Ambiguous debuts, adherence to the scheme and lack of a leader: what impression did the Russian national team match in Chisinau leave

Trust in young footballers

The control meeting with Moldova was initially perceived not only as a stage of preparation for the decisive matches of the League of Nations, but also as an opportunity to check the nearest reserve and experiment with the composition.

Not only the frankly weak level of opposition, but also the absence of a fundamental figure in the construction of the squad of Stanislav Cherchesov disposed to this.

Artyom Dzyuba was recalled from the collection of the national team and not only made room for one of the reserve strikers, but also allowed a different look at the team's game model.

It was expected that Alexander Sobolev, similar to Dzyuba in anthropometry and functionality, would appear at the start, but Fyodor Chalov, who was hastily summoned from the youth team, unexpectedly appeared in the center-forward position.

Also, the appearance from the first minutes of Daniil Fomin and Igor Diveev was striking.

The first of them made a pair in the supporting zone with Daler Kuzyaev, and the second - a duet in the center of defense with Georgy Dzhikia.

Until now, the Dynamo midfielder has spent only a minute in the national team shirt, and the CSKA defender has never entered the field as part of the national team.

This was already enough to call the composition experimental.

Especially considering how carefully Cherchesov brings debutants to the base.

Another signal to the fact that in the meeting with Moldova one should expect a variety of combinations in the center of the field was the absence of Roman Zobnin and Zelimkhan Bakaev in the application.

Looking ahead, let's say that two more newcomers got their chances - Ivan Oblyakov and Konstantin Kuchaev.

Branded scheme

Nevertheless, the presence of a number of debutants and the absence of Dziuba did not make Cherchesov move away from his favorite game model.

One could have expected that the mentor would decide to play with two clean forwards or even use the experience of the Spaniards and abandon a clean striker, but this did not happen.

The mentor settled on a 4-5-1 formation and did not abandon it until the final whistle, which could be explained by the lack of attackers in general.

It is worth noting that at first one might get the impression that Cherchesov decided to play according to a hybrid scheme.

So, if during the defense the team really lined up according to the familiar formation, then during the attacks it transformed into 3-2-2-3.

Dzhikia and Diveev were located in the position of the extreme central defenders, Fomin descended to them, thus getting the opportunity to take part in the initial phase of the offensive.

Zhirkov and Karavaev played the role of laterals, Kuzyaev and Miranchuk - attacking midfielders, and Cheryshev, Ionov (on the flanks) and Chalov - a trio of forwards.

However, it soon became clear that such rebuilding was not the mentor's idea.

Except for a couple of episodes, this did not happen again.

Nevertheless, even with the usual scheme, a couple of interesting features could be noted.

One of them was that Denis Cheryshev and Aleksey Ionov, although nominally listed as wingers, were actually located closer to the center (in the role of semi-flanks), and the edges were left to Yuri Zhirkov and Vyacheslav Karavaev, respectively.

At the same time, Chalov, in his usual manner, played the role of a false nine and regularly pulled back into midfield to participate in combinations.

The scheme did not change even during the unsuccessful meeting.

By the middle of the second half, it became obvious that the Russian national team was not able to pass the opponent's defense, during most of the match the entire squad was behind the ball line.

Nevertheless, all the replacements were made according to positions, and Cherchesov did not try to confuse the Moldovans with the help of unexpected rearrangements. 

Positional attack issues

The match with Moldova reminded of the weaknesses in the game of the Russian national team, which were mentioned last year.

Cherchesov's wards are experiencing difficulties when they are forced to break into the opponent's saturated defense, which was once again confirmed by the departure to Chisinau.

Suffice it to recall the games of the Euro 2020 qualifying tournament with Cyprus and Kazakhstan, when the fate of the meeting was decided by only one goal scored.

The difference is that at that time the Russian team could rely on Dziuba, whose participation in this match turned out to be impossible.

In his absence, the national team was deprived of the opportunity to build attacks with the help of long passes and was forced to play exclusively from the bottom.

As it turned out, in this aspect, Cherchesov's charges are not doing well.

During the entire meeting, the Russian national team was able to create only one truly dangerous moment, delivering the ball to the opponent's penalty area with the bottom.

In the eighth minute, Chalov and Alexey Miranchuk played an elegant combination, but the Atalanta forward lacked accuracy.

He elegantly shot the outside of his foot into the far corner, but the goalkeeper turned the ball to the corner.

Subsequently, domestic footballers could only boast of long-range strikes and well-executed standards.

In the first case, both Sobolev and Fomin had a chance, and in the second - Chalov.

At the same time, the Russians, although they tried to combine, were extremely reluctant to use the flanks.

This prevented them from creating an attack width and stretching the opponent's defense.

The ball was mainly in the center, which was comfortable for the layered defense of the Moldovans.

They created a numerical advantage in the penalty area and in the area in front of it, effectively depriving the guests of the chance to carry out a dangerous attack.

Lack of motivation and ingenuity

In such matches, everything is often decided either by the team's attitude to win, or by the presence of a leader who would lead the partners and personally decide the outcome of the confrontation.

However, in Chisinau, the Russian national team could not boast of either one or the other.

Among the young footballers, only Fomin stood out, who was not afraid to take on the game.

The Dynamo midfielder left a good impression of himself and not only shot dangerously on goal, but also tried to aggravate.

The rest of the youth looked pretty faded.

Moreover, the lack of prohibitive motivation was especially alarming - an integral attribute of any football player of the Russian national team under Cherchesov.

Chalov started the match well, but over time he wilted and in the second half he was deservedly sent to the bench, and Kuchaev, Oblyakov and Mostovoy, who replaced him, were not remembered for anything remarkable.

Yesterday's youth team players could not solve the episode at the expense of individual skill and did not try to compensate for this with a fighting spirit and dedication.

As for Diveev, it is difficult to assess his debut.

The Moldovans did not create serious problems for the defense of the Russians, and the CSKA defender rarely entered the game.

The most striking episode with his participation happened in the end, when Igor made a mistake with a pass close to the penalty area and provoked a counterattack.

But serious problems were avoided. 

As for leadership qualities, in this regard, the main hopes were associated with Alexei Miranchuk.

Cherchesov has been repeatedly criticized for the fact that he rarely puts a midfielder in the squad, and in the presence of Alexander Golovin, he prefers the Monaco midfielder.

But in the absence of the main rival, the Atalanta legionnaire was practically invisible and hardly managed to impress the coaching staff.

A creative footballer rarely took over the game and was practically not remembered for non-standard and unexpected decisions that could leave the opponent's defenders out of business.

The only excuse for Miranchuk is the lack of constant playing practice at Atalanta.

After moving to Bergamo, Alexey spent a total of 41 minutes on the field and is clearly not in good shape.

To a lesser extent, this applies to Denis Cheryshev, who started at the start of the last two meetings with Valencia.

True, this did not particularly affect his performance.

The midfielder felt uncomfortable and made only one unsuccessful long-range strike.