Marked for Karolis Dapkus
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Nov 2027
The mood at Atlantas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match15 Nov 2027
Atlantas are in real trouble now
Position 8, 3 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Mantas Vaitkunas 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 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Fiodor Simkus 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Karolis Dapkus joins up with his country. Atlantas lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Atlantas would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Oct 2027
Damjan Pavlović 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rokas Lasickas, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Atlantas that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Feb 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Atlantas
Modestas Girdvainis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
98 days out for Mantas Vaitkunas after a fracture
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Sep 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 2 in, 1 out at Atlantas
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
Atlantas say no — this time
The offer from Zalgiris for Linas Paulauskas 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.
Market24 Aug 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Stumbras wanted more than $94.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Andrius Paulauskas 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 dugout24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nikša Vujčić has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Atlantas know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Modestas Girdvainis commits to Atlantas for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Modestas Girdvainis 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 Aug 2026
Mantas Vaitkunas 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.