“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; HNK Vukovar 1991 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Luka Klanac's mistake
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Lorenzo Maasland 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.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HNK Vukovar 1991. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eniss Shabani 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Josip Špoljarić signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HNK Vukovar 1991. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 2, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Eniss Shabani 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Daniel Vinković is on it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at HNK Vukovar 1991 would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from FC Lahti for Dukan Ahmeti 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.
Alen Jurilj 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 had been thinking. Lorenzo Maasland 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 at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Add another name to the list: FC Lahti have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dukan Ahmeti. The answer from HNK Vukovar 1991 has not changed — yet.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. HNK Vukovar 1991 will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 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 Lorenzo Maasland 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Đaković is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Antonio Đaković 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 Eniss Shabani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Antonio Đaković 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 Eniss Shabani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and HNK Vukovar 1991 have no good answer.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
HNK Vukovar 1991 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Lokomotiva Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alen Jurilj and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lorenzo Maasland 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 at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have shaken hands with Lokomotiva Zagreb; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
HNK Vukovar 1991 close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 6 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Vukovar 1991 have done the hard part with NK Osijek, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alen Jurilj and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.
“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; HNK Vukovar 1991 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 HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and PSV 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Antonio Đaković 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 Lorenzo Maasland was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alen Jurilj is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Real Madrid keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and Cracovia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Vukovar 1991, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Vukovar 1991 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 HNK Vukovar 1991, and it is not being withdrawn.
HNK Vukovar 1991 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Basel, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and NK Osijek said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Dominik Mulac 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. HNK Vukovar 1991 will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Bosec and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Alen Jurilj 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Eniss Shabani 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 at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at HNK Vukovar 1991. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 HNK Vukovar 1991, and it is not being withdrawn.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Eniss Shabani 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Antonio Đaković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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 dugout15 Dec 2031
Luka Klanac 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A place in the month's best eleven for Antonio Bosec
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Antonio Bosec has come out of that comparison in the side, and HNK Vukovar 1991 have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Đaković is on it.
“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; HNK Vukovar 1991 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad1 Dec 2031
Dominik Mulac 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alen Jurilj is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at HNK Vukovar 1991 has been clear about where Stefan Hagerup stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Bosak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 2 on 33 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Position 2, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Antonio Đaković 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. HNK Vukovar 1991 will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Antonio Đaković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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 dugout17 Nov 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marcelo Simunovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the HNK Vukovar 1991 dressing room was either.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Sibenik next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Mulac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings10 Nov 2031
Niko Garić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
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.” Marcelo Simunovic kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Marked 7.08 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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.
Position 2, 25 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Alen Jurilj will call it something else in private.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
24 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eniss Shabani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Dukan Ahmeti scored in the 85th minute, Segesta had already begun thinking about the journey home, and HNK Vukovar 1991 took the lot.
Alen Jurilj 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 Antonio Bosec 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dukan Ahmeti 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 easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Đaković and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Antonio Đaković 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. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Three points for HNK Vukovar 1991, 2‑1 the final word against Imotski in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
Niko Garić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Marcelo Simunovic could afford to be generous.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Đaković is on it.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Niko Garić has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Dominik Mulac 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon HNK Vukovar 1991 had all but put away. Rudes will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Antonio Đaković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Position 2, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
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.
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.18 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Eniss Shabani 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Slavia Prague have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. HNK Vukovar 1991 will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking 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.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Niko Garić
12 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 14 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at HNK Vukovar 1991 until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Antonio Đaković 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 unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 have made the call to Paris Saint-Germain. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Alen Jurilj 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Niko Garić has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rapid Wien have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Marcelo Simunovic could afford to be generous.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alen Jurilj is on it.
The dugout25 Aug 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Luka Klanac's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AS Trencin is saying, and nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and West Ham United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Mulac 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Benjamin Fisher is in the works
The dugoutAntonio Bosec has become a man the manager trusts
Ante Ćorić had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Segesta were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zadar is saying, and nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is enjoying the guessing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadJahmari Lindsay has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Niko Garić at his very best
Imotski will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. HNK Vukovar 1991 were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Josip Špoljarić provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
“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 HNK Vukovar 1991 know it.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eniss Shabani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Niko Garić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.68 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Borussia Dortmund have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything agreed with Sparta Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Josip Budimir 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Duje Modric 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Trencin have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Vukovar 1991 have done the hard part with Basel, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Utrecht keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alen Jurilj and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.
