Marked for Igor Diveev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Aug 2036
Ivan Goryainov damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Squad4 Aug 2036
A fracture rules Andrea Cerbone out for 82 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sochi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad4 Aug 2036
Vadim Tsygankov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vadim Tsygankov has, at Sochi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market4 Aug 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Sochi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Aug 2036
No end in sight to Sochi's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sochi has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout4 Aug 2036
“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.
Boardroom4 Aug 2036
Sochi told to sell
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Market4 Aug 2036
Only the photograph left for Marat Kulaev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marat Kulaev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sochi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Aug 2036
A falling-out at Sochi
Ivan Churikov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Apr 2036
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
Boardroom28 Apr 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sochi
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sochi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market28 Apr 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sochi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Latour 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 dugout28 Apr 2036
Igor Diveev 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.
Market28 Apr 2036
Sochi and Vitaly Nem are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zakhar Dyatlov is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Dec 2035
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Words exchanged at Sochi
Ivan Churikov 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.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
“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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
A row about effort at Sochi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Ghiasyan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sochi told Stanislav Bukatov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
Léo Latour 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.
Market24 Dec 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Dec 2035
A falling-out at Sochi
Dominik Yankov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Ivan Churikov 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.
Boardroom10 Dec 2035
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nikita Schepetkin has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sochi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match8 Dec 2035
Orenburg made Sochi work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Loan watch10 Dec 2035
“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 Sochi, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces10 Dec 2035
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 dugout10 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daan van den Brande, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Dec 2035
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market10 Dec 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sochi, another week without a signature from Daan van den Brande.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Nov 2035
Sochi through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Yenisey, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad26 Nov 2035
44 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words exchanged at Sochi
Georgy Tikhomirov 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.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Ivan Churikov 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 dugout26 Nov 2035
“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.
Match24 Nov 2035
0‑2 to Dinamo Moscow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Marked 7.81 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sochi had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
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Looking ahead
Sochi take on the side everybody is chasing
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Dominik Yankov
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The dugout
Luka Elbakidze has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Oct 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Umid Sultonov
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sochi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Oct 2035
72 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words exchanged at Sochi
Georgy Tikhomirov 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
A row about effort at Sochi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Churikov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Oct 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Arseny Abdulkhalikov. 1‑0 against SKA Khabarovsk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings29 Oct 2035
A mark of 7.70, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
The dugout29 Oct 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sochi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2035
A fracture rules Luka Elbakidze out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sochi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
Sochi and Akhmat Grozny have settled on $130.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
Deadline passes with 32 signed and 33 gone
That is the business done at Sochi until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Tempers go at Sochi
Mateo Antoni 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Sochi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Duncan Lindhout 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.
Market10 Sep 2035
“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 dugout10 Sep 2035
“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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sochi will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Sep 2035
A hiding for Sochi
Beaten 0‑3 by Spartak Moscow, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad3 Sep 2035
A fracture rules Luka Elbakidze out for 51 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sochi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout3 Sep 2035
“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.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2035
Everything agreed with Krasnodar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match1 Sep 2035
The wait goes on for Sochi
4 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.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Mateo Antoni 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 Sochi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2035
$180.0K on the table at Baltika. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Sep 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Igor Diveev and Sochi agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Ivan Churikov 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
Uneasy
Market23 Apr 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sochi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Tempers go at Sochi
Mateo Antoni 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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at Sochi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Léo Latour 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 dugout23 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikolay Titkov and Sochi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Dominik Yankov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sochi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Timofey Kashitsyn is on it.
Loan watch23 Apr 2035
Gleb Kosteley’s loan is measured in nothing happening
6 clean sheets from 10 appearances at Uralets-TS. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Market23 Apr 2035
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Sochi money.