Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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.
Nobody at Tskhinvali will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Temur Lobjanidze signs something — a contract at Tskhinvali or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
48 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Dinamo Batumi watched Tornike Lobjanidze again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Tskhinvali has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Tskhinvali would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tskhinvali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Kobiashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Stanislav Reshetnikov is on it.
Position 5 on 48 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlo Locatelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rezo Lomidze 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.
9 goals in 29 games at Sapovnela — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Tskhinvali updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Avtandil Gamsakhurdia is on it.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Tskhinvali that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Kobiashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Tskhinvali will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Sori Mané 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Guto will call it something else in private.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Shota Qazaishvili was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Sapovnela dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Shukura? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Revaz Daraselia provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
11 matches without a win, and then this, against Chikhura. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Davit Daraselia, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sori Mané 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.
Guto 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Revaz Daraselia 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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Moussa Kone did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tornike Lobjanidze 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Kobiashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Temur Lobjanidze will call it something else in private.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Levan Kvaratskhelia, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hüseyin Ertürk did not need any: 8.51, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Levan Kvaratskhelia kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
1‑6 against Dinamo Tbilisi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Sori Mané 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.
Sapovnela have gone to Dinamo Tbilisi with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Sapovnela and Dinamo Tbilisi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Lorensi 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Sapovnela pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
The deal with Guria 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sandro Shugladze and Sapovnela agree another 2 years.
Sori Mané 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.
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 Diego Lorensi.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Sapovnela had all but put away. Tskhinvali will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Sapovnela had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotivi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sapovnela are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I did not go to Shukura to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sapovnela and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Sori Mané's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Everything agreed with Guria, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sori Mané 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Tornike Qazaishvili has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sandro Gvelesiani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saba Chakvetadze is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sori Mané
BoardroomNobody left the Sapovnela dressing room in a hurry
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sapovnela have done the hard part with Samtredia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The chase for Sori Mané ended with $530.0K changing hands and Torpedo Kutaisi out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Guto 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.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Sapovnela spend $530.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $530.0K for Sori Mané, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Lorensi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tskhinvali have kept their man, and Sapovnela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.90, and 2 involvements.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Sapovnela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Putkaradze 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Zugdidi had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I watch every Sapovnela game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shukura runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tornike Lobjanidze 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.
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.
0‑1 to Dila, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Levan Kvaratskhelia left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Dinamo Tbilisi go through and Sapovnela go home, 1‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sapovnela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Sapovnela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Giorgi Putkaradze 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sapovnela and Dila, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Lorensi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sapovnela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Sapovnela, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sapovnela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sapovnela is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Guto 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sapovnela and Torpedo Kutaisi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Diego Lorensi 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 words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sapovnela are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sapovnela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Mar 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sapovnela and Dinamo Batumi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 6.37 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Two goals and a mark of 9.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.89, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Tskhinvali and Chikhura in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Carlo Locatelli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I watch every Tskhinvali game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sapovnela runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The words a physio says slowly. 163 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 given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Sapovnela close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yegor Baranov has, at Sapovnela, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Yegor Baranov is 20, and Sapovnela have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Tskhinvali asked and Dinamo Tbilisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Tskhinvali would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Tskhinvali opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Shota Shengelia stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Tornike Lobjanidze’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
170 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sapovnela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Tskhinvali 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.
Guto 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Batumi have kept their man, and Sapovnela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodriguinho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sapovnela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tskhinvali will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Kolkheti for Mamuka Mchedlidze 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.
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.
Tskhinvali have made the call to Club Brugge. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Goga Daraselia 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tskhinvali know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutRevaz Daraselia has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tskhinvali will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Temur Lobjanidze and Tskhinvali agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Tornike Lobjanidze 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 Dec 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Otar Arveladze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Tornike Lobjanidze 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otar Arveladze 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tskhinvali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
“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 Tskhinvali, and 5 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Tskhinvali would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tskhinvali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Kakha Chakvetadze 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Tskhinvali told Tornike Lobjanidze something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Tornike Lobjanidze 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Kobiashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sandro Shengelia and Tskhinvali agree another 1 years.
“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 Tskhinvali, and 2 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Avtandil Gamsakhurdia is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tskhinvali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Tskhinvali close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“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 Tskhinvali, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Trabzonspor is saying, and nobody at Tskhinvali is enjoying the guessing.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Tskhinvali have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo Locatelli 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 has re-ordered his thinking and Otar Arveladze has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Two goals and a mark of 9.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dynamo Kyiv is saying, and nobody at Tskhinvali is enjoying the guessing.
Dinamo Batumi paid $270.0K and Tskhinvali took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Temur Janelidze. 3‑2 against Lokomotivi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Tskhinvali training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Kobiashvili 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.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Samtredia the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Tskhinvali will enjoy reviewing.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at BKMA is saying, and nobody at Tskhinvali is enjoying the guessing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Revaz Daraselia provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.22 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Tskhinvali had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Panathinaikos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Tornike Lobjanidze 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.
Tskhinvali asked and Tobol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Revaz Daraselia 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.