Antonio Đaković 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Eniss Shabani 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Đaković is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Luka Klanac's mistake
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Vukovar 1991 have done the hard part with Legia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
HNK Vukovar 1991 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baltika, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Eniss Shabani 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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and Real Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alen Jurilj is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Vukovar 1991 have done the hard part with Baltika, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivano Kolarević and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Vukovar 1991 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Antonio Đaković 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 Dominik Mulac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation HNK Vukovar 1991 are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alen Jurilj signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Vukovar 1991 have done the hard part with Cosenza, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Bosec and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Antonio Đaković 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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and NK Varazdin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lorenzo Maasland was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Luka Klanac's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Antonio Bosec and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Eniss Shabani 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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dukan Ahmeti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. HNK Vukovar 1991 will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bruno Orsic has just signed for HNK Vukovar 1991, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Bosec is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Antonio Đaković 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alen Jurilj signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alan Bikoumou is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at HNK Vukovar 1991 that is a harder question to answer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Antonio Đaković 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 Dominik Mulac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mario Petkovic and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 4 years.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Đaković is on it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dominik Mulac 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Bosec is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Dominik Mulac 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alen Jurilj signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Vukovar 1991, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Antonio Đaković 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gonzalo Pineda and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eniss Shabani 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Vukovar 1991 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mario Tićinović and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eniss Shabani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Mulac 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 141 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Antonio Đaković 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 Dominik Mulac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alen Jurilj signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 148 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
Antonio Đaković 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Vukovar 1991, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Vukovar 1991 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Dominik Mulac 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Miha Mevlja and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 3 years.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Bosec is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Niko Garić had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alen Jurilj signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Niko Garić has come up in conversations HNK Vukovar 1991 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Antonio Đaković 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Eniss Shabani 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Vukovar 1991, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everything was agreed with Basel and then the doctor spoke. HNK Vukovar 1991 have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to 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 HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. HNK Vukovar 1991 will try again when the window opens; Hajduk Split may not be selling by then.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alen Jurilj is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dukan Ahmeti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. HNK Vukovar 1991 will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
$160.0K settles it between the clubs for Ivica Ivušić
Hajduk Split have accepted the money. What HNK Vukovar 1991 do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
HNK Vukovar 1991 close the window on a squad of their own making
1 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.
Antonio Đaković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 HNK Vukovar 1991, and it is not being withdrawn.
HNK Vukovar 1991 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Real Madrid, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AFC Wimbledon have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Dominik Mulac 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dino Jergović and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 3 years.
A loan enquiry to Olympique de Marseille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alen Jurilj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. HNK Vukovar 1991 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
HNK Vukovar 1991 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hajduk Split, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$150.0K on the table at Hajduk Split. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Wolfgang Alaba is in the works
The dugoutAntonio Đaković has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Luka Klanac's mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” HNK Vukovar 1991 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deal with Dinamo Zagreb is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hajduk Split have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Antonio Bosec 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and HNK Vukovar 1991 have had the benefit of it.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Bosec is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Antonio Bosec 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Bosak trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alan Bikoumou is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 160 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 HNK Vukovar 1991, and it is not being withdrawn.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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 at HNK Vukovar 1991 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 dugout23 Dec 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Luka Klanac's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at HNK Vukovar 1991, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eniss Shabani signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alen Jurilj is on it.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Jack Waldron 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Josip Špoljarić signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutJurica Jurčec knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alen Jurilj and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jurica Jurčec trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutAlan Bikoumou has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Antonio Đaković 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 Eniss Shabani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
Luka Klanac 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eniss Shabani signs something — a contract at HNK Vukovar 1991 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 22 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alen Jurilj is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Dukan Ahmeti
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason HNK Vukovar 1991 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jurica Jurčec, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Marcelo Simunovic to a room that had heard them before.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.91 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. HNK Vukovar 1991 scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antonio Bosec and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Antonio Đaković 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
Antonio Đaković 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 Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dukan Ahmeti and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Mario Tićinović will call it something else in private.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
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.” Marcelo Simunovic chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Mario Tićinović
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Antonio Đaković 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: 22. 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Lucko had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
“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.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Eniss Shabani 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.
A 2‑1 win over Hrvatski Dragovoljac, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Marcelo Simunovic could afford to be generous.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Bosec is on it.
