Incredible salvation and a minimum of errors
Alexander Maksimenko played in the Spartak team last season. The 20-year-old goalkeeper got a place in the goal due to an injury to Alexander Selikhov and took his chance. In the first four rounds of the RPL, the graduate of the club academy did not miss, and the red-and-white scored ten points out of 12 possible.
But in the fifth round, Maksimenko made the first gross mistake. In the derby with Dynamo, Alexander was unable to fend off a hit by Vladimir Rykov almost from the center of the field. Not in the best way the goalkeeper made his debut in the Champions League, where he missed three times from PAOK.
So for the football player the whole debut season turned out. In general, he acted reliably, but sometimes made mistakes. In November-December, Maksimenko even gave way to the last line of Spartak, Artyom Rebrov, but soon returned to the base again.
Indicative for Alexander was the match of the last RPL round in Orenburg, where he made two productive mistakes, and the red-and-white suffered a defeat, which deprived the team of a ticket to the group stage of the Europa League. Oleg Kononov at a press conference directly stated that the goalkeeper’s blots affected the result.
Maksimenko reacted to the incident as a real professional and in the current season practically stopped allowing productive blots. We can only recall a ball he missed from a “zero” angle in the game with Ural. But in this situation, Andrei Yeshchenko must share the blame with the goalkeeper, who allowed Otman El-Kabir to beat himself too easily. And in general, that match turned out to be extremely unsuccessful for Spartak - seven shots on target went to Muscovites.
You can also recall the long-range shot of Mario Fernandez in the derby as part of the first round, with which Maksimenko could not cope. However, in this case, the shell flew out from behind the players, and Alexander simply did not have time to react.
But if not for his two fantastic saves at the very beginning of the match, Spartak might not have achieved victory over CSKA. The fans especially remembered the incredible salvation of the leg after hitting Fedor Chalov at close range.
And Alexander performed such miracles in almost every round. You can recall his confident actions in the opening meeting of the championship with Sochi, five saves in the derby with Dynamo and a double save at the end of the match in Samara. Finally, Spartak Maksimenko rescued several times in the last at the moment match of the national championship with Orenburg.
The native of Rostov-on-Don and in other tournaments, for example, in difficult meetings of the Europa League with Tuna, repeatedly helped out partners. He had a great match in the 1/8 finals of the Russian Cup with Rostov. Finally, in the quarterfinal meeting of the tournament with CSKA Moscow, it was his scoring program that helped Spartak snatch victory in extra time - 3: 2.
The goalkeeper’s confident game allowed Spartak to score a lot of points, and, if not for his salvation, the red-white could be located in the RPL standings closer to the relegation zone than to the first five. In the conceded goals, Maksimenko was often not guilty. As a rule, the goalkeeper was shot at close range after the defenders made obvious mistakes.
The second round game with Rostov at the Otkrytie Arena is indicative, although Alexander missed four times, but, in fact, had no chance of saving the team in any of the successful episodes, he also repelled the penalty from Ivelin Popov.
Superiority over Guillerme and Progress Over Last Season
It is not surprising that, so often helping out his team, Maksimenko is among the leaders of the current RPL season in terms of the number of saves (69). According to this indicator, he takes the fourth place and is second only to Yuri Dupin (Rubin, 94), Sergei Ryzhikov (Wings of the Soviets, 87) and George Shelia (Tambov, 72). However, their presence among the leaders should not surprise, because these three goalkeepers protect the colors of outsiders, whose gates are simply hit much more.
“Spartak” is the sixth in terms of the number of shots allowed in the RPL (an average of 13.7 per match). Above are Zenit (10.9), Krasnodar (12), CSKA (12.7), Dynamo (13.2), Lokomotiv (13.3) and Rostov (13.6).
Goalkeepers of these teams made saves less than Maksimenko: Igor Akinfeev (68), Marinato Guillerme (58), Matvey Safonov (57), Anton Shunin (41), Andrey Lunev (35).
