Marked for Modestas Simkus
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ignas Dubickas damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Solal Moraga in a row with a teammate
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.
Market16 Aug 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Modestas Simkus 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Armen Khachatryan, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
Ignas Dubickas damages knee ligaments — 62 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 62 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market12 Jul 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.
Market12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Marius Vaitkunas 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stumbras have kept their man, and Atlantas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edvinas Simkus, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces5 Jul 2027
Supporters organise against the Atlantas board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ignas Dubickas
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlantas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Jul 2027
Atlantas sink to position 7
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market5 Jul 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 Atlantas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Atlantas
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Atlantas is running low.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Atlantas asked and Suduva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market5 Jul 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Atlantas will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Solal Moraga 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Edvinas Kazlauskas and Atlantas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Atlantas's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atlantas has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 May 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout17 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Andrius Novikovas after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout17 May 2027
Modestas Simkus is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout17 May 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2027
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Atlantas squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
The dugout17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
The suspension has been sat out and he is available again. Whoever has been playing in his place has had a fortnight to make an argument, and the manager now has to decide whether it was a good one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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
Atlantas sink to position 7
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces10 May 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
A six-pointer for Atlantas
Stumbras next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marked 7.62 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Atlantas had the best player on the pitch.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Linas Dapkus 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
Vikintas Eliosius 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.
Match8 May 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad10 May 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Atlantas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Modestas Simkus out for 27 days
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.
Squad18 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Modestas Simkus out for 34 days
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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Zalgiris, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Atlantas
Konstantin Voinkov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Atlantas know which stage they are at.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arvydas Lasickas commits to Atlantas for another 3 years.
Market11 Jan 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Atlantas signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlantas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Modestas Simkus out for 41 days
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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Zalgiris is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Konstantin Voinkov 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Arvydas Lasickas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Tadas Eliosius
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Edvinas Slavickas damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad28 Dec 2026
48 days out for Modestas Simkus 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Marius Vaitkunas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Arnas Klimavicius commits to Atlantas for another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Atlantas
Linas Dapkus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Atlantas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Modestas Simkus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Atlantas
Marius Vaitkunas 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vykintas Slavickas commits to Atlantas for another 4 years.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atlantas, another week without a signature from Edvinas Simkus.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“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 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Modestas Simkus 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Marius Satkus knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marius Satkus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Atlantas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Modestas Simkus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. Atlantas will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
The knee: Lukas Kuklys out for 29 days
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atlantas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrius Girdvainis is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 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
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 3 in, 3 out at Atlantas
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marius Vaitkunas 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Andrius Dubickas is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Atlantas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Modestas Simkus 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Atlantas
0‑5 against Kauno Zalgiris, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
0-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Trakai have kept their man, and Atlantas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Jovan Krneta
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Atlantas 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atlantas, another week without a signature from Edvinas Simkus.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.