Marked for Alexei Sergeev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces4 Oct 2027
Anger at Zenit Penza spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match2 Oct 2027
Metallurg will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zenit Penza were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.92, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Pressure builds in the Zenit Penza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market4 Oct 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 Zenit Penza can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Artur Arslanov has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Zenit Penza is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Naidenov 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 ratings4 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Nikita Kolesin at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zenit Penza.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Gleb Geikin
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Words exchanged at Zenit Penza
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The dugout
Alexey Makushkin is still being punished for one mistake
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Zenit Penza
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zenit Penza is running low.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Alexey Naidenov 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Zenit Penza training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evgeny Yegorov 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.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Wages swallow 120% of the Zenit Penza 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dmitry Korolev signs something — a contract at Zenit Penza or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Apr 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nikita Kolesin may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Yaroslav Terechev
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zenit Penza will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evgeny Yegorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Kirill Matsak
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zenit Penza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market21 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Evgeny Yegorov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Market21 Dec 2026
Zenit Penza have made Nikita Kolesin available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Zenit Penza will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.