Artak Khachatryan

Defensive Midfielder - Gandzasar
3 Sep 2034
Sunday
Process

Marked for Artak Khachatryan

421 Edition

The Gandzasar Herald

21 Aug 2034
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Artak Khachatryan keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gandzasar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Gandzasar

Bertrand Mani 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.

Squad

Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hagai Katoh 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.

In brief

Back issues
413 Edition

The Gandzasar Herald

26 Jun 2034
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Grigor Hakobyan damages knee ligaments — 20 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.

Player ratings

Both of them Saad Haqawi's — 8.84

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Words at Gandzasar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hagai Katoh 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.

Match

Gandzasar get the job done against Pyunik

A 2‑0 win over Pyunik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Tempers go at Gandzasar

Artak Khachatryan 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.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Vasilis Zogos

17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

Squad

When it matters, Bertrand Mani plays

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Moussa Kanté

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Sargis Mkhitaryan leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Sargis Mkhitaryan leaves Gandzasar the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

411 Edition

The Gandzasar Herald

12 Jun 2034
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Grigor Hakobyan damages knee ligaments — 34 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.

Match

Gandzasar are in real trouble now

Position 8, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Tempers go at Gandzasar

Bertrand Mani 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.

Match

BKMA take the points off Gandzasar

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Nikita Lobusov

“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 ratings

Ethan Lizalda runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Artak Khachatryan signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artak Khachatryan and Gandzasar agree another 3 years.

Market

The Hagai Katoh talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gandzasar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

Vahan Bayramyan leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Vahan Bayramyan leaves Gandzasar the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

392 Edition

The Gandzasar Herald

30 Jan 2034
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Vasilis Zogos damages knee ligaments — 101 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.

Squad

Jerzino breaks a bone — 97 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Ararat Sarkisov 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 Gandzasar, and it is not being withdrawn.

In brief

385 Edition

The Gandzasar Herald

12 Dec 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Hagai Katoh 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.

Squad

Artak Khachatryan 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 Gandzasar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Bertrand Mani has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Gandzasar 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.

In brief

360 Edition

The Gandzasar Herald

20 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Hagai Katoh 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 Gandzasar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Vasilis Zogos 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.

Match

Gandzasar get the job done against Ararat

A 2‑0 win over Ararat, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Moussa Kanté

Marked 8.15 — 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.

Squad

Bertrand Mani has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Gandzasar 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.

Player ratings

Tigran Khachatryan shuts the door

Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Squad

Moussa Kanté finally opens his account

He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Gandzasar have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.

Player ratings

Bertrand Mani runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 8. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Artak Khachatryan

8 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.

In brief