
11 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.
Match10 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Atlantas
Position 8 and 1 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.
Match8 May 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Suduva, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market10 May 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.
Squad10 May 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.
Squad10 May 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Álex Sánchez and Atlantas agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Godfrey Joseph, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Atlantas dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Nemanja Ilić
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match12 Apr 2027
Atlantas sink to position 8
0 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match10 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Atlantas's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atlantas has to find a result from somewhere.
Market12 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.
Squad12 Apr 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 Atlantas know it.
Squad12 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Zalgiris left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Apr 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nemanja Ilić, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
Lukas Vaitkunas beats them one at a time
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The dugout
No place in the plan for Jovan Krneta
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 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.
Market29 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Everybody at Atlantas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 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.
Squad29 Mar 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kacper Skrobański, and the manager let it.
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
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Aidas Lasickas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aidas Lasickas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atlantas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Feb 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.
Squad22 Feb 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Saulius Valskis
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
Aidas Mikoliunas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 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 Feb 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.
Squad15 Feb 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.
Squad15 Feb 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Joao Santos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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
Squad1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atlantas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Atlantas until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Utenis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aidas Lasickas. The answer from Atlantas has not changed — yet.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Atlantas, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan enquiry to Kauno Zalgiris: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad1 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlantas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Atlantas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Tomas Kuklys had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić 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.
Squad25 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Atlantas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kauno Zalgiris had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Atlantas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lazar Sajčić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Marius Klimavicius, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlantas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Jan 2027
Atlantas say no — this time
The offer from Suduva for Vikintas Lasickas was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Justas Slavickas 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Utenis will make the call about Darius Mikoliunas this week. Atlantas have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Marko Pavić has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlantas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlantas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Vikintas Lasickas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlantas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market30 Nov 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 Atlantas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Atlantas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vikintas Lasickas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Atlantas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zalgiris runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yuriy Kendysh
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zalgiris lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Atlantas to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zalgiris and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Zalgiris will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Azat Bairyev is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Atlantas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zalgiris lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kajus Bička is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Liviu Antal for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Zalgiris will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlantas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lazar Sajčić 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every Atlantas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zalgiris runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nikola Petković had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Zalgiris asked and Vicenza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Dinis Rodrigues is in the works
Zalgiris have made the call to Napoli. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market24 Aug 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zalgiris know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Zalgiris would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Zalgiris out
Out, 1‑3 to Utenis, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marko Capan had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Kajus Bička, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Aug 2026
Andijon come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zalgiris did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Aug 2026
Stumbras paid $79.0K and Zalgiris took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zalgiris have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Zalgiris 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zalgiris people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paulius Golubickas and Zalgiris agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aidas Dubickas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Darius Klimavicius is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karolis Mikoliunas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Atlantas 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Zalgiris would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.