Marked for Karolis Kazlauskas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Apr 2028
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.
Market24 Apr 2028
Islam Vagabov 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pobeda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amirkhan Temukov 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.
Squad24 Apr 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 Pobeda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Labazan Labazanov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Mar 2028
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.
Market13 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Pobeda
Adam Shikhanmatov 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.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
The numbers do not look good at Pobeda
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amirkhan Temukov 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adam Shikhanmatov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Nov 2027
Pobeda are in real trouble now
Position 13, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match27 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Pobeda's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pobeda has to find a result from somewhere.
Market29 Nov 2027
Anton Zhiga 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amirkhan Temukov 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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2027
Wages eat 165% of everything Pobeda earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The terraces29 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Artur Avagumyan 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Adam Shikhanmatov will call it something else in private.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
7.58, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Pobeda had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Oct 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 Pobeda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Pobeda
Adam Shikhanmatov 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Pobeda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amirkhan Temukov 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Dinamo Stavropol left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“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
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Andrey Marjanov: 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.” Pobeda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Oct 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Amirkhan Temukov 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Pobeda
Karolis Kazlauskas 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Match9 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Angusht will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
João Marcos 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Market9 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Siauliai have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Deividas Mikoliunas. The answer from Atlantas has not changed — yet.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignas Dubickas 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 watch9 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tadas Sernas commits to Atlantas for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Pobeda
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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pobeda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Aug 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 Pobeda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Pobeda
Amirkhan Temukov 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Dinamo Makhachkala 2 left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Muslim Shikhbabaev 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.
Squad9 Aug 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 ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Aug 2027
He is 19, and nobody at Pobeda signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.