Marked for Anastasios Samaris
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Dec 2031
Kostas Goumas breaks a bone — 96 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Dec 2031
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad1 Dec 2031
291 appearances across 15 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Levadiakos know what they have.
Match29 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Levadiakos's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Levadiakos has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 Dec 2031
“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.
Match29 Nov 2031
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.
Match29 Nov 2031
A bad afternoon for Levadiakos against AEK
0‑1 to AEK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Dec 2031
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Nov 2031
A fracture rules Kostas Goumas out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Levadiakos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Nov 2031
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Nov 2031
0‑4 to Olympiacos, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match22 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Levadiakos's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Levadiakos has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Nov 2031
5 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
A row about effort at Levadiakos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marios Vichos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Nov 2031
Kostas Goumas breaks a bone — 110 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Nov 2031
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Levadiakos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market17 Nov 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Levadiakos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Olle Lövdahl gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Olle Lövdahl has just signed for Levadiakos, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Kostas Goumas 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.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Giannis Sourdis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead17 Nov 2031
The leaders are next for Levadiakos
Olympiacos top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Nov 2031
Anastasios Samaris damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Match8 Nov 2031
0‑4 to Panathinaikos, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market10 Nov 2031
“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.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match8 Nov 2031
4 matches without a win for Levadiakos
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Levadiakos are no longer polite ones.
Match8 Nov 2031
4 matches without a goal for Levadiakos
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.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kostas Goumas 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.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Vitaliy Mykhayliv and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
Albert Jarcă gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Nov 2031
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market3 Nov 2031
“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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Agustín Urzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Nov 2031
3 matches without a goal for Levadiakos
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.
Match1 Nov 2031
0‑2 to Panetolikos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vitaliy Mykhayliv 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 ratings3 Nov 2031
Agustín Urzi beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Nov 2031
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
Marc Torrá gets it from the manager
“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.