Marked for Kristian Gyomber
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Denis Lobotka 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.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of German Dyachkov at his very best
Marked 8.55. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at FK Senica.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.19 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Benes 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 watch28 Sep 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 FK Senica, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed German Dyachkov to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against MFK Ruzomberok, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 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 FK Senica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The one thing Denis Lobotka could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at FK Senica training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Rusnak 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The one thing Peter Benes could not do
Shots: 5, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Match19 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Zlate Moravce defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
5.03 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Filip Sestak
There were 15 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market31 Aug 2026
MSK Zilina come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and FK Senica did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Aug 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 FK Senica, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Denis Lobotka 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Denis Lobotka, and the manager let it.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Slovan Bratislava, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Andrej Rusnak 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Andrej Rusnak may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
FK Senica through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Zlate Moravce, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Filip Sestak
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Ondrej Suslov at 17 — 9.19
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ondrej Suslov did not need any: 9.19, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
FK Senica say no — this time
The offer from Slovan Bratislava for German Dyachkov 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Dominik Hubocan, 33, rolls back the years — 7.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 FK Senica can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 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 FK Senica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 9.77 — 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by DAC Dunajska Streda, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 13 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market10 Aug 2026
FK Senica say no — this time
The offer from Spartak Trnava for Kristian Gyomber 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. FK Senica have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kristian Gyomber commits to FK Senica for another 3 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Miroslav Lobotka 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.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jakub Weiss 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Spartak Myjava spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad3 Aug 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 FK Senica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Robert Lobotka commits to FK Senica for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Filip Sestak 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A defender's afternoon for Samuel Rusnak
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 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.