Irrecoverable losses: why Miranchuk's departure and Barinov's injury will deal a serious blow to Lokomotiv

Loss of main support and headache for Nikolic

The ending of last season turned out to be successful for Lokomotiv Moscow. Despite the change of coach and the conflict between the club's management and the fans, the team retained the second place in the RPL and again made it to the group stage of the Champions League.

The start of a new national championship was also successful. In the first two rounds, the railroad workers scored six points and shared the lead in the standings with Zenit and CSKA.

However, in subsequent meetings, Marko Nikolic's wards first unexpectedly parted ways with Ural, and then lost in the derby to Spartak. But a much bigger problem for the team was the injuries of Alexei Miranchuk, Dmitry Barinov and Dmitry Zhivoglyadov.

If the injuries of Miranchuk and Zhivoglyadov were not too serious, then Barinov received a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and will miss at least six months.

The loss of Barinov can be considered a real disaster for Lokomotiv, because in recent years he has become the leader of railway workers and has made serious progress alongside such a high-class partner as Grzegorz Krychowiak.

Last season of the RPL Dmitry averaged 1.9 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per match. In doing so, he made a leap in the quality and quantity of broadcasts. If in the 2018/19 season Dmitry gave on average 38.3 passes per game (with an accuracy of 78.4%), then in the past - 47.3 (85.3%). According to the last indicator, Barinov became the best football player in the team, ahead of Krykhovyak, if you do not take into account Roman Tugarev, who spent only 143 minutes on the field.

True, in the Champions League his numbers are somewhat more modest: 1.6 tackles, 1 interception and 30.8 assists (72.7%) per game on average. But the young midfielder showed an excellent game on the second floor and won 1.2 single combats in the air each, which is a decent indicator for a holding midfielder with a moderate height (179 cm).

Barinov started the new season well. The infrequently scoring footballer managed to score a goal in the first round match against Rubin, demonstrating that he has a strong shot.

Both under Yuri Syomin and under Nikolic, Dmitry was the main player of the team and missed games only due to injuries or disqualifications. In all 23 RPL-2019/20 games in which the midfielder took part, he spent 90 minutes on the field. Only in the match of the third round of the new season of the Premier League with Ural did the coaching staff in the end replaced him with Vitaly Lisakovich in order to strengthen the attack.

In the first match without two key players, Lokomotiv lost at home to Akhmat (2: 3) and dropped into the middle of the tournament table. In addition, the main center-back and team captain Vedran Corluka received an ankle injury. Croat had to be changed during the break. The severity of the damage and the expected recovery time have not yet been reported.

Inexperienced Magkeev as a replacement for Barinov and the lack of an alternative in defense 

It will be incredibly difficult for railroad workers to replace Barinov. In the duel with Akhmat, Stanislav Magkeev made a pair of Krykhovyak in the support zone, whom Semin began to admit to the base last season. However, the 21-year-old has not yet played 20 matches for Lokomotiv in all tournaments, and it will be extremely difficult for him to play on two fronts at once - in the national championship and the Champions League.

If we take Stanislav's statistical indicators for the last RPL season, then he is inferior to Barinov in almost all points, except for interceptions, which he made on average two per game. At the same time, Magkeev played a couple of matches in defense.

A way out of the situation could be a transfer to the Murilo support zone. Semin made such a move last season. Moreover, the Brazilian played four matches in this position in the Champions League and looked decent. On average, the legionnaire made 1.4 tackles and 3 steals per game. According to the last indicator, the player even entered the top ten players of the tournament.

However, under Nikolic, Murilo regularly takes a place in the center of defense, and the Serbian coach is unlikely to take risks, breaking the duo of the Brazilian and team captain Vedran Corluka. Despite the fact that Murilo regularly makes mistakes (in particular, he made a positional blot in the episode with the first goal of Spartak), this season he surpasses the Croat in almost all average indicators except for the number of successful interceptions (1 versus 1.6 for Corluka ). But the Brazilian makes more passes (61.2 versus 50.8) with a higher percentage of success (90.2% versus 82.7%), wins riding martial arts more often (3.8 versus 3) and is more successful in selection (1.8 versus 0.4). In addition, the young, fast Murilo regularly insures the more experienced partner.

At first glance, there is a replacement for the legionnaire in the center of defense, because Vitaly Lystsov and Slobodan Raikovich moved to Lokomotiv in the summer. However, by the age of 25, the first had only nine matches in the RPL, and the acquisition of the second looks controversial. The 31-year-old Serb spent recent years in the Italian Serie B, where he regularly made productive mistakes. But given the damage to Chorluka, Nikolic may still have to trust one of this pair of newcomers.

