The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Yenisey 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
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.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Evgeniy Titov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Tver, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zakhar Magomedov and Yenisey 2 agree another 3 years.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Yenisey 2 have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
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.
Igor Kombarov, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94
A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Igor Kombarov, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Yenisey 2 would like this to lead.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tver in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at Yenisey 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
The dugoutIlya Pavlov knocks on the manager's door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gavriil Volkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Yenisey 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Tikhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Timur Ponomarev has come out of that comparison in the side, and Yenisey 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Umid Mirzaev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
Gavriil Erofeev 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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kosmos defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
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.
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.
Stanislav Titov is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Yenisey 2, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Yenisey 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Stanislav Titov did not need any: 8.36, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Stanislav Titov 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.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Spartak Moscow 2.
Position 13 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Daniil Yermolov decided nobody was going anywhere. Irkutsk had no time left to answer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Yenisey 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Gavriil Erofeev is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gavriil Volkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Yenisey 2 squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Gavriil Erofeev is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Yenisey 2 have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
28 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Yenisey 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Yenisey 2 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“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 dugout14 Oct 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Umid Mirzaev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
27 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Yenisey 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yenisey 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 Yenisey 2 will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Igor Kombarov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Yenisey 2 told Umid Mirzaev something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
Nobody at Yenisey 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Yenisey 2 was different afterwards.
In brief
Player ratingsThe manager had seen enough of Umid Mirzaev
25 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Tikhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 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.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
At 35 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Yenisey 2 have a decision that made itself.
24 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Yenisey 2 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Igor Kombarov 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Saturn scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout16 Sep 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Umid Mirzaev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
23 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gavriil Volkov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Yenisey 2 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Stanislav Titov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Yenisey 2 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Chertanovo? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody at Yenisey 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 11 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
21 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Yenisey 2 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
6 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kosmos defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Golovin knocks on the manager's door
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Yenisey 2 can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mikhail Tikhonov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gavriil Erofeev 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.
Boardroom19 Aug 2030
Nobody left the Yenisey 2 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.
4 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Spartak Moscow 2.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arseny Shevchenko and Yenisey 2 agree another 3 years.
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.
Nobody at Yenisey 2 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Umid Mirzaev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Yenisey 2 was different afterwards.
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Yenisey 2 are no longer polite ones.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
At 17 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Yenisey 2 have a decision that made itself.
16 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yenisey 2 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words at Yenisey 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikhail Tikhonov 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Umid Mirzaev, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Umid Mirzaev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Yenisey 2 are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KAMAZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KAMAZ have done the hard part with Sibir, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
David Karaev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Surkhaikhan Abdullaev 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.
KAMAZ asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.