Marked for Rokas Paulauskas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Feb 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Siauliai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Ridouan Essaeh 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Siauliai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match27 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Siauliai
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match27 Mar 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ridouan Essaeh 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.
Squad29 Mar 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darius Novikovas commits to Siauliai for another 3 years.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I watch every Siauliai 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
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
0‑5 to Kauno Zalgiris, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad22 Mar 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 Siauliai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Siauliai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ridouan Essaeh 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Siauliai
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marius Lasickas, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Siauliai 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Siauliai lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.