The Baltika Sentinel
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Nobody could get near Irakly Manelov
Successful dribbles: 45. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yuriy Kovalev
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baltika lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match15 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Baltika's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baltika has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Tenton Yenne: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Baltika have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Baltika
Eldar Ćivić 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.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Baltika
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Baltika training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derik Lacerda 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.
Match15 Jul 2028
The goals have deserted Baltika
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Baltika can tell you which week it ends in.
Market17 Jul 2028
One of our own: Egor Dzyuba joins the Baltika first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Egor Dzyuba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market Evgeni Ushakov steps up from the Baltika academy
- Market Ivan Cheryshev steps up from the Baltika academy
- Market One of our own: Platon Ignatov joins the Baltika first team