The defeat of the Moscow Spartak in Krasnodar in the 12th round of the Russian Premier League caused much less emotion from the fans of the team than any of the failures that followed the September matches of the national teams. And there is a logical explanation for this - the resignation of the disgraced mentor Oleg Kononov, who, in the opinion of the overwhelming majority of experts, failed to instill any football values in the team for a year, devastated the fans for a while.
Some of them criticize the coaching staff, led by acting Sergey Kuznetsov, but, in general, the fifth consecutive “donut” and 12th place in the national championship standings are taken for granted.
The paradox is that in the Sunday match, the red and white did not look hopeless. Firstly, not a single RPL team in the current season owned the ball anymore, playing in Krasnodar (45% of the time). Secondly, no one forced the wards of Murad Musayev to foul so often in a short time span - in 25 minutes of the second half they earned five yellow cards, one of which turned into red.
Thirdly, and this is the most important, Muscovites created problems for the opponent as an attacker, which with some reservations can be called a duplicate (or equated to the FNL team) and kept the intrigue until the final whistle, even with the most unpromising distance combination of football players on the defensive.
Nikolai Rasskazov and Andrei Yeshchenko (with all love for them) were never a stronghold of reliability on the right edge of the defense, and in 2019 they were subjected to merciless criticism of experts. A young graduate of the Academy of Red and White continues to affirm himself in the role of a “headless horseman,” taking his sole account of speed and enthusiasm, as well as being keen on connecting to the attack.
Having undergone surgery on the cruciate ligament of the left knee in December 2018, the veteran, obviously, plays out at the highest level last season and can not boast of anything other than experience and fighting qualities. Another thing is that neither the one nor the other meets the modern requirements of the flank defender.
It’s difficult to seriously discuss the reliability of Ilya Kutepov, even if his ability to earn “mustard plasters” is left out of the box. Over the past two years, he entered the field in the RPL only 13 times, in these matches Spartak managed to get a victory five times and not miss twice.
Such percentages are permissible for the conditional Fedor Kudryashov or Yegor Sorokin, who speak for the not-so-missing stars from heaven “Rubin” and “Sochi”, but not for the centerback of the team annually fighting for medals of the national championship and participating in European competitions.
The defensive midfielders Nail Umyarov and Alex Kral are two less years old than continuing to perform in their 41 Gianluigi Buffon. In principle, they had not yet sniffed gunpowder. 400 minutes for two in the RPL, 10 matches in European competitions with rivals of the middle hand and challenges to the youth teams - not enough baggage to conquer the sixth, according to the UEFA rating of the league of the continent here and now.
Reziuan Mirzov and Jordan Larsson, if they went further, it was insignificant - none of them acted in a team with ambitions, and even did not encounter such pressure from the fans. Standing out in the Tula Arsenal and the Swedish Norrkoping for one season and performing stably as part of a grand is not the same thing.
“Crystal” and has been in the status of promising Zhano Ananidze since ten years as a “brain” of red and white - an oxymoron that is not inferior to the phrase “boxer Conor McGregor”. That is, in a single episode, the Georgian midfielder is able to shine and show the edge of his dying talent, but in the long run to make partners better and determine the chemistry of the team - no.
The appearance on the spearhead of the attack of the station wagon Lorenzo Melgarejo looked like the unbearable ease of being another acting mentor. Especially if you recall that Massimo Carrera used the Paraguayan mainly for plugging holes, and Oleg Kononov marinated on the bench due to the fact that the club management could not get rid of it in the summer.
Taking into account all this and the fact that five months ago Denis Glushakov, Sofyan Hanni, Ze Luis, Luis Adriano, Lukash Fernando, Alexander Lomovitsky, Alexander Tashaev, Artyom Timofeev, Georgy Melkadze Dmitry Kombarov and Slvatore Boketti, do not be surprised that the "national" team continues to thoroughly fever.
And the upcoming appointment of Domenico Tedesco on Tuesday, October 8, is unlikely to change the situation overnight. The new “Spartak” will take time to stand on its feet and shine with its former colors, and its fans will need much more patience to get rid of the ghosts of the past.
Born in Italy, but having spent his entire adult life in Germany, the 34-year-old specialist will certainly not spoil the masses. And the point is not only the desire to comply with modern trends with high pressure and pressure during the selection of the ball, which are almost absent in the Russian championship.
Tedesco is a good psychologist, he has a fine sense of young soccer players and knows about discipline, if not everything, then quite a lot. And this is exactly what Spartak needs most of all now. Another thing is whether the mentor can convince everyone that his course is the only right one, because in addition to the multimillion-strong army of fans, representatives of the domestic coaching workshop, experts, and even, possibly, the owner will also criticize and “drown” him as time passes. Club Leonid Fedun.