Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Khoren Bairamyan obliged against Kaluga. 3‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Rostov.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rostov have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Victor Melekhin scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Rostov can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Victor Melekhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov can pretend not to have heard.
Anton Zabolotny 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Anton Zabolotny’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rostov needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexey Mironov signs something — a contract at Rostov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Oumar Sako
Ronaldo 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martijn Berden was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Yefrem Butusov after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Victor Melekhin scored, was marked 7.50, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Rostov close the window on a squad of their own making
8 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Rostov know it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Rostov training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Melekhin 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Victor Melekhin 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Yefrem Butusov could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rostov can pretend not to have heard.
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 has re-ordered his thinking and Olakunle Olusegun 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Rostov 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yegor Golenkov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Melekhin signs something — a contract at Rostov or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Rostov, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Victor Melekhin 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 Olakunle Olusegun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 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 Yefrem Butusov left the room before anybody could ask which.
The offer from Taraz for Anton Shamonin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Victor Melekhin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rostov asked and Akron 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yefrem Butusov on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Daniil Golikov 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.
0‑3 against Dinamo Moscow, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The offer from CSKA Moscow for Konstantin Kuchaev 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Rostov go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
10 combined actions and 6.46. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Rostov dressing room in a hurry
The offer from CSKA Moscow for Victor Melekhin 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rostov have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Rostov asked and CSKA Sofia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Foma Cheryshev 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. Ilya Chistov 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. Valery Nekrasov 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.
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.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market3 Aug 2026
Rostov may not be able to give Ronaldo what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ronaldo wants continental football; whether Rostov can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Rostov have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.