High speeds, vertical football and sharpness in defense: how Tedesco rebuilds Spartak

Game number one and Zobnin on the right flank

More recently, the position of Spartak seemed hopeless and hopeless. The team lost match after match, flew out of the Europa League and looked completely fragmented. However, after the resignation of Oleg Kononov and the arrival of Domenico Tedesco in his place, things went smoothly. First, the red and white parted ways with the Rubin, then defeated the Lokomotiv in a derby, and then knocked out the Rostov from the Russian Cup.

At the same time, the yellow-blue ones, unlike the opponent, did not act by the main team, which, of course, influenced the outcome of the game. However, this does not negate the obvious fact: Spartak confirmed that it was getting out of the pit, and the plan of the new coach worked again.

In general, it was especially interesting to watch the red-white game in the reporting match for the reason that the team had to act not with the “second number” on the counterattacks, like in a derby, but with the ball under its control.

Tedesco did not change the tactical scheme compared to the match with Lokomotiv, but made a couple of changes in the starting lineup. Jordan Larsson, who scored a double in Cherkizovo, made a couple in an attack on Esekiel Ponce instead of Andre Schurrle, and Roman Zobnin, who recovered from his injury, was located on the right flank of the defense instead of Lorenzo Melgarejo.

And if you take the first half, it turned out to be ambiguous for the red-white ones. On the one hand, the team owned the ball for almost 80 percent of the time and put regular pressure on the opponent’s goal. But on the other hand, there were practically no dangerous moments for the guests before Larsson's goal. I remember except that Ayrton's blow in the first minutes and a weak shot from a distance performed by Alex Kral.

“Rostov” acted as tightly as possible, and the players of “Spartak” had to perform a huge number of transverse gears and throw the ball into someone else's penalty area through the air. It is worth noting that Ponce clung to him well there. However, it was impossible to say that the guests held on with all their might. On the contrary, they defended themselves very calmly and orderly.

But at the end of the first half, the cutting pass into the box unexpectedly took place at George Djikia, and Larsson opened an account. If this goal had not happened, and in the second half, Spartak would have been even harder, but Fortune still smiled at the team.

In the second half, Rostov was already forced to open, which led to the second missed goal. But in the end, after replacing Valery Karpin, the initiative passed to yellow-blue, and they even managed to score. In the last minutes it seemed that the red-and-white wavered - the guests organized a real assault, but failed to equalize.

Tedesco's successful decisions and emotional outburst

Now Spartak fans have another reason to praise Tedesco. And it is worthwhile to give him credit for just a few moments. Firstly, the German selected the ideal scheme for the team from the resources at his disposal. Are there three strong central defenders at once? Tedesco trusted all three, and Spartak conceded only one goal with him. Not enough powerful striker ahead, able to cling to the balls? The new coach changed the game so that the team acted on the strengths of other performers.

For example, before Tedesco's arrival, Larsson’s purchase raised big questions from fans, but now Jordan is one of the team’s leaders. The specialist stopped moving the Swede to the flanks, and began to use it on the edge, and the player immediately gave the result.

But Bakayev’s transfer to the “ten” position is completely textbook. In a new position, Zelimkhan clearly enjoys the game. Suppose he failed to score points for performance in the match against Rostov, the midfielder took part in the second goal scored and gave several cool branded programs.

At the same time, Tedesco was not afraid to put Guus Thiel on the bench, for which Spartak paid record money in the summer.

“He’s a great guy, a good football player, but I’m not interested in how much he cost. I directly told him about it. Today they were guided by the fact that three people will play in midfield, two of whom are defensive. But maybe Til will play in the next game, ”Tedesco said bluntly at a press conference.

Dear Til does not play, but 19-year-old Nail Umyarov regularly enters the field. This is who has benefited the most from the German arrival. The pupil "Chertanovo" performs a huge amount of work in the center of the field, famously starts attacks and interacts well with partners. At the same time, Umyarov acts calmly over the years.

The 21-year-old Kral also does not look so bad at the position of an opornik, although it was believed that the Czech was not very strong in destruction. As a result, it seems that Alex and Umyarov have been playing together for more than one year.

Thus, the new coach continues to rebuild Spartak on the go and does it surprisingly successfully. In the game with Rostov, the red and white ones demonstrated that they are able to achieve results not only on counterattacks, but also by playing the first number. The team is able to defend itself correctly, as well as to crack someone else's saturated defense. Tedesco puts the team up-to-date vertical football, which fans cannot but like.

Of course, in many respects successful results are associated with emotional shake-up. After Tedesco came, the players finally relaxed and felt confident. In each episode, they fight for themselves and for the new coach. However, it cannot continue this way all the time, and therefore it remains only to observe how long Spartak will be at an emotional peak.