Marked for Igor Gorbunov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal Tula may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 May 2028
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad29 May 2028
Anej Kobal 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.
The dugout29 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Tsaraev, and the manager let it.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleg Isaenko 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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The numbers do not look good at Arsenal Tula
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout29 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Timur Melekestsev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad29 May 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market29 May 2028
Experience through the door at Arsenal Tula
Dmitry Yashin arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Mar 2028
The offer from Dinamo Moscow for Luka Marić 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.
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ilja Sokolov has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Mattéo Ahlinvi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Mar 2028
The step up is real for Artem Isaev
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets6 Mar 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shinnik have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Igor Gorbunov commits to Arsenal Tula for another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Dmitry Tsypchenko 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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Feb 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Arsenal Tula people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Martín Pino 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
Arsenal Tula make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market14 Feb 2028
Akron pay $140.0K, 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Dmitry Tsypchenko 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
Anej Kobal 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.77 on the card, and the Arsenal Tula support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Arsenal Tula
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Arsenal Tula is running low.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Martín Pino and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch3 Jan 2028
“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 Arsenal Tula, and 5 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yaroslav Demchenko has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikita Karmaev 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“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.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Arsenal Tula — 6.10
1 for Miloš Brnović, marked 6.10, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match25 Dec 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal Tula have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Martín Pino 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.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Igor Gorbunov did the work nobody counts — 6.96
13 combined actions and 6.96. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
At 22 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.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Miloš Brnović
“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.
Match25 Dec 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Miloš Brnović’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal Tula.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emir Faccioli 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 dugout27 Dec 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Ilja Sokolov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ilja Sokolov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Arsenal Tula the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Martín Pino. 2‑0 against Tyumen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“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.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Marked 8.41 — 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emir Faccioli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Anatoly Yashin, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.46, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match5 Dec 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Arsenal Tula have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Martín Pino 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emir Faccioli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timur Melekestsev, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Arsenal Tula have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Something was said to Emir Faccioli and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Alan Tsaraev'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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal Tula may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match28 Nov 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Emir Faccioli 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
Dmitry Tsypchenko 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ufa made Arsenal Tula work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
259% of the income goes out in wages at Arsenal Tula
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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Dmitry Tsypchenko at his very best
Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal Tula.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
Alan Tsaraev 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Luka Marić 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Martín Pino’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Arsenal Tula.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
The afternoon belonged to Martín Pino
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Anatoly Yashin on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Dmitry Tsypchenko, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 9.44 — 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emir Faccioli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 3‑1 win over Rotor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Anatoly Yashin on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Something was said to David Kobesov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Fakel left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
259% of the income goes out in wages at Arsenal Tula
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Miloš Brnović
“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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 37 with 2 appearances behind him, and Arsenal Tula have to plan for both answers.
Looking ahead2 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Rotor in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and KAMAZ were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Arsenal Tula may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emir Faccioli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
KAMAZ made Arsenal Tula work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Igor Gorbunov at his very best
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Arsenal Tula.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Anatoly Yashin could afford to be generous.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Arsenal Tula have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
10 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Martín Pino 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Artem Arutyunov 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Arsenal Tula can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emir Faccioli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Arsenal Tula can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Luka Marić
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Sep 2026
Kuban ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alan Tsaraev 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Emir Faccioli 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 336% of everything Arsenal Tula earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Igor Gorbunov ran the middle of the pitch — 6.86
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.86, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timur Melekestsev, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
No place for Emir Faccioli in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Arsenal Tula are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Arsenal Tula's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Arsenal Tula has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edarlyn Reyes 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Spartak Kostroma, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattéo Ahlinvi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anatoly Yashin after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
3.99 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Arsenal Tula
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Arsenal Tula are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Arsenal Tula
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mattéo Ahlinvi 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Arsenal Tula 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Arsenal Tula will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Arsenal Tula can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pakhtakor have kept their man, and Arsenal Tula go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Arsenal Tula training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Arutyunov 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ivan Gulko 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mattéo Ahlinvi, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Barracas Central: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.