Marked for Lars Bünning
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Feb 2028
Jon Gorenc Stankovič 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Albert Vallci 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.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
“I watch every Sturm Graz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Lugano runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Nobody at Sturm Graz 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.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Abdoulie Kanté
“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.
Market28 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sturm Graz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
5 goals on loan for Jed Drew
18 appearances at Melbourne Victory and the goals keep coming. Sturm Graz are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nadir Ajanović has written the date down.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
“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 Jun 2027
The offer from Groningen for Vincent Vermeij 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
37 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Tim Oberdorf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Robert Wagner 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 targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Borussia Dortmund have kept their man, and Dynamo Dresden go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market7 Jun 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dynamo Dresden, another week without a signature from Tim Oberdorf.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Marlon Faß slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marlon Faß is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 May 2027
No end in sight to Dynamo Dresden's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Dynamo Dresden has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 May 2027
Pascal Stenzel 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.
Match8 May 2027
4 matches without a goal for Dynamo Dresden
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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Nobody could get near Hugo Bolin
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Dynamo Dresden training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Oberdorf 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.
Boardroom10 May 2027
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Match8 May 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dominik Günther after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout10 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
9 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The step up is real for Tom Rothe
At 22 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Pascal Stenzel 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tom Rothe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Anton Köhler after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Dynamo Dresden are still strangers to each other
5 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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
Crisis
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Hugo Bolin beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Dennis Duah: 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.” Dynamo Dresden have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match20 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Pascal Stenzel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tom Rothe 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Rafael Thyere
“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.
Market22 Feb 2027
No place for Lars Bünning in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lars Bünning has his answer from Dynamo Dresden; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
11 matches without a win for Dynamo Dresden
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Dynamo Dresden are no longer polite ones.
Match28 Nov 2026
9 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tim Oberdorf 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Jakob Lemmer beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Dynamo Dresden training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Wagner 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Anton Köhler was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Dynamo Dresden dressing room was either.
Market30 Nov 2026
Robin Meißner is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dynamo Dresden has been clear about where Robin Meißner stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tim Schreiber, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Vincent Vermeij
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
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ben Bobzien beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
7 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Pascal Stenzel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Dynamo Dresden training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tim Oberdorf 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
SV Elversberg left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Something was said to Tom Rothe and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.