Dziuba's irreplaceability, Miranchuk's bright play and Semyonov's mistakes: what is the memorable match between the national teams of Hungary and Russia

Lack of experimenting with the composition

In the match of the 2nd round of the group stage of the League of Nations with the Hungarian team, Stanislav Cherchesov confirmed the theory that he had almost decided on the future squad for the European Football Championship.

The Russian national team has not changed its favorite 4-2-3-1 scheme, and its composition has undergone few changes compared to the meeting with Serbia.

Vyacheslav Karavaev, Yuri Zhirkov and Zelimkhan Bakaev, whose places were taken by Fyodor Kudryashov, Daler Kuzyaev and Anton Miranchuk, respectively, were not at the core.

All other combinations remain the same.

As for Zhirkov, his replacement could well be due to fatigue.

Just three days before the match with the Hungarians, he spent 80 minutes in a confrontation with the Serbs, which could not but affect the physical condition of the 37-year-old football player.

Kuzyaev, though now, is without a club, but continues to actively keep fit.

Looking ahead, Daler fully justified the confidence of the coach and chalked up an assist.

It is noteworthy that another player who started the last meeting on the bench became its addressee.

In the game with Serbia, Miranchuk was given a little over 20 minutes, but he failed to fit into the game.

This time he looked much more impressive and perfectly complemented Artyom Dziuba in attack.

During attacks, Anton not only regularly found himself on the same line with the captain, but also dashed into the opponent's penalty area.

One of these connections ended with a goal, which became his second in the national team jersey.

Before that, he only hit the gates of San Marino in qualifying for Euro 2020.

Of course, it is still difficult to call Anton Miranchuk the main contender for the role of an attacking midfielder in Cherchesov's team.

After the return of his brother Alexei and Alexander Golovin, the competition for a place at the base will become prohibitive, but the Lokomotiv midfielder has made a serious claim to get into the starting lineup.

At least, he won a mini-duel against Zelimkhan Bakaev and looked more organically paired with Dziuba.

Dziuba's transformation

On the eve of the first rounds of the League of Nations, many fans and experts expected one of the trio of reserve forwards to appear on the field, and Alexander Sobolev was especially highlighted.

And at first glance it might seem that there was no better moment for his debut.

The Spartak striker approached these meetings in the status of one of the best scorers of the RPL, and his main competitor could not distinguish himself in four matches in a row and did not feel in the best way.

Back in mid-August, Dziuba experienced back problems and, according to rumors, did not fully recover.

But Cherchesov showed that he completely trusts Dziuba, and allowed him to spend all 180 minutes on the field in matches with Serbia and Hungary.

Artyom repaid the mentor with an excellent game and proved that the coach was completely right.

Let the striker not be able to score goals in the second round, but he chalked up an assist.

At the same time, there could be two of them, if Miranchuk managed to realize a one-on-one exit in the very opening of the match.

Dziuba was once again magnificent on the second floor, winning more riding martial arts than all three Hungarian defenders put together (7-6).

And this is taking into account the fact that it is difficult to call the opponents "whipping boys".

Suffice it to mention Willie Orban, playing for the German "Leipzig".

However, Artyom's contribution to the success of the national team was not limited to discounts.

He regularly shifted to the flanks and thereby brought confusion to the defensive ranks of the Hungarians, and also participated in almost every dangerous combination.

Uncertainty with the goalkeeper and Semyonov's problems

In addition to Dziuba, the positions of Magomed Ozdoev, Roman Zobnin, Mario Fernandez and Georgy Djikia seem unshakable.

In the meantime, the candidacy of the second center-back still raises questions.

As in the previous meeting, Andrei Semyonov played in tandem with the Spartak footballer.

However, he performed extremely unsuccessfully and probably made Cherchesov doubt his choice.

Even in the first half, he missed Adam Salai, but he failed to close the serve from the flank, and in the second he became the culprit for two conceded goals.

First, he made a positional mistake and could not interrupt the transfer to Roland Schallai, and then left Nemanja Nikolic unattended.

The forward who came on as a substitute turned out to be undisguised in the goalkeeper's area and easily ferried the ball into the empty net.

It is worth noting that Semyonov's participation in this match was in question.

The reason for this was the injury to the back of the thigh, received in the confrontation with Serbia.

It is possible that it was the consequences of the damage that affected the actions of the defender, but the fact remains.

The center of defense has long been considered one of the most problematic lines in the Russian national team, which has once again been confirmed.

Also, questions about the position of the first number are hardly closed.

In the duel with Hungary, Shunin was not as cold-blooded as three days earlier.

This was especially evident in the first half, when the goalkeeper several times played quite risky on the outs.

Undoubtedly, Anton is not to blame for the goals conceded, but he also failed to help out his partners.

Taking into account the competition, rotation in this position can be expected in the future.

Especially if the "youth team" guarantees themselves participation in the continental championship, and Alexander Maksimenko and Matvey Safonov begin to be called up to the main team.

Over-reliance on defense

Fans and experts are already accustomed to the fact that under Cherchesov, the Russian national team is building a game from defense and is more willing to give the ball to the opponent than it is trying to act from a position of strength.

But if earlier this was manifested mainly in confrontation with the giants, now it is also with teams that are relatively equal in level.

So, in the home game with the Serbs, domestic footballers owned the ball 38% of the time, and in the match with the Hungarians - 40%.

And until the middle of the second half of the game in Budapest, this did not raise any questions.

The Russian national team was leading with a large score and felt like the master of the situation, but then conceded twice in eight minutes.

Cherchesov tried to strengthen the defense even more and instead of the Miranchuk and Ionov imprisoned under the attack, he released the defensive player Yuri Gazinsky and the nominal flank defender Vyacheslav Karavaev.

Guests pressed even more to their penalty area and practically did not think about a counteroffensive.

As a result, the hosts' colossal advantage in shots (4-0) and ball possession (68-32) in the final 20 minutes.

Undoubtedly, six points in two Nations League matches is nice, but even in such moments it is worth paying attention to the quality of the game.

If the Russians are really unlikely to act first with the Belgians and the Germans, then with the Hungarians it is more than possible.

Constantly clinging to the goal, Cherchesov's charges allow opponents to create dangerous moments and risk missing another goal.

And if this time Shunin and the company were able to defend the victory, then next time everything could turn out differently.