Marked for Jorge Juliá
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jasper Löffelsend
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ŁKS Łódź lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 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 ŁKS Łódź this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at ŁKS Łódź training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastian Ernst 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Piotr Głowacki, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Jorge Juliá gets picked when it counts
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 Jorge Juliá is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ŁKS Łódź, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Odra Opole next, and one man in the ŁKS Łódź dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Aleksander Bobek has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at ŁKS Łódź that is a harder question to answer.
Market16 Nov 2026
The name of Mateusz Lewandowski keeps appearing in other people's back pages. ŁKS Łódź say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ŁKS Łódź lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Fabian Piasecki 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Polonia Bytom, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sebastian Ernst 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
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the ŁKS Łódź 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Mateusz Piszczek left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Sebastian Ernst 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
No place in the plan for Jorge Juliá
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ŁKS Łódź lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match14 Oct 2026
Wisla Krakow ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad19 Oct 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 ŁKS Łódź this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for ŁKS Łódź, 1‑0 the final word against Znicz Pruszków in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Sebastian Ernst 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.78, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad19 Oct 2026
ŁKS Łódź are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ŁKS Łódź lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Łukasz Bomba: 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.” ŁKS Łódź have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jack Patterson is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 2‑0 win over Chrobry Głogów, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at ŁKS Łódź
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Patryk Janasik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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; ŁKS Łódź are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Mateusz Piszczek, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ŁKS Łódź lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at ŁKS Łódź
Patryk Janasik 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Wisla Krakow, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match12 Sep 2026
After 5 games, ŁKS Łódź finally taste it again
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Wisla Krakow; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bastien Toma 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 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Mateusz Piszczek left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad14 Sep 2026
ŁKS Łódź are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ŁKS Łódź lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 ŁKS Łódź, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
ŁKS Łódź close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 12 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Sep 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 targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at ŁKS Łódź is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at ŁKS Łódź training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patryk Janasik 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at ŁKS Łódź
Bastien Toma 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Artur Crăciun named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Artur Crăciun is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
132 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ŁKS Łódź lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 ŁKS Łódź can pretend not to have heard.
Match22 Aug 2026
ŁKS Łódź cannot stop winning
4 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at ŁKS Łódź
Patryk Janasik and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Aug 2026
GKS Tychy made ŁKS Łódź work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Serhii Krykun
7.93, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. ŁKS Łódź had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Mateusz Piszczek could afford to be generous.