From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Metalist
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Metalist are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Artem Kozak 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elmir Nabiullin 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
20 new faces, and Metalist 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.
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From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Metalist
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Metalist are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Artem Kozak 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A move Ibrahim Gomis would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ibrahim Gomis is living that version at Metalist, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match12 Sep 2026
Metalist cannot find the net
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Géiler Mosquera 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Artem Kozak 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Metalist training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elmir Nabiullin 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.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Prykarpattia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bohdan Porokh has his answer from Metalist; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
Metalist bow out of the cup
Podillia go through and Metalist go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Artem Kozak 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Elmir Nabiullin 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.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Match26 Aug 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Dawid Kurminowski had Metalist level again within 3 minutes, and Podillia never got to play with a lead at all.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Metalist know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
Artem Kozak 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maksym Bahachanskyi, and the manager let it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Inhulets made Metalist work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
14 new faces, and Metalist 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.73, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Metalist had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Artem Kozak 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Elmir Nabiullin 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vladyslav Ostrovskyi 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vladyslav Ostrovskyi. 1‑0 against Ahrobiznes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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. Metalist will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.75, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market17 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Metalist
Juan Carlos Lescano arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 23 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Artem Kozak 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pasquale Pane and Metalist agree another 1 years.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Kozak, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Metalist know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Metalist, another week without a signature from Vasyl Lutsiv.
Market10 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Feniks will make the call about Daniil Tepliakov this week. Metalist have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vladyslav Rybak and Metalist agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 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 Metalist this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petro Lutsiv, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vitalii Fedoriv has his answer from Metalist; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Artem Kozak
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. Metalist will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market3 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Metalist
Pasquale Pane arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.