The Zugdidi Chronicle
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Bachana Okriashvili runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market22 Mar 2027
Goga Gvelesiani puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 Mar 2027
Saburtalo take the points off Zugdidi
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beka Beridze 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Zugdidi
Sergey Rodionov 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Beka Beridze
“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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Kakha Chakvetadze answers for it
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The form table has caught Irakli Janelidze
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A first senior shirt for Vakhtang Okriashvili
Every debut is a small story about the future: Vakhtang Okriashvili, 16 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
In brief
- The dugout The plan did not have a place for Beka Beridze
- Squad Temur Mchedlidze has company in his position
- Market The Bachana Okriashvili story refuses to die