Marked for Pol Muñoz
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Mar 2036
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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Emmanuel Ojukwu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at CSC Dumbrăvița training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aymane Benkibbou 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.
Match22 Mar 2036
0‑2 to Sepsi OSK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Kevin Tînjală
“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 dugout24 Mar 2036
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad24 Mar 2036
One booking too many, and Alexandru Goncear sits out. CSC Dumbrăvița lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Squad24 Mar 2036
The formation has left Pol Muñoz behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CSC Dumbrăvița will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Player ratings24 Mar 2036
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Mar 2035
0‑3 against Narva Trans, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match3 Mar 2035
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.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
Pol Muñoz keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCI Levadia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Mar 2035
Only the photograph left for Pol Muñoz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pol Muñoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FCI Levadia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dawid Pietruszka and FCI Levadia agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Didi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
10 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match3 Mar 2035
3 matches without a goal for FCI Levadia
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.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Words at FCI Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chigozie Ani 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Feb 2035
Elva come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and FCI Levadia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
Window shuts: 0 in, 4 out at FCI Levadia
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market5 Feb 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FCI Levadia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Didi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2035
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and FCI Levadia know it.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2035
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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2035
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. FCI Levadia will try again when the window opens; Paide may not be selling by then.
The dugout5 Feb 2035
“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.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Words at FCI Levadia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alukam Iwuorie 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jan 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FC Tallinn waiting with a shirt. Nobody at FCI Levadia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market15 Jan 2035
The bid was some way short and FCI Levadia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market15 Jan 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FCI Levadia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. FCI Levadia have done the hard part with Flora, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom15 Jan 2035
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Chigozie Ani and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Momodou Njie was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flora have kept their man, and FCI Levadia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout15 Jan 2035
“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.