Inconvenient statistics for Dynamo and the personnel revolution in Spartak
Confrontation “Spartacus” and “Dynamo” was one of the main in the fourth round, along with the match “Zenith” - “Krasnodar”. At the same time, the principal rivals were to meet in August for the second season in a row. Last year, the red-and-whites also took a principled opponent at the Otkritie Arena and won - 2-1. Alexander Maksimenko then managed to skip from another half of the field.
However, a year later, the composition of "Spartacus" has changed a lot. Of the participants in that meeting, only five players remained in the team, including the replacement ones: Maksimenko, Georgy Dzhikia, Nikolai Rasskazov, Samuel Gigot and Lorenzo Melgarejo. At the same time, the latter is also close to leaving the club. Long left Russia and a favorite of fans of Massimo Carrera.
Just a few days before the match, the red and white Fernando and Luiz Adriano sold, which created serious problems for Oleg Kononov. With the departure of the Brazilians, Spartak was left with almost no options in the line of attack (apart from Esequiel Ponce, there was simply no one to let out the coaching staff) and the position of the attacking midfielder. Care in many ways constructing the game team Fernando, some fans did consider the tragedy.
However, on Friday the club announced the signing of two newcomers at once: striker Jordan Larsson and world champion Andre Shurrle, who is able to play on both flanks of the attack. But the fact that these players will go from the ship to the point and immediately get into the starting lineup on the derby, it was hard to believe.
As a result, the German was still in the reserve, but the Swede did not get into the application. At the same position, Fernando had the opportunity to play Zhano Ananidze, whom fans began to forget. Of course, for the Georgians it was a chance to prove themselves again and prove that the new contract was signed with him not by chance.
🔴⚪ Red-and-white starting lineup at the derby! # SpartakDinamopic.twitter.com/RX2qeGMJSa
- FC Spartak Moscow (@fcsm_official) August 3, 2019Dynamo has completed the bundling for the new season much earlier. A week ago, Clinton N'Jier, the Marcel striker, joined the squad, but Dmitry Khokhlov, the white-and-blue mentor, emphasized on the eve of the game that the Cameroonian was “not built into the team and not physically prepared.”
⚪🔵 Composition on # Spartak Dinamo
Talk in the comments 😉 # DinamoMoscow # fcdm # tvoykomanaDa # RPLpic.twitter.com / PaeJGNPjkV
On the one hand, the chances of “Dynamo” to succeed in a match with “Spartak” being rearranged on the move looked almost preferable. On the other hand, on the red-and-whites side was statistics. After a memorable devastating defeat in November 2012 - 1: 5, the result of which was the resignation of Unai Emery, the red and white lost to Dynamo only once in ten games with eight wins.
At the same time, the only victory over seven years was won by the blue and white just at the “Opening-Arena” in the final round of the season 2017/18 and left Spartak without silver and tickets to the group stage of the Champions League.
Finally, the additional intrigue of the derby gave the presence in the composition of the opponents of the former players teams. In the summer of Dynamo, Sergey Parshivlyuk, the ex-captain of Spartak, moved in the summer. The colors of red and white are protected by Roman Zobnin and Alexander Tashaev.
The active start of “Spartacus” and moments of “Dynamo”
Red and white set a very high pace and pressed the opponent to the gate. However, the first dangerous moment in the match was created precisely by blue and white. Artur Yusupov struck dangerously from outside the penalty area, but Maksimenko pulled the ball from under the crossbar.
Dynamo in general, as expected, made a bet on counterattacks, and it looked logical. The guests more than once caught the wards of Kononov with an excessive passion for the attack and ran ahead with a light group consisting of Kirill Panchenko, Sebastian Szymanski, Ramil Sheydaev and Joaozino. However, moments at the gate Maksimenko still was a bit. In addition to Yusupov’s strike, one can only recall that Sheydaev’s shot at the crosspiece from the penalty line.
There was practically no chance to excel at Spartak, despite all the pressure from the red-whites. Sometimes the hosts forced rivals to play literally on the rebound, but the defense of the guests held on, although it cracked at the seams.
And in the 34th minute an event took place, which the Spartak game broke in many ways. Ponce, after throwing into the penalty box, went too hard to fight with Anton Shunin and literally hit him with his foot. Judge Vladislav Bezborodov decided that the player acted with the risk of injuring a colleague, and showed him a red card. So the red and white were left without a single forward.
It is not surprising that Dynamo played the rest of the half on another side of the field, however, in the end of the first half of the meeting as a whole, there were no real moments.
Guest pressure and home counterattack
Of course, Kononov could not leave the team without any attackers at all and after the break he was forced to throw Shyurrle into battle. Looking ahead, the German allotted time spent him generally well. The world champion tried to put pressure on the defenders on another side of the field and was often forced to dribble. He regularly shifted to his home flanks.
The most dangerous moments with the participation of a distinguished newcomer was a tight kick into the bottom corner from outside the penalty area, crowning a solo pass. In another episode, Andre decided to strike from a fairly acute angle, which Shunin coped with without any problems.
However, much more chances were that of the majority of Dynamo. At first, Panchenko, after submitting a corner, struck his head a little higher than the nearest nine, and then several times above all praise, Maximenko acted. Fans could not hold back emotions when the young goalkeeper in an incredible way parried Yusupov's shot at the near-nine, and also coped with Parshivlyuk's cunning shot into the far corner.
Khokhlov obviously felt that this derby could finally be won, and in the middle of the half, he threw in the fight novice N'Zhye, Abdul Tettekh, as well as the tall Vyacheslav Grulev. By the way, N'Zhier, unlike Shyurrle, didn’t have time to prove himself.
“Spartak” responded with an exit to the left flank of the fresh Mirzov. Reziuan joined the game quite actively and, in general, helped the red and white to establish at least some counterplay. Zelimkhan Bakaev was also active, but in the end of the midfielder they frankly left the forces.
The final whistle of the referee recorded the first in 13 years, a zero draw in the matches of these teams. The last time rivals went to the derby from the field without scored goals back in May of 2006. However, we must admit that the game "Sparatka" should be divided into before and after the removal of Ponce.