The battle for leadership, the unsuccessful statistics of Karpin and the debut of João Mariou: what makes the Lokomotiv - Rostov RPL match interesting

Three years without victories over Loko and defeat in the Cup semi-final

At the start of the Russian championship at the top of the standings there is an incredible density. Leadership is shared by five teams at once, in the assets of which there are 14 points. And four of them in the eighth round will play among themselves. The first at the Russian Railways Arena on Saturday to find out the relationship Lokomotiv and Rostov.

If the presence of railway workers in the group of leaders is understandable, the successful game of the wards of Valery Karpin at the start of the tournament is pleasantly surprising. On the one hand, yellow-blue and last season fought for getting into the top five and reached the semifinals of the Cup of Russia. On the other hand, the second round of “Rostov” was much weaker than the first.

However, after a short break, the team changed right before our eyes. Karpin abandoned the defensive scheme with three central defenders, set up by Kurban Berdyev, and began to instill a bright attacking football team. And let his wards take time to understand and accept the new requirements, the fans are already delighted with the changes. And the results of the team cannot but rejoice - just one defeat with four victories.

In Lokomotiv, gaming revolutions, by contrast, did not occur. The railway workers managed to save almost all the leaders and again intensely competently intensified. It seems that in a couple of months the vice-champions became even stronger and more played. Moreover, they look almost the most balanced team in the league, which does not experience visible problems either in attack or in defense. And three victories in the last four rounds of the RPL also testify to the excellent functional readiness of the wards of Semin.

At first glance, it is Lokomotiv that is the favorite of the upcoming confrontation. In addition, statistics are on the side of Muscovites. With the advent of Karpin, railroad workers turned for Rostov into a truly uncomfortable rival. In the last seven meetings in all tournaments, the yellow-blue lost to Loko six times and only once achieved a draw, and then in the Russian Cup.

The last time the southerners beat the railroad workers almost three years ago - in September 2016, even under Ivan Danilyants. And last season, Lokomotiv not only twice beat Rostov in the championship with the same score - 2: 1, but also knocked Karpin's wards out of the country's Cup at the semifinal stage. After a productive draw in Cherkizovo, the wards of Semin on the road got the upper hand - 2: 0.

Lokomotiv: defense issues and Krykhovyak as a scorer

However, you probably don’t have to seriously talk about a certain complex, so it’s very difficult to predict how the upcoming match will end. Firstly, it raises questions about which team will risk playing the “first number”. On the one hand, Lokomotiv will be forced to move forward, as it plays at home. On the other hand, Muscovites are well able to act on defense and competently use other people's mistakes, especially since the radically defended Rostov defense line at the start of the season is by no means sinful.

With “Krasnodar” in the last round, red-green played more “second number”. True, this was facilitated by the quick goal of Grzegorz Krychowiak, after which the guests had no reason to run ahead.

In addition, in Krasnodar, Semin unexpectedly decided to return to a long-unused arrangement with three central defenders, and the newcomer Murilo made up the company Benedict Hövedes and Vedran Chorluka. To some extent, this is understandable, because at the start of the season Loko only played zero. The truth and the arrangement with three central defenders did not help the team keep their goal intact, and 169-centimeter Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov managed to score a head.

Another question is whether Semin will entrust the newcomer João Mariou to the basis. However, while this is still unrealistic, given that the Portuguese spent in the team only a few days. In any case, it will be interesting to follow the rivalry of a footballer rented from Inter with Dmitry Barinov and the same Krykhovyak.

By the way, at the start of the season the Pole got such a good shape that he not only manages to do a huge amount of work in the center of the field, but also score. In the last four meetings of the RPL, he scored three times - more than in the entire previous season.

"Rostov": the hope for a duet of forwards and the choice of goalkeeper

As for the yellow-blue ones, Karpin in the last round also managed to surprise his opponent, who was Kazan “Ruby”. Valery Georgievich unexpectedly refused the 4-1-4-1 lineup, which he used at the start of the season, and switched to a scheme with two oporniks.

Moreover, the 50-year-old coach released almost two-meter rookie Alexander Saplinov on the left flank of the attack. As a result, the striker paired with Eldor Shomurodov had a good match, repeatedly threatened the opponent’s goal and scored the winning goal in the end.

In the match against Lokomotiv, Karpin may well again trust the duo mentioned, and then the defenders of the railway workers will have a very difficult time. Moreover, while Saplinov can still boast mainly a head game, then Shomurodov is good at playing out, is able to run away from his opponent and go dribbling. It is no accident that Eldor at the start of the season became one of the main discoveries, and in the tournament scorers of the tournament with five goals, he is second only to Alexander Sobolev.

If we talk about the tactical arrangement of “Rostov”, then Karpin, most likely, will not change it in order to impose on Barinova and Krykhovyak a fight in the base zone, which can decide the fate of the confrontation. Of course, Matthias Normann paired with Danil Glebov will be much better at this task than Norman alone.

Finally, the Rostov goalie’s position also raises a question, because a week earlier Karpin unexpectedly trusted Sergey Pesyakov, who wasn’t constantly playing, but the newcomer Yegor Baburin. By the way, yellow-blue, like Lokomotiv, only once kept their goal intact at the start of the season. But this is easily explained by global permutations in the defense of the team, both tactical and personnel.