Marked for Ben Traoré
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
11 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
0‑3 against Olympiacos, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market22 Feb 2027
Kostas Goumas has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadiakos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Levadiakos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gregorio Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“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; Levadiakos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Sebastián Parera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Adrian Şut
“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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Levadiakos 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Yury Lodygin asks for a word with the manager
-
The dugout
The form table has caught Alexandru Pantea
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Feb 2027
Ben Traoré hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Feb 2027
7 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lamarana Jallow will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Agustín Urzi 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gregorio Rodríguez 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 dugout15 Feb 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Yury Lodygin
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Levadiakos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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 Levadiakos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Krasnodar is saying, and nobody at Levadiakos is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Adrian Şut 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match16 Jan 2027
Three points for Levadiakos, 2‑1 the final word against AEL Larisa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Kostas Goumas has come up in conversations Levadiakos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ognjen Ožegović
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 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; Levadiakos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ben Traoré 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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 dugout21 Dec 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Giannis Kosti 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 Giannis Kosti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ognjen Ožegović
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Levadiakos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Levadiakos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market14 Dec 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Levadiakos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Appearance number 100 for Niv Eliasi
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.
Match14 Dec 2026
Half the programme played, position 9, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout14 Dec 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
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ognjen Ožegović damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A one-man rearguard from Niv Eliasi
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Levadiakos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Levadiakos game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kampaniakos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match5 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over Aris Thessaloniki, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ben Traoré, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christos Papadopoulos and Levadiakos agree another 4 years.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Marios Vichos
7.91, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Levadiakos had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A brace, and Ognjen Ožegović takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ognjen Ožegović provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match23 Nov 2026
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market23 Nov 2026
Ben Traoré hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Squad23 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 Levadiakos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
No hiding place for Éder
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Éder, and the manager let it.
Match21 Nov 2026
It needed Ognjen Ožegović to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Olympiacos, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Agustín Urzi 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Panathinaikos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ben Traoré
“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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Grigorios Papanikolaou after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Niv Eliasi 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
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
8 matches without a win for Levadiakos
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Levadiakos are no longer polite ones.
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Éder keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Levadiakos may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Gregorio Rodríguez 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.33. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Giannis Kosti 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 Levadiakos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Grigorios Papanikolaou after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Alexandru Pantea
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
7 matches without a win for Levadiakos
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Levadiakos are no longer polite ones.
Market19 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giannis Tsivelekidis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Levadiakos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Levadiakos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ben Traoré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dimitris Emmanouilidis, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
14 new faces, and Levadiakos 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 dugout19 Oct 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 Grigorios Papanikolaou left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
-
Looking ahead
Éder faces his old club
-
Player ratings
Ognjen Ožegović keeps on missing
-
The dugout
Éder does not fit this one
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Gregorio Rodríguez 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Levadiakos 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Levadiakos have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ben Traoré 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Levadiakos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Levadiakos 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Ilioupoli for Lamarana Jallow 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$8.0K was the most the club would pay and Atromitos 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Levadiakos
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gregorio Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Levadiakos will try again when the window opens; Panionios may not be selling by then.
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
Ben Traoré 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from AEK for Giannis Kosti 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.
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 Levadiakos can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $8.0K — a club that wants Telis Karasalidis enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Adrian Şut 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Levadiakos have gone to Panserraikos 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Gregorio Rodríguez 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panserraikos have kept their man, and Levadiakos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
No place for Ben Traoré in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Levadiakos are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market24 Aug 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.