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.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a HNK Vukovar 1991 man
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Josip Špoljarić and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Josip Špoljarić. 1‑0 against Sibenik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 HNK Vukovar 1991, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at HNK Vukovar 1991 has to find a result from somewhere.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around HNK Vukovar 1991 they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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.
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.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Dominik Mulac 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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 dugout23 Sep 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marcelo Simunovic was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the HNK Vukovar 1991 dressing room was either.
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 manager has not finished forgetting Luka Klanac's mistake
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at HNK Vukovar 1991 has to find a result from somewhere.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Antonio Bosec 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.
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dino Vlasic and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 3 years.
The offer from Abia Warriors for Maj Pirc 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Add another name to the list: Torpedo-BelAZ have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Niko Garić. The answer from HNK Vukovar 1991 has not changed — yet.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 can tell you which week it ends in.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mario Tićinović commits to HNK Vukovar 1991 for another 2 years.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Antonio Bosec 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.
Hajduk Split will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Illia Kutia has pre-agreed a move to HNK Vukovar 1991, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at HNK Vukovar 1991 until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Abia Warriors have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maj Pirc. The answer from HNK Vukovar 1991 has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rudes have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The deal with Benevento is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Antonio Đaković 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 Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
Looking aheadHNK Vukovar 1991 take on the side everybody is chasing
The dugoutLuka Klanac is still being punished for one mistake
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Cibalia; HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Abia Warriors waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings12 Aug 2030
Up for the corner, and Eniss Shabani delivers — 7.96
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Eniss Shabani scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
$280.0K was the most the club would pay and NK Varazdin were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eniss Shabani 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.
A 2‑1 win over Hrvatski Dragovoljac, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dukan Ahmeti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around HNK Vukovar 1991 the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything agreed with Anderlecht, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$280.0K on the table at NK Varazdin. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Abia Warriors have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Maj Pirc. The answer from HNK Vukovar 1991 has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and HNK Gorica waiting with a shirt. Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Niko Garić has come up in conversations HNK Vukovar 1991 were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alan Bikoumou has, at HNK Vukovar 1991, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. HNK Vukovar 1991 have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Josip Špoljarić provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. HNK Vukovar 1991 have done the hard part with Hajduk Split, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. HNK Vukovar 1991 will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
HNK Vukovar 1991 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Barcelona, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
HNK Vukovar 1991 have gone to Istra 1961 with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Antonio Đaković 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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Barcelona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Add another name to the list: Cibalia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dukan Ahmeti. The answer from HNK Vukovar 1991 has not changed — yet.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Antonio Bosec 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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and AS Trencin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. HNK Vukovar 1991 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have shaken hands with Cibalia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what HNK Vukovar 1991 can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PSV 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 HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eniss Shabani 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.
HNK Vukovar 1991 asked and Catania said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around HNK Vukovar 1991 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Position 3, 35 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Slavia Prague keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Antonio Đaković 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Eniss Shabani 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olympique de Marseille have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
In brief
The dugoutLuka Klanac is still being punished for one mistake
“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 HNK Vukovar 1991, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 21 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.
Antonio Đaković 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 had been thinking. Antonio Bosec 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 easiest signature of my career.” Ivano Kolarević and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Antonio Đaković and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Antonio Bosec 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Perugia have kept their man, and HNK Vukovar 1991 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Red Bull Salzburg: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Josip Špoljarić plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Luka Klanac had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around HNK Vukovar 1991 people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Cibalia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Alen Jurilj 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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Dominik Mulac 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Antonio Bosec is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. HNK Vukovar 1991 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ante Kovacevic has, at HNK Vukovar 1991, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Antonio Đaković 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.
$45.0K on the table at Imotski. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Bosec was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Lokomotiv Sofia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Raul Bezeljak. The answer from HNK Vukovar 1991 has not changed — yet.
Ante Kovacevic is 18, and HNK Vukovar 1991 have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. HNK Vukovar 1991 will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Antonio Đaković 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.
Squad27 May 2030
Antonio Bosec 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.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
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 David Bosak has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dominik Mulac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at HNK Vukovar 1991 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 May 2030
Antonio Bosec 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mario Tadić and HNK Vukovar 1991 agree another 2 years.
Nobody at HNK Vukovar 1991 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maj Pirc trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.