It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. NK Domzale told Gregor Birsa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
1‑1 against Charleroi, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Gregor Birsa was at the centre of the description.
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.
Tomas Mevlja 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Kevin Oblak will call it something else in private.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Koper? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Gregor Birsa
0‑2 against Red Bull Salzburg. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every NK Domzale game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at NK Maribor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Matej Tadič 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Gregor Birsa.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Gregor Sikosek has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
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.
At 28 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. NK Domzale have a decision that made itself.
Position 1, 16 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“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 NK Domzale, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at NK Domzale this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gregor Sikosek 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gregor Birsa, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Matej Tadič 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.
Sandi Oblak 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Jan Mevlja 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.
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. NK Domzale have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
ND Gorica will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. NK Domzale were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Robert Lovric 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The phone has started ringing about Andraz Birsa again, and this time the name on the line is ND Gorica. NK Domzale are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Gregor Birsa 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Domen Sikosek has his answer from NK Domzale; what he does with it is the next window’s story.