Marked for Linas Girdvainis
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Apr 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vykintas Lasickas
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match4 Apr 2035
The small margins put Stumbras out
Out, 1‑1 to Kauno Zalgiris, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Apr 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stumbras can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
Paulius Lasickas, 35, rolls back the years — 8.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad9 Apr 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Paulius Lasickas and Stumbras agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
A hand in 2 of them from Ignas Dubickas — 7.80
Marked 7.80. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad9 Apr 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
The kick that got away from Arnas Satkus
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Apr 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vykintas Lasickas
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Apr 2035
Every point is an argument now for Stumbras
Position 7 and 3 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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Apr 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Paulius Lasickas commits to Stumbras for another 2 years.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Paulius Lasickas 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.
Match31 Mar 2035
Kauno Zalgiris left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Mar 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vykintas Lasickas
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Mar 2035
Ignas Slavickas wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Ignas Slavickas found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Utenis went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Mar 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tsipushtanov 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 terraces26 Mar 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ignas Slavickas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match24 Mar 2035
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ignas Slavickas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Stumbras.
Player ratings26 Mar 2035
A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings26 Mar 2035
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Mar 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vykintas Lasickas
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match17 Mar 2035
No end in sight to Stumbras's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stumbras has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Mar 2035
No clean sheets in sight for Stumbras
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.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Paulius Lasickas 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.
Match17 Mar 2035
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Mar 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vykintas Lasickas
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Ignas Kazlauskas: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stumbras have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match10 Mar 2035
The wait goes on for Stumbras
4 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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Modestas Sernas and Stumbras agree another 3 years.
Match10 Mar 2035
Stumbras leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Mar 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Modestas Cernych
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match3 Mar 2035
Chastening afternoon for Stumbras
A 1‑4 beating by Zalgiris was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Mar 2035
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market5 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tomas Slavickas commits to Stumbras for another 2 years.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
9 academy players handed senior numbers at Stumbras
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market5 Mar 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edvinas Mikoliunas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market5 Mar 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Modestas Cernych has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Feb 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Modestas Cernych
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Feb 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
The Stumbras production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Aug 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Linas Girdvainis
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stumbras lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Aug 2033
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Stumbras may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Aug 2033
Paulius Lasickas 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.