A short bench, an epidemic of injuries and a difficult schedule: why Goncharenko should not be blamed for the crisis of CSKA

The upcoming match in the RPL 15th round with Zenit is of great importance for both CSKA players and club head coach Viktor Goncharenko. A victory over the leader of the championship can provide a Belarusian specialist with a quiet job for several months, and failure can force him to talk about his possible resignation with renewed vigor.

For red and blue, October has become one of the most unlucky months in recent years. In six matches, the army team suffered four defeats, and won the only victory over Ufa in the Russian Cup. In this regard, among fans more and more they began to talk about dissatisfaction with the work of head coach Viktor Goncharenko, and the media even reported that after losing Dynamo, the specialist resigned.

However, Goncharenko’s departure did not take place, and some publications even said that the rumors about the mentor’s desire to voluntarily leave his post did not correspond to reality. In any case, the red-blue leadership made the right decision, expressing confidence in the head coach, since the unsatisfactory results of the team are only a consequence of objective reasons.

A year ago, CSKA lost several leaders at once and was forced to make a major restructuring. The brothers Berezutsky, Sergey Ignashevich, Vitinho, Pontus Wernblum and others were replaced by young football players, from whom no one expected serious achievements. Despite this, the army team successfully spent the season, finished fourth in the championship of Russia, and in the Champions League beat Real Madrid twice. This provoked an unjustified increase in expectations among fans who saw the team among the main favorites of the RPL.

But contrary to the hopes of the fans, the army team failed to make a breakthrough. The team continued to perform quite successfully and immediately became one of the leaders of the Russian championship, but experienced huge problems both in matches with leaders of the national championship and in the international arena. CSKA has already lost to Spartak and Rostov, and in the Europa League it is going to repeat the worst result in the history of domestic clubs in the group stage of European cups. At the moment, the army team have three liabilities in the liabilities with a total difference of 1: 8 scored and conceded goals, and in the worst case scenario they may well be equal to Spartak. In the 2002/2003 season, the red-white lost six times in a row and conceded 18 goals, having managed to distinguish themselves only once. True, this fiasco happened in the Champions League, and the rivals were Valencia, Liverpool and Basel.

However, even these failures can be explained. So, in the offseason, CSKA practically did not increase, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Of course, the transfer of Nicola Vlašić and the preservation of Mario Fernandez as part of the success can be called a huge success, but this only helped to remain at the same level. In addition, Rodrigo Bekao’s departure, who went to conquer Serie A, can be called an undoubted loss. At the moment, we can safely say that six-time Russian champions could not make up for his loss.

Yes, the protective line was not without recharge. Igor Diveev’s contract was purchased, Cedric Gogua’s transfer from Tambov was issued, and Zvonimir Charliya was also rented, but this was clearly not enough. At the moment, only a Russian has a strong place at the base, while the Croat is extremely unstable, and the Ivorian received a second injury in two months. In this regard, the 17-year-old Vadim Karpov has to be released on the field, who, due to lack of experience, regularly makes mistakes, many of which lead to conceded goals.

It should be noted problems in the attack line, in which at the moment there is no alternative to Fedor Chalov. In the summer, CSKA was negotiating the acquisition of Yannick Bolasi from Everton and Nikolai Komlichenko from Mlada Boleslav, but both transfers failed and the top scorer of the past championship was left alone. Plus, the striker himself stopped showing a vibrant game. Perhaps this was due to the notorious second season syndrome or the club’s refusal to let him go to Crystal Palace, but the Russian’s productivity has noticeably decreased. A year ago, after 14 rounds, he had nine goals, and now - only four.

In this regard, Goncharenko is forced to use Yaku Biyola and winger Takumu Nishimuru for the position of striker of the nominal opornik. But the Japanese plays sporadically and cannot benefit on an ongoing basis, and the Slovenian has so far failed to become the “reincarnation” of Wernbloom. Yes, sometimes he can work a miracle, as in a cup meeting with Ufa, but you can’t always count on such a thing. As a result - two goals by November.

The middle line of the army seems to be the most complete and built, but even here there are a number of problems. Firstly, in the summer, much was said about the need to acquire a high-quality defensive midfielder, but in the end he was never found. Secondly, CSKA clips are clearly not enough to fight on two fronts. The players do not have enough strength for all 90 minutes, which leads to a fiasco in the endings. So, four of seven goals in October, red and blue conceded in the final ten minutes.

However, it cannot be argued that Goncharenko does not bear any responsibility for the latest results. So, another reason for the weak endings performed by CSKA is in the energy-intensive style that the Belarusian mentor preaches. He relies on high pressure, which is why football players are constantly on the move. Of course, all this is quite difficult to implement in conditions where the team’s cage contains only about 15 people, and several players are regularly in the infirmary. Only recently George Shchennikov recovered, Alan Dzagoev is still recovering, and Dmitry Efremov was seriously injured in the confrontation with Spartak.

Goncharenko is trying to squeeze the maximum out of the army and gives a result. Despite the failed October, most of the failures of which occurred in the Europa League, CSKA continues to fight in the championship and takes fifth place by a wide margin from the closest pursuers. At the same time, six points separate him from the leading Zenit, and only three from the second Rostov. Red and blue still retain excellent chances of getting into the Champions League at the end of the season, which is vital for the team in terms of financial stability.

It is worth noting that in recent years, CSKA has consistently failed October. Due to the short bench, the team cannot withstand the stressful pace and begins to sag when it comes to playing twice a week. So, over the past five years, the army team only completed October with more than 50% of victories. In 2015, they prevailed in four out of six games, and then two draws came at meetings with Manchester United and Akhmat.

However, this once again suggests that the problems of CSKA are hidden in the depth and quality of the composition. For comparison, in 2015, the team still had the strongest defensive line in the country, as well as such high-class performers as Roman Eremenko, Seydou Doumbia, Zoran Tosic and Ahmed Musa. Alan Dzagoev was healthy, and Alexander Golovin, Kirill Panchenko and Georgy Milanov left the bench.

Thus, one cannot blame solely Goncharenko for the failures of CSKA. The crisis is a consequence of several factors at once, not all of which the specialist can influence. At the moment, the club is clearly inferior in strength not only to the leading teams, but also Spartak and Dynamo, so its results in the first half of the season can be considered more than satisfactory. They should not be crossed out even by a possible major defeat from Zenit, which should not be ruled out in the light of the recent defeat of Rostov. The wards of Sergei Semak are in great shape, and the fact that the meeting will be held at the Gazprom Arena will be an additional help for them.

In addition, the resignation of Goncharenko will not help in any way to cope with the crisis in the team. The new mentor will face exactly the same problems, but unlike the Belarusian specialist, he will be forced to re-build relations with the team and instill his own style in him. It will take time, which can be too expensive for red and blue in terms of the struggle for silver.

Moreover, it is now extremely difficult to find worthy candidates for this post. Of course, one of them can be called the head coach of Orenburg Vladimir Fedotov. Recently, much has been said that a specialist can go on increasing, but whether he wants to work with what he has, practically without hoping for a serious gain, is a big question. Also, do not forget about Ignashevich, but he just started his career at Torpedo and is unlikely to get a chance at once to lead CSKA, though it’s native to itself.