The number of saves by the Spartak goalkeeper after striking from outside the penalty area is also striking - 44. By this indicator in the league it is second only to the aforementioned Dupin (48) and Ryzhikov (46). But the competitors from the top clubs were far behind: Akinfeev (38), Guillerme (35), Safonov (28). These statistics indicate that the defenders of the red-white regularly allow blots and allow you to shoot your own gate. But this does not stop Maksimenko saving his team in the most difficult situations.
All in all, almost 400 shots were hit on goal by Alexander - 396, 145 of which were on target. 113 goalkeeper repelled. The percentage of broken shots Maksimenko - 76%. This is the second result among domestic goalkeepers this season after Alexander Belenov (85%). In the RPL, he reaches 77%. At the same time, we must not forget that Belenov stands for Ufa, which relies on defense and practically does not allow opponents to hit on their own goal.
It is impossible to say such a thing about Spartak, however, with all the mistakes of the defenders, he spent seven matches to zero in the national championship and only Belenova (11), Dupin (9) and Akinfeev (8) were ahead. But the opponent in the fight for the “number one post” in the youth Safonov Alexander is superior, as well as the “first number” of the main team Marinato Gilmere. The assets of both of seven "crackers."
And most importantly, Maksimenko has an important quality, without which the modern goalkeeper is inconceivable - a good game of legs. In terms of the number of accurate short passes, he is second in the current RPL season (229). Casting Alexander in a cup match with CSKA, as already mentioned, became effective.
And in terms of the number of goals conceded in the RPL, Alexander bypasses both Safonov and the long-term main goalkeeper of the national team Igor Akinfeev (22).
It is also interesting to separately compare Maksimenko with Safonov. At the moment, Alexander’s opponent is superior in most indicators: goals conceded (30: 36), shots saved (3.4 average per game: 3.2), shots percentage (76%: 73%), number of supersaves (1, 18 on average per match: 1) and the percentage of accurate passes (88%: 85%).
In addition, Matvey extremely unsuccessfully spent the European Cup season, having missed 14 goals in six matches. The second half of the group stage of the Europa League at the last line of Krasnodar was spent by Stanislav Kritsyuk.
In most respects, the Spartak player bypasses the main goalkeeper of the Russian national team Guillermo. For example, on average Maksimenko makes 1.18 supersave per game, while Marinato only 0.84. The second goalkeeper of the national team Shunin (0.78) and Akinfeev (1.07) save much less.
Alexander is also progressing compared to last season. Then he beat off 70% of shots, now - 76%. And gear accuracy has increased from 85% to 88%.
By the way, Maksimenko’s progress is also noted by rivals. For example, Guilherme admitted that he likes the way the goalkeeper of Spartak plays.
Self-confidence, friendship with elders and modesty
But the main thing that added Maksimenko is self-confidence. As already mentioned, Alexander almost stopped making mistakes this season. With him at the last line of defense, the defenders feel calm, realizing that a reliable goalkeeper can correct their mistakes.
Truly a native of Rostov-on-Don and fans who from August to October three times recognized him as the best football player of the team.
Bribes Maksimenko and the right attitude. During his short career, he was not seen in any scandal, was not convicted of violations of the regime. Alexander is friends with the ex-captain of Spartak Denis Glushakov and calls Rebrov a “mentor”. The 22-year-old goalkeeper did not feel dizzy after the first successes, and he did not stop learning from older partners.
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Posted by Denis Glushakov (@ glushak8) Dec 2, 2019 at 9:38 am PST
“I really want to have a decent environment that will not let me down. So that they would not even allow me to rise above the ground by a centimeter. Fortunately, I have such an environment: friends, relatives, parents. Well, the coaching staff that keeps us all on the ground, ”Maksimenko quotes on Red Bull Russia Instagram.
And also Alexander does not intend to stop at the game in the RPL and wants to try his hand in Europe.
It is hoped that Alexander will continue to relate to football correctly and progress. In this case, the goalkeeper of the red and white sooner or later will be in the first team, and maybe even go to Euro 2020.