Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
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.
28 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout28 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 Nikita Alenin 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 Kyzyltash, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abu-Muslim Khamkhoev’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kyzyltash needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kyzyltash know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Kyzyltash training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Naidenov 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kyzyltash, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
7.33, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kyzyltash had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Nikita Alenin chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Filip Golem, 18, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Kyzyltash would like this to lead.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.51 for the rest of it.
7 goals in one match, Filip Golem on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kyzyltash and Chaika M.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kyzyltash this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Yefim Kolobov 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Dmitry Lukin has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Krystian Mucha scored in the 89th minute, Sochi 2 had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Kyzyltash took the lot.
Alexey Naidenov 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Krystian Mucha. 1‑0 against Sochi 2, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Nikita Alenin kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Luca Ferretti
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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Kyzyltash have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Kyzyltash training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fyodor Nikiforov 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kyzyltash know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Golem. 1‑0 against Sevastopol, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Nikita Alenin kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Next up on the road: Sevastopol, position 4. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
There were 7 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Filip Golem, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Egor Kharlamov 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. Nazar Vinogradov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kyzyltash, another week without a signature from Alexey Naidenov.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexey Naidenov 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.
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Marked 7.69. 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Artem Demagin is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“I did not go to Kosmos to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kyzyltash and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 Nikita Alenin to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kyzyltash told Savely Ratnikov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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
SquadWords at Kyzyltash training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kyzyltash this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Abu-Muslim Khamkhoev 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.
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.
The dugout19 Oct 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.” Nikita Alenin chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Kyzyltash training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fyodor Nikiforov 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.
“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; Kyzyltash are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kyzyltash this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Maksim Grigoryev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Radomir Shilov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
16 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fyodor Nikiforov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alexey Naidenov 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.
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.
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.
“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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I watch every Kyzyltash game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kosmos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nikita Alenin after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fyodor Nikiforov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Kyzyltash is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kyzyltash know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Kyzyltash ran out of time with Kaluga. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nikita Alenin after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.26, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Kyzyltash close the window on a squad of their own making
30 in and 19 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at SKA Khabarovsk is saying, and nobody at Kyzyltash is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Kyzyltash training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Naidenov 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Yakov Vinogradov 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. Boris Kryukov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Kyzyltash will try again when the window opens; Kaluga may not be selling by then.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kyzyltash can pretend not to have heard.
Alexey Naidenov 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.
Kyzyltash asked and SKA Khabarovsk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kyzyltash, another week without a signature from Artem Terentjev.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kyzyltash, 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.
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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Kyzyltash have done the hard part with Kaluga, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kyzyltash asked and Krasnodar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 dugout31 Aug 2026
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 Nikita Alenin to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Kyzyltash is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Kyzyltash has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kyzyltash can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Kyzyltash go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Kyzyltash training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexey Naidenov 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.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Irtysh have accepted the money. What Kyzyltash do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $8.7K — a club that wants Matvey Zhustjev enough to be asked twice.
Alexey Naidenov 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Kyzyltash go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Kyzyltash were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Kyzyltash will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Chertanovo is saying, and nobody at Kyzyltash is enjoying the guessing.
Cherepovets will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Daniyal Gadjiev has pre-agreed a move to Kyzyltash, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevastopol have kept their man, and Kyzyltash go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 14 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ilya Pavlov 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. Fyodor Nikiforov 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.
Kyzyltash asked and Volgar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A loan enquiry to Dinamo Barnaul: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Kyzyltash have made the call to Chertanovo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Nikita Alenin could afford to be generous.