Failure in the settings: why CSKA should not part with Goncharenko

Rumors of resignation and denial from the club

Victor Goncharenko may leave CSKA Moscow - the coach’s contract with the army team expires at the end of the season. According to the popular Sports Telegram channel, Press Lodge, citing its own sources, the contract with the specialist will not be extended. The club is allegedly looking for a new coach, although it has not yet decided on the main candidates for replacement. At the same time, the channel’s authors believe that this decision has nothing to do with the change of ownership - the transfer of the majority of CSKA shares to VEB.RF. 

This information was immediately criticized by the famous journalist and insider Ivan Karpov, calling it “fake”. According to him, the leadership has long agreed with Goncharenko to extend the agreement. 

“It is clear that the main measure is the result. They are unhappy at the club and want to improve their position in the standings. But now there is no tension in the team or, for example, between the management and Goncharenko. This is confirmed by two of my sources in CSKA, ”wrote Karpov. 

It is worth noting that Karpov’s insiders have already come true. For example, he was the first to talk about the transition to Monaco by Alexander Golovin and the conflict between Ivan Ignatiev and Krasnodar. 

In CSKA itself, rumors about the departure of Goncharenko were denied. Club Director General Roman Babaev emphasized that this information is not true. 

“This is the club’s official position. We don’t even have any thoughts in this direction ... I don’t understand why idle conversations and rumors arise from scratch? ” - quotes the words of the Sport Express functionary.

According to him, the contract with Goncharenko, of course, will be extended.

“When the team returns, when Viktor Mikhailovich returns, we will discuss everything,” added Babaev.

Slurred game and inexplicable misfires 

Rumors about the separation of CSKA from Goncharenko appeared due to the fact that this season the progress of red-blue has stalled, although in the previous one the young team really pleased the fans and, apparently, jumped above their heads. 

In the fall, RT analyzed the causes of the crisis in the club and figured out why Goncharenko should not be blamed. Then the army team for four matches could not win in the RPL and flew out of the Europa League. 

However, in the spring the situation only worsened. In the national championship, the team scored only two points, stumbling in matches with inferior in the class of “Ufa” and “Ural”. Red-blue fell to fifth place, behind the second by five points. Along the way, the army team suffered an insulting defeat from Spartak in the Cup of the country. 

The main complaint of the fans to Goncharenko is the lack of a clear game for the team. Indeed, it often seems that in front of CSKA only counts on Nikola Vlašić, as well as on the right flanks of Mario Fernandez. 

This is especially striking in meetings with teams below the level. In them, red-blue sometimes do not know how to crack the opponent’s saturated defense. In addition, the implementation is lame. Hence the optional loss of points in matches with Wings of the Soviets (0: 2), Sochi (0: 0), Ufa (1: 1, 0: 0), Arsenal (0: 1) and Ural "(1: 1). 

Stalled and the progress of young players. Fedor Chalov after a failed transfer to Crystal Palace is not like himself. Not so bright Ilzat Akhmetov, who in the fall even stopped falling into the main team. Obviously, Arnor Sigurdsson is not demonstrating his full potential. In many ways, the team’s game is highly dependent on three leaders: Fernandez, Vlašić and Igor Akinfeev. 

"Growing pains"

Despite all the problems that CSKA is experiencing this season, parting with Goncharenko will be a rather risky step. Firstly, it was the Belarusian who took over the construction of the new team and does this not without success. Although the army team is far from fighting for the championship, they are fighting for getting into European competitions and have not even lost the chance of medals. 

Moreover, the Belarusian has been working in Moscow for four years in an extremely limited transfer budget. In fact, the only serious purchase for this period for the club was the acquisition of Vlašić from Everton. Other newcomers came to the club either for free or for modest compensation. This does not prevent Goncharenko from keeping the team afloat, although competitors can afford much more serious expenses. 

And last season, the army team in addition created a real sensation in the Champions League by beating Real Madrid twice. The current one turns out to be not so bright for CSKA, but it can easily be attributed to “growth disease”. It is no coincidence that in relation to young football players they often talk about "second season syndrome." 

It is obvious that the players under the leadership of Goncharenko are progressing. Chalov became the RPL top scorer. Akhmetov and Ivan Oblyakov have grown to a call to the national team. Igor Diveev is a key player in the youth national team. At the age of 17, Vadim Karpov began to play at the core. Even Vlašić after moving to CSKA began to play stably for the Croatian national team, the current vice-champion of the planet. 

Thus, it will be logical if the new owners of the club from VEB.RF at least give Belarusians time to correct the situation before winter, and at the very least - provide a transfer budget to strengthen problem positions. In this case, in the third year, the young red-blue roster can really shoot, and the leadership will have the right to demand a response from the coach.   

If CSKA decides to part with Goncharenko, who is used to working in conditions of extremely limited resources, then he runs the risk of encountering a number of problems. Firstly, it’s not at all a fact that the new coach will work together with the team built by Belarus and will not destroy everything that was created before him. Secondly, he will put forward his requirements for the composition, which may entail new expenses that clearly will not go to the club's advantage during the financial crisis. 

Thirdly, if we consider domestic trainers, then there are no obvious candidates for the replacement of Goncharenko. All the strongest domestic specialists are busy. Kurban Berdyev is free, but it’s difficult to represent the two-time national champion in CSKA, because he is used to controlling absolutely all processes in clubs. 

The arrival of a foreign specialist at CSKA is completely unlikely. In this case, the leadership will have to not only provide the legionnaire and his assistants with solid contracts, but also provide a serious transfer budget, if we are talking about a mentor with a name. 

At the same time, foreign coaches in the army club invariably failed. In 2003-2004, Arthur Georges was remembered by the fans only because he gave a ticket to big football to Yuri Zhirkov. In the middle of the season, he lost his post to Valery Gazzayev. 

In 2009, the last was replaced by the Brazilian Zico, but worked in Russia only until August. Spaniard Juande Ramos did not stay at CSKA for only a month and a half. At the same time, there are not many legionnaires in the team now, and it will be difficult for a non-Russian speaking specialist to find a common language with most football players. 

Based on the foregoing, parting with Goncharenko in the current situation will be for the army a kind of shot in the leg.