Words at OFK Beograd training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edmund Addo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OFK Beograd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at OFK Beograd, and 7 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergej Babic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at OFK Beograd is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Edmund Addo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and OFK Beograd needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Edmund Addo 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Miloš Pantović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergej Babic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the OFK Beograd dressing room was either.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one OFK Beograd will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against TSC? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFK Beograd will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Edmund Addo 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at OFK Beograd, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleksandr Pyshchur, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sergej Babic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Muhamed Bešić's mistake
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jovan Šljivić did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at OFK Beograd can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edmund Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jovan Šljivić 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFK Beograd will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at OFK Beograd training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edmund Addo 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.
Miljan Momčilović 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.
Something was said to Jovan Šljivić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Saša Marković's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Napredak in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tayrell Wouter signs something — a contract at OFK Beograd or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miljan Momčilović and OFK Beograd agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edmund Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yegor Prutsev 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.
Marked 7.14 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“I watch every OFK Beograd game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zemun runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Ardian Murati is 19, and OFK Beograd have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFK Beograd will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” OFK Beograd may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Edmund Addo 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Balša Popović, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Sergej Babic to a room that had heard them before.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. OFK Beograd have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Aleksej Vukičević’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and OFK Beograd needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. OFK Beograd will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at OFK Beograd can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edmund Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yegor Prutsev 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stefan Despotovski has his answer from OFK Beograd; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Radnik Surdulica defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at OFK Beograd, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason OFK Beograd will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergej Babic after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Darko Gojković had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“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 OFK Beograd, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. OFK Beograd will try again when the window opens; Radnicki Nis may not be selling by then.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Edmund Addo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and OFK Beograd go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 OFK Beograd this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around OFK Beograd people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The fee is $280.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Spartak Subotica drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Yegor Prutsev 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edmund Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
OFK Beograd asked and Vojvodina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
OFK Beograd have made the call to ETO Győr. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. OFK Beograd will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.