Marked for Matvey Yakovlev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Neftyanik's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftyanik has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
106 days out for Platon Kuzin after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Neftyanik will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Sevastopol, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Sergei Erofeev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match20 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted Neftyanik
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Neftyanik can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Wages swallow 169% of the Neftyanik income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Egor Pushkin gets it from the manager
“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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Neftyanik dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Timur Platonov to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Neftyanik's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftyanik has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Platon Kuzin breaks a bone — 114 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Mar 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match13 Mar 2027
Pobeda left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Lermontov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
21 appearances at Kvant and the goals keep coming. Neftyanik are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Timur Platonov to a room that had heard them before.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Neftyanik
Yaroslav Fomin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftyanik can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Neftyanik
7 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Neftyanik have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match13 Feb 2027
The goals have deserted Neftyanik
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Neftyanik can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Aleksei Goryachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Neftyanik game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kosmos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match13 Feb 2027
Rostov 2 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
The goals keep arriving from Semyon Suslov’s exile
10 goals in 19 games at Kvant — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Neftyanik updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Kosmos
Yan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Kosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Miroshnichenko 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Jan 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 Stanislav Kozlov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Yakovlev, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The Yan question follows Kosmos around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Match16 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Neftyanik
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Kosmos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Neftyanik and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Timur Platonov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Neftyanik told Platon Kuzin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
15 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Dec 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 Neftyanik can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Neftyanik
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Neftyanik can tell you which week it ends in.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch21 Dec 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 Neftyanik, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Timur Platonov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Kosmos's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kosmos has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Kosmos
Yan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Kosmos cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 248% of everything Kosmos earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stanislav Kozlov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Chertanovo came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Matvey Yakovlev
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Neftyanik
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Neftyanik
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Neftyanik can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“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; Neftyanik are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Stepan Kashirin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Sochi 2 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksei Goryachev, and the manager let it.
Loan watch23 Nov 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 Neftyanik, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
Pobeda left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch26 Oct 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 Neftyanik, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Timur Platonov to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitri Arsenyev, and the manager let it.
Market26 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stepan Kashirin signs something — a contract at Neftyanik or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
The goals keep arriving from Semyon Suslov’s exile
2 goals in 5 games at Kvant — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Neftyanik updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Neftyanik's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Neftyanik has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Sep 2026
Neftyanik cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladislav Konokotin 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Aleksei Goryachev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Egor Pushkin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Kosmos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Neftyanik and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.14 on the card, and the Neftyanik support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Timur Platonov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market28 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Shinnik, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Yan 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 Kosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Strogino wanted more than $66.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market17 Aug 2026
A stepping stone, not a home, for Yan
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Kosmos were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Match15 Aug 2026
Kosmos rescue it on 91 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Irkutsk had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kosmos, another week without a signature from Zeki Aliev.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.87, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.