Marked for Daniel Miranda
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Khazar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Louis Thompson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Agil Abdullayev 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.
Match21 Dec 2026
Khazar have something to play for
Position 5 on 24 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Khazar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market21 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maksim Jafarov signs something — a contract at Khazar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Tamkin Jafarov 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 Tamkin Jafarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Dec 2026
The season ends: position 5 for Khazar
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 24 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Tamkin Jafarov: 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.” Khazar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market14 Dec 2026
Emin Sheydaev 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 Khazar can pretend not to have heard.
Match12 Dec 2026
The run is over for Khazar
9 matches without defeat, and then Zira. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Khazar
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Khazar
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Khazar can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Khazar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Louis Thompson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Khazar against Zira
0‑1 to Zira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Khazar
Agil Abdullayev 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
When it matters, Cavid Madatov plays
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Daniel Miranda
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 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 Khazar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match28 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Khazar
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Louis Thompson 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.
Squad30 Nov 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Miranda and Khazar agree another 3 years.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dimitrij Ismayilov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Chances created: 10. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Ebere Iheanacho out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Khazar do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Louis Thompson 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Eddy Nazarov. 2‑1 against Sumgayit, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.21 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.25 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Afran Dadashov
Nobody at Khazar is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.