Marked for Daniel Håkans
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Lech
Mikael Ishak 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 ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Kornel Lisman is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Patrik Wålemark has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antoni Kozubal and Lech agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match19 Aug 2028
0‑1 to Gornik Leczna, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Nobody left the Lech dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market21 Aug 2028
Novi Pazar are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Lech will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market21 Aug 2028
Lech bring in an old head
David Murillo is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lech may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Germán Barbas is a better footballer than he was
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.
Market14 Aug 2028
Lech say no — this time
The offer from Jagiellonia for Krzysztof Kamiński 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Mikael Ishak 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 Lech this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Terry Yegbe has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market14 Aug 2028
Gornik Zabrze paid $370.0K and Lech took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Match12 Aug 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market14 Aug 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Daniel Håkans has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Lech.
Market14 Aug 2028
Nobody at Lech has picked up the phone to Alex Douglas
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Lech
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Lech training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radosław Murawski 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Mikael Ishak has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Lech will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Mikael Ishak out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lech will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Nov 2027
Lech through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Wisla Krakow, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match20 Nov 2027
Whatever happens, Lech do not lose
12 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.
Market22 Nov 2027
“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 Lech, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 Nov 2027
Nobody wins at Lech
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Lech
Mikael Ishak 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 ratings22 Nov 2027
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Yannick Agnero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.61. 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Radosław Murawski 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Allahyar Sayyadmanesh commits to Lech for another 5 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Lech
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Lechia pay $690.0K, 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Gornik Leczna have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Antoni Kozubal. The answer from Lech has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Lech training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Radosław Murawski 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Lech
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Jun 2027
Lech up to position 2
51 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market21 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done: Karol Angielski joins from Pogon in a deal worth $480.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Antoni Kozubal is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lech this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Lech training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mikael Ishak 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Add another name to the list: Podbeskidzie have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jakub Falkiewicz. The answer from Lech has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 May 2027
Lech refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lech this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Kévin Malcuit 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.
Loan watch24 May 2027
“I did not go to Podbeskidzie to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lech and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
Squad24 May 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Daniel Håkans knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Håkans trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Nov 2026
1‑1 against MTK Budapest, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Patrik Wålemark was at the centre of the description.
Match9 Nov 2026
Lech are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
18 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Lech
Allahyar Sayyadmanesh 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Luis Palma
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Pablo Rodríguez 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Patrik Wålemark at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Lech.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pablo Rodríguez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.28, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.