It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ákos Kecskés 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.
“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
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 Szabolcs Lisztes left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Honved in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aboubakar Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Szabolcs Lisztes was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Diosgyor dressing room was either.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Mariano Gómez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ákos Kecskés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bence Babos 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Lamin Colley
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutÁkos Kecskés knocks on the manager’s door
7 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.
Mariano Gómez 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 Anderson Esiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Diosgyor can tell you which week it ends in.
Álex Vallejo 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 Aboubakar Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Lamin Colley.
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.
Something was said to Aboubakar Keïta and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anderson Esiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Mariano Gómez 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 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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Norbert Sallai is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mariano Gómez wants continental football; whether Diosgyor can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Mariano Gómez 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Diosgyor can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gergő Holdampf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Marked 7.33 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Diosgyor had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Szabolcs Lisztes chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Position 10 and 14 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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 Anderson Esiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lamin Colley trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Esiti 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Szabolcs Lisztes after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Mariano Gómez 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Lamin Colley
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Szabolcs Lisztes on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
8 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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Diosgyor can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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 Anderson Esiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 43. 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Álex Vallejo 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Szabolcs Lisztes after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vasas? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aboubakar Keïta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Szabolcs Lisztes after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Paksi? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Vasas next, and one man in the Diosgyor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Mariano Gómez 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.
3 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andras Gulacsi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Laszlo Szoboszlai has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Lamin Colley
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lamin Colley trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Diosgyor close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 2 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Diosgyor can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Mariano Gómez 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 Anderson Esiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Diosgyor people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Bekescsaba paid $370.0K and Diosgyor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Aboubakar Keïta 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.
Diosgyor have made the call to Feyenoord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Ismail Ka is in the works
Álex Vallejo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anderson Esiti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utrecht have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Diosgyor will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Márk Tamás
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Álex Vallejo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Diosgyor spend $2.5M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.5M for Mariano Gómez, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Esiti 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.
Diosgyor asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Milán Pető has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ante Roguljić wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Ante Roguljić found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Puskas Akademia went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The offer went to Ferencvaros this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Álex Vallejo 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Viktor Szalai is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Zoltan Nikolic has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dominik Orban is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Balazs Szoboszlai is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A 1‑0 win over Puskas Akademia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Esiti 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.