Marked for Christopher Thompson
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Feb 2030
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match9 Feb 2030
6 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anton Ivanov commits to Lokomotiv Sofia for another 4 years.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Diego Raposo 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 Lokomotiv Sofia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Feb 2030
CSKA Sofia left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad11 Feb 2030
The manager makes an example of Angel Lyaskov
“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.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Marked 8.36 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Market11 Feb 2030
The Ante Aralica talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Lokomotiv Sofia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Feb 2029
“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 Sofia can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Feb 2029
Georgi Tartov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Lokomotiv Sofia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Feb 2029
117 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Diego Raposo 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lokomotiv Sofia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christopher Thompson, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Lokomotiv Sofia's wait for a win
36 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lokomotiv Sofia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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.
Market15 Jan 2029
The deal that would have taken Rosen Stefanov to Arda has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Lokomotiv Sofia with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Lokomotiv Sofia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Diego Raposo 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ricardo Salcedo, and the manager let it.
Match13 Jan 2029
0‑1 to Slavia Sofia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 Sofia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Sofia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“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.