One of the two central matches of the third round of the Russian Premier League will be held at the Otkrytie Arena stadium, where Spartak and Dynamo will meet in the Moscow derby. Both teams tangled start the championship and are currently in the middle of the standings, which is absolutely not satisfied with their fans. In light of this, an upcoming meeting can be of tremendous importance for one as well as for the other.
Spartak is traditionally one of the most discussed clubs in the country. Last season, the main topics were the scandalous resignation of Massimo Carrera, the confrontation between fans and Denis Glushakov, as well as the unfortunate debut of Oleg Kononov. The specialist led the red-and-whites in the winter and promised to build the game in 3 to 4 months, but so far he was unable to cope with the task. Muscovites not only score points with difficulty, but also demonstrate an extremely nondescript football that causes a barrage of criticism from fans and experts.
As a result: only four points scored in the first three rounds, as well as the defeat from the debutant of the Tambov RPL. Of course, in that match, Spartak missed two 11 meters, but on the whole it looked very inexpressive and hardly deserved a different result. Therefore, it is not surprising that after that meeting, many fans of the team demanded the immediate resignation of Kononov, and the most active said this directly from the Saransk Arena stands.
In light of this, a meeting with Dynamo could be decisive for Kononov’s future career in Spartak. In the event of a defeat, the coach may finally lose the support of the club management and his position. If the red-whites not only demonstrate not the most colorful football, but also lose, Oleg Georgievich may not be given time to correct the situation, and the team will go to Grozny with another mentor. And this is despite the assurances of Leonid Fedun of confidence in the candidacy of a specialist.
Kononov’s task is further complicated by the loss of key players, who have not yet found an adequate substitute. Spartak lost Fernando and Luiz Adriano only in the last week, and earlier managed to part with The Luis, Sofian Hanni, Lorenzo Melgarejo, Denis Glushakov, Dmitry Kombarov and others. In their absence, the Muscovites still cannot find their game, and the new arrivals have so far failed to become an equivalent substitute for them.
Only the performance of Zelimkhan Bakayev, who returned from the rental, deserves high marks. In the absence of a well-established team of the game, he became the main actor in the attack and so far earned only positive reviews. But his efforts are clearly not enough for the red and white to appear on the field as a single team. As for the other acquisitions, Esequiel Ponce is still extremely disappointing, and Reziuan Mirzov spent too little time in the team and could not yet fit into it.
Thus, on the eve of the derby, Kononov will have to not only set up his players for an over-tense confrontation, but also rebuild the team's game. In the absence of such a backbone player like Fernando, the red and white risk being insolvent in terms of creation, because there is simply no equivalent replacement for him. Young Nail Umyarov and Mikhail Ignatov, or the more experienced Jano Ananidze, may appear in the central zone, but they are unlikely to be able to fully compensate for the absence of such a talented attack organizer as the Brazilian.
Andre Schürrle, who was rented from Borussia in Dortmund, will probably try to save the situation, but the German has always been more of a cool role player than a leader. Most likely, he will take his usual place on the left flank of the attack, thus virtually eliminating the appearance of Mirzov at the start. Of course, the world champion in 2014 is able to give color to the attack of “Spartacus”, but it is unlikely that he could replace Fernando or compensate for the lack of a cool forward.
Question remains participation in the match another newcomer. Jordan Larsson only on the eve joined the team and on the eve of the derby did not have time to conduct a single workout with his new partners. It is not clear whether Kononov would agree to bet on an undetermined player, but given the not the best form of Ponce, the chances remain. Surely the offspring of the celebrated striker will start the meeting in reserve, but already in the course of time he may be on the field if the situation becomes very disastrous. It is also possible that the head coach decides to take a risk and play under the 4 - 4 - 2 scheme, but this option is unlikely. At least, because even the previous failures didn’t force Oleg Georgievich to change the formation.
Not everything goes smoothly with Dynamo, which has set itself the task before this season to return to the elite of Russian football. For this, a solid transfer budget was allocated, which, according to media reports, is estimated at € 40 million. However, to date, the most significant acquisitions of the team remain Polish midfielder Sebastian Szymanski, Rostov’s former defender Sergey Parshivlyuk and former Krasnodar midfielder Charles Kabore . However, the invitation of the latter has already caused displeasure of the opornik Samba Sow, who was not happy about the appearance of a competitor in his position and as a result went to the English “Nottingham Forrest”.
Parshivlyuk's participation in this meeting deserves special attention. The defender is a graduate of Spartak and spent a total of two decades in the club’s structure - from the age of 7 he worked at the red-white academy, after which he gave nine to the main team. As fans of the ten-time champion of Russia will react to the presence of Sergey in the composition of the eternal enemy - a big question.
Like their future rivals, the blue and white have serious problems in attack. Goals are given with great difficulty, as a result of which the club is actively looking for an attacker. Despite the fact that in the summer Ramil Sheydaev had already been acquired for this position, for which Krylia Sovetov received € 1.2 million (according to Transfermarkt).
So, in the media already appeared information about the interest to the Brazilian striker "Inter" Gabriela Barbosa. He is currently on loan for Flamengo, in which only in 2019 he scored 13 goals in 17 matches. According to Sport-Express, the team is also considering the candidacy of Santos Borre. From 2015 to 2017, he was listed in Atletico Madrid, but never played a single game for him. Subsequently, he wandered around on rentals, after which he moved to River Plate. At the moment, his asset includes 65 meetings, 16 goals and seven assists.
In addition, in the match with "Spartak" is expected to debut another new striker team. Cameroonian Clinton N'Zhi has already managed to shine in the media, accidentally publishing a video of intimate content with his girlfriend. According to the ex-player of “Marcel”, thus he marked the signing of the contract with Dynamo, but mistakenly pressed the wrong button.
As for the positions of the head coach of the white-and-blue Dmitry Khokhlov, they are also quite shaky. Last season, the team stopped a step away from the zone of transition matches, and the tutor kept his post. But to believe that such a result will suit the leadership, this time is very rash. Especially in the light of the multimillion-dollar transfer budget and the ambitions of the heads of the club. So, the chairman of the board of directors of Dynamo, Dmitry Solovyov, openly announced that the team must fight for getting into the zone of the European cups.
While it is clearly not going according to the schedule of hitting even the Europa League. Yes, Dynamo has four points in its assets and occupies the seventh line, but it has already managed to lose points in the battle with the drained Arsenal, and also suffer a defeat from Rubin in the process of restructuring. It is noteworthy that the goals conceded in both games fell on the final ten minutes. Gia Grigalava forced to capitulate Anton Shunin in the 84th minute, and Bek Mikeltadze - in the third compensated. All this may well indicate that Khokhlov cannot force his players to act at a high level throughout the entire meeting.
Unlike Spartak, the tactical scheme of their rival raises no serious questions. In all three starting matches of the championship, Dynamo followed the same lineup with four defenders, five midfielders and two forwards, one of whom acted from the bottom. In the last meeting, Cyril Panchenko took on this role and succeeded immediately, becoming the author of a goal scored. It is necessary to believe that in the derby he will again come to the core, and the young Shimansky will again be on the right flank.
There are also questions on the line of defense. In the first two meetings in the center, together with Tony Shunich, Roman Evgeniev came out, and Zaurbek Pliev was located on the left flank. However, this combination did not bring the team success, as a result of which Khokhlov had to make changes. Their places were taken by Vladimir Rykov and Konstantin Raush, which instantly gave the result in the form of three points in the game “Ural”. It is necessary to believe that the mentor decides to keep the winning combination in the derby.