The Torpedo Vladimir Sentinel
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Aleksei Ovchinnikov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words at Torpedo Vladimir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Smirnov 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.
Market19 Jan 2032
Makar Belousov steps up from the Torpedo Vladimir academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Makar Belousov 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.
Market19 Jan 2032
One of our own: Fedot Nikiforov joins the Torpedo Vladimir first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fedot Nikiforov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jan 2032
Torpedo Vladimir promote Sergey Karimov from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergey Karimov 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.
Market19 Jan 2032
Alexey Lukyanov steps up from the Torpedo Vladimir academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexey Lukyanov 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.
Match17 Jan 2032
Torpedo Vladimir and Zvezda take a point apiece
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 dugout19 Jan 2032
Interim Coach: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Matvey Smirnov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Torpedo Vladimir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
- Squad A ban for Paweł Żyra
- The dugout Aleksei Ovchinnikov gets picked when it counts
- Player ratings Pyotr Timofeyev was unplayable