Yenisey go through and Krylya Sovetov go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Up for the corner, and Garrik Levin delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Garrik Levin scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Igor Leschuk 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.
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Dinamo Makhachkala. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Krylya Sovetov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinedu Geoffrey 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.
Nichita Moțpan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Krylya Sovetov can pretend not to have heard.
Jamalutdin Abdulkadyrov 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinedu Geoffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Krylya Sovetov will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Dinamo Makhachkala next, and one man in the Krylya Sovetov dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Mihajlo Banjac 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.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Krylya Sovetov told Martin Kramarič something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vitaliy Bragin after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinedu Geoffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Krylya Sovetov will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Spartak Moscow next, and one man in the Krylya Sovetov dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yury Gorshkov signs something — a contract at Krylya Sovetov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Krylya Sovetov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chinedu Geoffrey provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He is going to Dinamo Moscow, the club has $2.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Kristijan Bistrović 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.
The name of Rustam Yatimov has come up in conversations Krylya Sovetov were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Vitaliy Bragin could afford to be generous.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Krylya Sovetov will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Krylya Sovetov can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Timofey Shipunov ended with $1.5M changing hands and Ufa out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $222.5K — a club that wants Vladimir Khubulov enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$200.0K was the most the club would pay and Dinamo Makhachkala were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Krylya Sovetov can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Krylya Sovetov people have started saying his name in the past tense.
SKA Khabarovsk have accepted the money. What Krylya Sovetov do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fernando Costanza wants continental football; whether Krylya Sovetov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Krylya Sovetov have gone to Rotor with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Krylya Sovetov, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody at Krylya Sovetov will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristijan Bistrović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Dominik Oroz 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Krylya Sovetov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristijan Bistrović 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yury Gorshkov signs something — a contract at Krylya Sovetov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Krylya Sovetov has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Kasimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Krylya Sovetov will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Krylya Sovetov, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Dani Fernández has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Krylya Sovetov is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Krylya Sovetov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinedu Geoffrey 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The offer from CSKA Moscow for Chinedu Geoffrey 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fernando Costanza wants continental football; whether Krylya Sovetov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
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 dugout3 Jan 2028
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 Vitaliy Bragin to a room that had heard them before.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sergey Pesjakov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Krylya Sovetov than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chinedu Geoffrey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout27 Dec 2027
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 Vitaliy Bragin left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Fernando Costanza is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martin Kramarič trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Dinamo Moscow next, and one man in the Krylya Sovetov dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Krylya Sovetov will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Krylya Sovetov go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Krylya Sovetov offered $1.6M; Real Cartagena said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
Mihajlo Banjac 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.
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and Krylya Sovetov are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The chase for Vladislav Saus ended with $3.0M changing hands and Spartak Moscow out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Krylya Sovetov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vladislav Saus was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Krylya Sovetov are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sergey Pesjakov 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Philipp Bodrov and Krylya Sovetov agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Something was said to Nikolay Rasskazov and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Fernando Costanza is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Tyukavin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Thomas Galdames and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Krylya Sovetov will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kirill Stolbov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Krylya Sovetov lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Krylya Sovetov can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantin Tyukavin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Krylya Sovetov will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Krylya Sovetov know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Krylya Sovetov. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Krylya Sovetov the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Dominik Oroz
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergey Pesjakov and Krylya Sovetov agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Krylya Sovetov 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 Konstantin Tyukavin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Krylya Sovetov ran out of time with Rubin. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Krylya Sovetov will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Jimmy Marín is on it.