Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ondřej Karafiát and Mlada Boleslav agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
David Pech 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.
13 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mlada Boleslav will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mlada Boleslav can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
David Pech 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.
11 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mlada Boleslav can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Roman Macek 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.
The name of Josef Kolářík has come up in conversations Mlada Boleslav were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mlada Boleslav can pretend not to have heard.
Tomáš Král 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazar Domchak 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.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Jiří Klíma was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.83. 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Josef Kolářík and Mlada Boleslav agree another 4 years.
The offer from Jablonec for Adam Zouhar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Roman Macek 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mlada Boleslav can pretend not to have heard.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aldo Fuentes is living that version at Mlada Boleslav, and it tends to show in the first month.
Marked 8.95 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Roman Macek 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.
“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 Mlada Boleslav know it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nazar Domchak is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
5 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.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Nazar Domchak 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mlada Boleslav can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Matouš Krulich scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Slovacko, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Nazar Domchak 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.
“I watch every Mlada Boleslav game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Arda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matouš Krulich 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.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
Slavia Prague ended it 1‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A brace, and David Pech takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Pech provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Mlada Boleslav and Slavia Prague in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Pech. 3‑2 against Teplice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Roman Macek 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Jiří Floder knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
In brief
Player ratingsJiří Klíma was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nazar Domchak 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.
Dominik Kostka 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mlada Boleslav lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Mlada Boleslav did not have in the autumn.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mlada Boleslav are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Roman Macek 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Mlada Boleslav game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Arda runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
0‑0 against Heerenveen, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Filip Černý did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
20 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Roman Macek 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.64 — 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
1‑3 away to the standard of Villarreal. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 32 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nazar Domchak is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Ondřej Karafiát 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 ratings20 Sep 2027
Lucas Melgarejo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.16. 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Langhamer and Mlada Boleslav agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Sigma Olomouc held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Mlada Boleslav answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mlada Boleslav, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ondřej Karafiát. 3‑2 against Jablonec, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Nazar Domchak 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Ondřej Karafiát at his very best
143 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mlada Boleslav lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Roman Macek 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.
Christophe Kabongo 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The offer from Jablonec for Matěj Hybš was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Christophe Kabongo 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Roman Macek 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mlada Boleslav has been clear about where Jan Buryán stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mlada Boleslav is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
9 goals and a season average of 7.42 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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 phone has started ringing about Matthias Leitl again, and this time the name on the line is Dukla Prague. Mlada Boleslav are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adam Zouhar is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
David Pech was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.10. 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roman Macek signs something — a contract at Mlada Boleslav or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maxim Kalabus is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Roman Macek 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.
Marked 8.66 — 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.
Marked 8.54 — 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.
30 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
8.18. 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.
Filip Lehký 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.
28 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Pech has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mlada Boleslav have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mlada Boleslav have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Christophe Kabongo 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Roman Macek 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.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Marked 8.90 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denis Donát 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.
A brace, and David Pech takes the afternoon — 9.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Pech provided it, and the 9.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Michal Ševčík was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.39. 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Roman Macek 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Pech. 3‑1 against Teplice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
7 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mlada Boleslav will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mlada Boleslav have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Maxim Kalabus
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Maxim Kalabus has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mlada Boleslav have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mlada Boleslav will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Christophe Kabongo 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.
In brief
SquadRoman Macek falls out with a teammate over standards
BoardroomNobody left the Mlada Boleslav dressing room in a hurry
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mlada Boleslav will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adam Zouhar is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Christophe Kabongo 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.
A performance of 8.48 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
David Pech was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.45. 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mlada Boleslav, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mlada Boleslav this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Ondřej Karafiát 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Mlada Boleslav training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Macek 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.
Marked 8.70 — 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.
The goal that put Slovacko ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Mlada Boleslav equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.