Marked for Cosmin Puscas
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
Cosmin Puscas 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 Petrolul can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Marin 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Remus Guţea in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Valentin Creţu 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Stefan Marin scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to CFR Cluj, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Petrolul game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Puskas Akademia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Oct 2026
Cosmin Puscas 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 Petrolul can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ianis Tanase and Petrolul agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 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 Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Marin 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Cosmin Tanase scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Pandurii, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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
Ianis Tanase in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Stefan Marin 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Botosani, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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.
Squad28 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Petrolul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
Petrolul say no — this time
The offer from Viitorul for Stefan Burca 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Petrolul
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Petrolul are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ianis Tanase in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Petrolul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Vlad Bancu runs at them all day
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Petrolul did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
George Marin 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 Petrolul can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Petrolul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Marin 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Stefan Marin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Daniel Puscas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Mihai Dragusin
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Petrolul, another week without a signature from Vladimir Screciu.