Igor Gorbunov

Right Midfielder - Arsenal Tula
26 May 2027
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Igor Gorbunov

42 Edition

The Arsenal Tula Herald

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Alexandr Putsko out for 80 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Arsenal Tula will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Yaroslav Krashevskiy: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Arsenal Tula have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Nikita Saltykov 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 Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Erving Botaka-Yoboma 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 dugout

Erving Botaka-Yoboma gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Oleg Isaenko 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 Oleg Isaenko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
39 Edition

The Arsenal Tula Herald

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Alexandr Putsko breaks a bone — 102 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Timur Zhamaletdinov says Arsenal Tula went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

A falling-out at Arsenal Tula

Mattéo Ahlinvi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ilja Moseichuk 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Mikhail Tsulaia

“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 dugout

Eduardo Anderson asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

33 Edition

The Arsenal Tula Herald

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

A hiding for Arsenal Tula

Beaten 0‑3 by Rotor, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

The run is over for Arsenal Tula

8 matches without defeat, and then Rotor. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Squad

Words exchanged at Arsenal Tula

Nikita Saltykov 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.

Squad

Home is on Tigran Avanesyan's mind

“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; Arsenal Tula are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

Kirill Bolshakov gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erving Botaka-Yoboma 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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Arsenal Tula

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

Squad

Ilja Pomazun lets one through his hands

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.

The dugout

Ilja Pomazun is still paying for one afternoon at Arsenal Tula

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

23 Edition

The Arsenal Tula Herald

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The terraces

A $3.5M sale, and a town that did not want it

Edarlyn Reyes has gone, the accounts have $3.5M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Squad

Ramazan Gadjimuradov is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Arsenal Tula will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Market

Business is business: Edarlyn Reyes goes

Caracas paid $3.5M and Arsenal Tula took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

The dugout

Roman Izotov says Arsenal Tula went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Arsenal Tula

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Mattéo Ahlinvi 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 Arsenal Tula this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

The run is over for Arsenal Tula

6 matches without defeat, and then Torpedo Moscow. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Looking ahead

Top-of-the-table clash for Arsenal Tula

Ural next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.

Player ratings

Igor Gorbunov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief