The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lokomotiv Gomel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Gomel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Vitaliy Likhtin 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxim Nazarov 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sergei Dragun signs something — a contract at Lokomotiv Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4 on 39 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Lokomotiv Gomel can pretend not to have heard.
Vitaliy Likhtin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Maltsev 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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“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 Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maksim Savitski will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vitaliy Likhtin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Maltsev 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.
“I watch every Lokomotiv Gomel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Niva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Egor Zaytsev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sergei Dragun signs something — a contract at Lokomotiv Gomel or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4 on 39 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
“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 Lokomotiv Gomel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Maksim Savitski will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Lokomotiv Gomel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Vitaliy Likhtin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Danil Maltsev 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Maltsev 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.