Marked for Stepan Ermakov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Arkhip Kazantsev at 19 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Arkhip Kazantsev did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodina M this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Martovoy 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Kvant made Rodina M work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Rodina M
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stepan Ermakov and Rodina M agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Vadim Fedorov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.90 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Krasnodar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Rodina M
Nikita Postnikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Rodina M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Rodina M training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilja Gorbachev 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Sep 2026
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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Vadim Fedorov after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Rodina M close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 8 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Moscow keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alimsultan Sultanaliev 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rubin have kept their man, and Rodina M go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Semyon Yefremov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stepan Ermakov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladlen Kryukov and Rodina M agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ilja Gorbachev
“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.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
A test against the best for Rodina M
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 Ryazan.