On the whole, Rajkovich made a company for the age-old defenders gathered at Lokomotiv, as places on the flanks are most often occupied by 31-year-old Maciej Rybus and 33-year-old Vladislav Ignatiev. And if the latter can be painlessly replaced by Dmitry Zhivoglyadov, then there is practically no alternative to the Pole, and in conditions of a busy schedule this can become a serious problem.

At the same time, Solomon Kverkvelia, who played 29 out of 30 matches in the RPL in the 2017/18 championship season, and played the whole season the next year, transferred to Rotor on loan. The general director of Lokomotiv Vasily Kiknadze explained this decision by the desire to provide the Georgian defender with playing practice. 

Irreplaceable Alexey Miranchuk and unforgettable forwards

The loss of Alexey Miranchuk at first glance does not look catastrophic for Lokomotiv, because the midfielder will miss about two weeks and after a pause for the national teams' matches he should return to duty. However, in the near future, the 24-year-old footballer is likely to move to the Italian Atalanta. According to media reports, the transfer has already been agreed by all parties.

The leader's departure risks inflicting an extremely serious blow on command, from which it will not be easy to recover. Alexei has been among the leading red-green footballers for some time, but after changing the coach, he reached a new level. So, in the last eight matches of the last RPL season, he scored seven goals and made a significant contribution to Lokomotiv's entry into the Champions League.

In the new season, Alexey continued to score. First, he hit the goal of Rubin, and then brought Nikolic's wards a victory over Krasnodar. Finally, in the derby with Spartak, number 59 gave an assist to Murilo. Thus, in the summer, Miranchuk took part in ten of the team's goals in the RPL out of 14.

The midfielder's statistics are also impressive. In the last season of the national championship, he finished fourth or sixth in the scorer race with 12 goals, although he had never scored more than seven goals in the RPL in a rally before. He also shared the seventh-eighth positions with Zelimkhan Bakaev in terms of the number of points for performance - 15 each.

At the same time, Miranchuk became one of the best football players in the tournament in terms of the number of key passes - 2.6. Only Nikola Vlasic (2.9) and Bakaev (2.7) are above him. The midfielder regularly hit someone else's goal (2.9). This is the best figure in the team along with Krykhovyak. Over the years Miranchuk has been gaining in defensive actions. For example, in the last Champions League draw, he averaged 1.5 tackles and 1.3 steals per match.

In the next championship matches, the injured brother will be replaced by Anton Miranchuk. However, at the start of the season, the footballer somewhat unexpectedly lost his place at the base and for the first time got into the starting lineup only in the fourth round. However, in the meeting with Akhmat, the midfielder, who took the place under Eder, was one of the best among the hosts.

But young Russian Dmitry Rybchinsky and Guinean Francois Camano, acquired from Bordeaux, will compete for a place on the left edge of the attack. The latter was actually bought to replace João Mario. However, in the last season of Ligue 1, the legionnaire played only 11 matches due to a serious injury and an early end of the championship. In addition, Kamano is not very active in passing and in this role cannot be compared with Miranchuk. Receiving the ball, François is more focused on centering and hitting.

But the Guinean is versatile and can play both on both sides of the attack, and on the edge of the attack. It was Kamano who got a place at the base in the game against Akhmat, but did not look his best. In 96 minutes, he delivered only two hits and gave one key pass. For comparison, Lisakovich, who came on as a substitute, managed to earn a penalty and make an assist in the half.

At first glance, the club's management managed to solve the problem in the attack. In addition to Fedor Smolov, who returned from lease, Lokomotiv acquired a young Belarusian striker Lisakovich. In addition, in the near future, Luka Djordjevic should return to duty after an injury.

However, all the attackers assembled in the team have not been distinguished by high performance in recent years. Smolov scored only two goals for Celta, and only 12 goals for Lokomotiv in all tournaments in a year and a half. In the Champions League, he has not yet managed to score points for performance.

Eder's statistics are also not impressive - 13 goals in 96 matches for the railroad workers. In the main European Cup, the Portuguese also did not score points for performance. At the same time, Smolov struck 2.7 shots on other people's goals last season, but their accuracy left much to be desired. Eder's indicators are much more modest - 1.6.

Finally, Djordjevic has never scored more than seven goals in a season in the national championship, and Lisakovich made himself brightly only this year, having distinguished himself nine times in the Belarusian championship.

Thus, although Lokomotiv has solved the problem with the forwards, it has not acquired a truly effective striker who would be able to score more than ten goals per season. This means that with the possible departure of Alexei Miranchuk, the railway workers may find themselves in a situation of goal deficit.