Marked for Modestas Simkus
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Dec 2027
Arnas Satkus 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Stefan Filipović 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
23 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad6 Dec 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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.
Match6 Dec 2027
Atlantas have something to play for
Position 5 on 17 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Atlantas
Dominik Dinga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Atlantas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stefan Filipović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The medical room confirms 51 days on the sidelines for Modestas Simkus, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“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 dugout8 Nov 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Deividas Satkus is on it.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Atlantas pull $817.3K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A season on the outside for Dominik Dinga
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Atlantas has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Match8 Nov 2027
Atlantas have something to play for
Position 5 on 17 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market8 Nov 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
Donatas Kuklys damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
4‑1, and Vikintas Valskis took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Atlantas tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stefan Filipović and Atlantas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Atlantas
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Vikintas Valskis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Stefan Filipović 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Donatas Simkus has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arvydas Lasickas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.