Golden prospects: why the derby with Spartak could be the beginning of the championship race for Dynamo

Timely coach change

Dynamo is approaching the match against Spartak in a good mood.

Under the leadership of the new head coach Sandro Schwartz, the team won three victories in a row and climbed to fourth place.

At the same time, the lag behind the leading CSKA is only five points.

Thus, the success in the derby, coupled with the misfire of the army team, can bring the blue and white close to the first line.

But the start of the Dynamo season is not very successful.

If in the RPL the capital's team consistently scored points, then in the Europa League it failed, losing to the modest Georgian Lokomotiv.

And after the defeat to the outsider of Khimki, the young head coach Kirill Novikov lost his post.

The team was led by German specialist Sandro Schwartz.

Immediately after his appointment, the German announced that he plans to deliver "intense, energetic football" to Dynamo.

And he kept his word.

The new specialist did not change the scheme (4-2-3-1), but under him the Dynamo began to act completely differently.

Now the blue and white are actively covering the opponents with high pressure and at the same time trying to bring the ball to someone else's penalty area as quickly as possible.       

This kind of play contrasts sharply with Novikov's football, in which the team acted as cautiously as possible, and generally unusual for a defense-oriented RPL.

As a result, under the Russian specialist Dynamo scored seven goals in nine Premier League matches, and under the German - ten in three.

To some extent, the departure from the European cups was in her hands.

Unlike their rivals in the national championship, who continue to play in the international arena, the blue and white have the opportunity to calmly prepare for matches, which allows them to demonstrate rather energy-consuming football. 

Competent work in the transfer market 

The club also performed very well in the transfer market.

So, two acquisitions of "Dynamo" in the last window immediately justified themselves.

Left midfielder Daniil Lesovoy scored six goals and provided two assists in 13 games of the RPL this season.

The 22-year-old's main strength is his non-standard technique.

On average, he dribbles 3.6 times per game in the Premier League and is second only to Kviche Kvaratskhelia (4).

And in terms of the number of key gears (2.4), the native of Moscow takes third place in the Premier League.

Lesovoy's progress was noted by Stanislav Cherchesov, who invited him to the national team.

Earlier, another newcomer of Dynamo, Daniil Fomin, received a call to the national team.

He also immediately entered the starting lineup of the blue-white and in all matches entered the field from the first minutes.

In the support zone, he made a duet with the experienced Charles Caboret.

At the same time, the midfielder cannot be called a typical destroyer, because he starts the team's attacks well and it is no coincidence that he scored five points for performance (2 + 3).

And under Schwartz, Daniel began to act much closer to the attack.

While the Russian wins the competition against the most expensive rookie of the club of the last offseason, Nicola Moro.

For the Croat, Dynamo paid € 8.5 million, while for Fomin and Lesov, a total of € 5.3 million. However, the legionnaire missed a number of matches due to injury and will certainly prove himself.

Fusion of youth and experience

But most importantly, this season Dynamo is a team with practically no weaknesses and, moreover, is an example of an ideal fusion of youth and experience.

Place at the last line is taken by Anton Shunin.

A pair of Ivan Ordets and Roman Evgeniev played in the center of defense.

The progress of the latter is especially encouraging.

The young defender in the current RPL season missed only one match (due to disqualification), and in the derby with Lokomotiv he entered the field with a captain's armband, although he is only 21 years old.

The footballer repaid for the trust with a goal and an assist.

Evgeniev also copes with direct responsibilities.

So, he shares the first place in the league in terms of the number of interceptions with Kayo (an average of 3.3 times per meeting).

Roman also makes 1.9 tackles per game on average.

At the same time, he has a good first pass and does not hesitate to go dribbling if necessary.

It is symbolic that he, like Lesovoy and Fomin, received a call to the national team and even made his debut in its composition.

Dynamo, however, conceded only 11 goals in 14 RPL matches and are inferior in this indicator only to Zenit and CSKA (ten each).

Places on the flanks of the defense were taken by experienced Sergei Parshivlyuk and 23-year-old Dmitry Skopintsev.

True, it is not easy for the latter to adapt to the four-defender scheme, because he is used to covering the entire flank and often joining the attacks, demonstrating his signature speed.

In the center of the field, the team has another young footballer - Sebastian Shimanski.

In the current RPL season, he has already given four assists and scored one goal.

The Pole has an excellent view of the field and, on average, makes 2.1 key passes per game, second only to Lesovoy in this team.

On the right edge of the attack, Clinton N'Zhier was entrenched, hitting the gates of Ural, Ufa and Lokomotiv.

Dynamo's only problem is the lack of a truly scoring striker.

The club could not solve it either under Dmitry Khokhlov or under Novikov.

Even the transfer of Sebastian Szymanski for € 20 million did not help. In winter, Nikolai Komlichenko joined the team, but the forward does not differ in such performance as in the Czech championship.

For Dynamo he scored only six goals, four of which were from the penalty spot.

But, perhaps, with the arrival of Schwartz, Nikolai will still start scoring regularly.

Other forwards of the team do not shine with efficiency either.

If Komlichenko has at least three goals in all tournaments in the current season, then Sylvester Igbun and Vyacheslav Grulev have two for two. 

The rest of the composition of blue and white is extremely balanced.

A whole group of young footballers (Evgeniev, Skopintsev, Fomin, Lesovoy, Shimanski) clearly shows themselves in the team, but there are also experienced performers in the person of Shunin, Parshivlyuk and Kabore.

Their presence gives Dynamo stability, which, for example, CSKA lacked before.

Competitor problems 

Serious problems of competitors turned out to be in the hands of blue and white.

For example, Zenit, Lokomotiv and Krasnodar, which took the first three places at the end of the last RPL season, are forced to play two matches a week.

Such a schedule is given to the prize-winners with great difficulty, and they all regularly lose points.

Petersburgers in the current championship of the country have already suffered two defeats and three times parted with their rivals in the world.

And the railwaymen and southerners in the last three rounds did not score a single point at all and dropped to eighth and tenth places, respectively.

The period in November-December will also be difficult for these teams, because in less than a month they will have to play eight matches, while Dynamo - only five.

CSKA, who plays in the Europa League, which in previous years often got into crisis during these months, can also start losing points in such a difficult schedule. 

As for Spartak, which, like Dynamo, does not play in European competition, the team still lacks stability.

So, having headed the RPL standings after the 12th round, the red-and-whites then suffered a defeat from Rostov and parted with Ural. 

But Dynamo sometimes has problems in meetings with opponents inferior in class (draws with Rotor and Ufa, defeats to Arsenal and Khimki).

But matches with Russian top clubs are given to the team much better.

In the current season, Schwartz's charges have beaten Zenit (1: 0), Krasnodar (2: 0), and Lokomotiv (5: 1).