Marked for Alexander Lien
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Sep 2030
Jaba Lobjanidze: 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.” Chikhura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ardit Peposhi commits to Chikhura for another 2 years.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Enzo Geerts 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.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
A performance of 9.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match31 Aug 2030
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ensar Tafili’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chikhura.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexander Lien, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings2 Sep 2030
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Aug 2030
Enzo Geerts in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Aug 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Frank Chileshe and Chikhura agree another 4 years.
Match24 Aug 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Aug 2030
“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.
Market26 Aug 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chikhura know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings26 Aug 2030
5.74 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
Defensive actions: 29. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad29 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jul 2030
“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 ratings29 Jul 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match27 Jul 2030
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Dila will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match18 May 2030
The wait goes on for Chikhura
8 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.
Squad20 May 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chikhura may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad20 May 2030
Enzo Geerts in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad20 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ardit Peposhi, and the manager let it.
Squad20 May 2030
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings20 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 May 2030
The wait goes on for Chikhura
6 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.
Match4 May 2030
Whatever happens, Chikhura do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 May 2030
Spartak Gogniev 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 May 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexander Lien and Chikhura agree another 4 years.
Squad6 May 2030
The manager makes an example of Ángel Vázquez
“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.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match4 May 2030
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Kolkheti will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Jaba Gamsakhurdia has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Jan 2030
Only the photograph left for Vitaliy Para
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitaliy Para will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chikhura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Jan 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anatoliy Sannikov commits to Chikhura for another 4 years.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Spartak Gogniev 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.
Market7 Jan 2030
He is 18, and nobody at Chikhura signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
Chikhura pull $1.8M 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Jul 2029
“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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“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.
Market30 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Giba Sesay
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giba Sesay will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stromsgodset the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Fredrik Ardraa 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.
Market30 Jul 2029
Viking pay $510.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match28 Jul 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Stromsgodset did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A performance of 8.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.