Match worth its weight in gold: why Dynamo before the winter break can nullify Lokomotiv's champion ambitions

Epidemic of injuries in Lokomotiv and recognition of Semin

The season-2019/20 is hardly successful for Moscow Dynamo. More recently, the team fought for survival and suffered a change of coach. However, it’s precisely the blue and white that can actually negate the intrigue in the champion race, because they will have to alternately meet with Lokomotiv coming in second place and head the Zenit RPL standings.

Two rounds before leaving for the winter break, the advantage of Petersburgers over the closest pursuer is five points. At the same time, Sergei Semak's wards have been playing in the national championship since October and do not allow themselves spectacular losses in matches with opponents inferior in class.

But the persecutors are far from sinless in this regard. In the end of the first round, CSKA got into the game crisis, for four matches could not win the Krasnodar Premier League, Rostov stalled in November, risking to roll down completely under the yoke of serious financial problems.

Lokomotiv was no exception. For the second season in a row, the team didn’t stand the pace in the fall. A year ago, railroad workers were forced to break into three fronts, and Yuri Semin complained about the compilers of the RPL calendar. As a result, the red-greens issued a three-match series without victories in the national championship and remained in fourth place in the group in the Champions League.

A year later, the situation repeated itself. In matches with Spartak, Ufa and Krasnodar, the vice-champion scored only two points and allowed Zenit to go ahead, and at the same time lost a chance for the European Cup spring.

Unfortunately for fans of railway workers, the team was covered by a real epidemic of injuries. Various injuries in the first part of the season were suffered by the Miranchuk brothers, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Dmitry Barinov, Fedor Smolov, Maciej Rybus and others. But Jefferson Farfan and Luka Djordjevic were completely out of action for a long time.

The team, left with a bloodless team and trying to patch holes on the run, has one task - to score the maximum number of points in the December matches of the championship in order to start the pursuit of Zenit with renewed vigor in the spring. Semin himself hinted about this transparently after the defeat from Bayer.

“God grant that we lose as few points as possible, although we will certainly lose them. After the New Year, we will have another team. First of all, by nature. This is the main thing. If there is a character, there will be a result. There is no character - even if you are in the stars, you won’t win anything, ”the mentor explained.

But just chasing the leader by then may be too late. After all, “Zenith” has a deeper composition and even taking into account the game on three fronts is unlikely to eliminate the handicap competitor even five points, not to mention a greater advantage. And the Lokomotiv may well misfire both in the upcoming derby and in the most difficult away meeting in Tula in a week.

Renaissance Dynamo under Novikov and Euro Cup Prospects

If the railway workers are exhausted for the final matches of the year, then the blue and white, on the contrary, seem to be full of strength. The change of coach gave the team the necessary impetus, and while Dynamo is confidently gaining points, experiencing new emotions.

Under the leadership of Kirill Novikov, the team has not yet lost. In five RPL matches, the blue and white scored three victories and twice split the world with rivals. Such results helped them not only to leave the relegation zone, but also to climb to seventh place. Moreover, from “Spartacus” white-blue separates only one point. Actually, already after a meeting with Loko, Novikov’s wards can get around a principled opponent.

At the same time, the sixth place in a certain scenario can bring the team a ticket to European competition, as happened in previous seasons with Ufa and Arsenal. Thus, the season that seemed to be a failure recently may become quite successful for Dynamo.

Moreover, blue and white are still quite capable of rising to the top five, given the financial difficulties of Rostov. After it became known about them, the yellow-blue ones started to lose points rapidly and can continue to do so in the future. And the immediate prospects for the southerners, judging by the statements of Valery Karpin, are still unclear.

Finally, there are players in Dynamo who are eager to prove themselves. First of all, we are talking about Maximilian Philip. In the summer, the German moved to Russia for a record € 20 million for the club. In the first two matches, the striker scored goals, but then was injured and was in stock.

The presence of such an expensive football player on the bench caused anger among the fans, and Philip himself at some point felt unnecessary to the team. But Novikov managed to find an approach to him, and in the match with “Rostov” Maximilian thanked him for taking the double. Although he scored both goals from the penalty spot, but most importantly, the striker received a boost of self-confidence, with which he approaches the most important game with Lokomotiv. But it was precisely the gate of the railroad workers that the German hit in the debut game in Russia.