A bet on the Champions League, leaders' injuries and poor selection: why Lokomotiv is performing unsuccessfully this season

Champions League bet

Lokomotiv fans greeted the beginning of the week in a good mood.

On the eve of the fifth round of the Champions League group stage, the railroad took the third place in their quartet, two points ahead of Salzburg, the main competitor for the continuation of the struggle in European competitions, and even retained the chances of getting into the playoffs of the tournament.

But the defeat at home with a score of 1: 3 almost put an end to the hopes of the red-greens to continue their campaign.

It’s hard to believe in the victory of Marko Nikolic’s team even over the second squad of Bayern away, given the recent circumstances.

At the same time, the team's affairs in the RPL are not developing in the best way.

After 16 rounds, Lokomotiv is seven points behind CSKA, Zenit and Spartak, who share the first line, by four - from Rostov and two - from Dynamo.

In the fall, the club made a bet on the Champions League, which backfired with misfires in the national championship.

Immediately after the start of the group stage of the European Cup, the railroad workers sensationally lost to the outsider - Rotor (1: 2) and interrupted their four-match winning streak in the national championship.

This was followed by a defeat at Sochi (1: 2) and a defeat in a derby with Dynamo (1: 5).

Only after the November break for the matches of the national teams did Loko manage to improve their position in the RPL thanks to a tough victory with a minimum score over Arsenal.

But in the next round, the capital's team again lost points: on the road, they were at odds with Akhmat - 0: 0.

Thus, if after the 12th round the red-greens were fourth, then after the 15th they dropped to eighth place.

At the beginning of December, we can safely say that the bet on the Champions League has not justified itself.

And now the railroad workers risk not getting into the main European Cup next season.

It is worth recalling that only the first two teams will get tickets to the tournament, and only the champion will go directly to the group stage.

And it is not at all a fact that in the spring Loko will manage to level the gap with the group of leaders.

Zenit and CSKA have already lost their chances of continuing to play in European competitions and they will not need to be torn into three fronts, taking into account the Russian Cup.

The same can be said about Spartak, which did not even make it to the Europa League at the end of last season.

But in the remaining matches of the outgoing year in the RPL, the red-greens may well lose a lot of points.

On December 5, they will host the young and ambitious Rubin, who have beaten both CSKA (twice) and Zenit this season.

Then the away Moscow team will face off against Krasnodar, which is gradually coming to life after significant problems with the lineup.

And finally, on December 17, Loko will play against Khimki, which gained a good move, under the leadership of Igor Cherevchenko.

In addition, between the first two matches, the railroad will meet the last round of the Champions League group stage with Bayern Munich in Munich.

Loss of two main attackers

Injuries can also hinder the team in the remaining matches of the year.

So, Dmitry Barinov, Daniil Kulikov, Fedor Smolov, as well as Grzegorz Krykhovyak, who passed a positive test for coronavirus, could not take part in the confrontation with Salzburg.

And in the course of the game, another forward, Ze Luis, was damaged.

The footballer broke a bone in his foot and will no longer enter the field in 2020.

This is especially offensive given the fact that the native of Cape Verde came to court.

The experienced footballer scored in all tournaments only three points for performance (1 goal + 2 assists), and earned a penalty in the meeting with Salzburg.

However, statistics cannot fully reflect the benefits of his actions.

It was through the casts on Ze Luis that all Lokomotiv's attacks in the Champions League were built.

On average, he won 7.2 horse martial arts per match.

This is the second figure in the group stage after Artem Dziuba (9).

Often, the forward would independently drag the ball into someone else's penalty area (on average 1.4 successful dribbling attempts), forcing opponents to break the rules (1.8 earned fouls).   

In the absence of Ze Luis and Smolov, Vitaly Lisakovich and Eder should form a pair of attackers.

And if the Belarusian is only adapting to the team and to a new level for himself, then the fans of the Portuguese are very familiar.

The European champion clings to the ball well, but is extremely unproductive.

He has only one goal this season (against Salzburg in the Champions League).

In just 109 matches for Lokomotiv, the striker scored only 14 goals.

For comparison, Smolov scored the same number of times in 64 meetings, and the nominal defensive midfielder Krykhovyak - in 90.

And in general, the railway workers in the current season can hardly be called an effective team.

In 21 matches between the Champions League and the RPL, they scored 21 goals.

In the national championship, according to this indicator (16), Nikolic's wards occupy only 12th place, even behind Arsenal and Khimki.

Absence of Alexey Miranchuk

The low performance of the team is largely due to the fact that the Serbian specialist has not figured out how to act in the attack after the departure of Alexei Miranchuk.

Like Yuri Semin, he relied on defense and quick counter-attacks.

In the first 16 RPL matches, the railroad workers conceded 16 goals.

By the same mark of the last season of the national championship, the goal of the team hit the same number of times.

At the same time, if you do not take into account the disastrous derby with Dynamo, only 11 goals in 15 meetings will remain in the liability of the red-greens.

But in the Champions League, Loko's second number looked like the only possible option.

And the red-greens have successfully opposed both Atlético and Bayern.

However, the same tactics ruined the Russian team in the decisive confrontation with Salzburg.

Nikolic released seven defensive players in the starting lineup, and after the defeat he heard just reproaches for his cowardly football.

But in defense, Lokomotiv sometimes experiences problems, especially when Vedran Chorluka is not on the pitch.

For example, Murilo periodically commits gross productive mistakes, despite the general progress.

At the end of the match with Salzburg, he literally presented the ball to Karim Adeyemi, who set the final score on the scoreboard.

You can also remember the blot of the Brazilian in the derby with Spartak, when the young defender allowed Jordan Larsson to escape from him and hit the goal of Marinato Guilherme.

Much less often the goalkeeper of the Russian national team helps out his team.

If in the last season of the RPL he reflected 77.8% of the shots, then this one - only 63.2%.

Moreover, for Marinato this is the worst indicator in the national championship in his career.

And sometimes he openly lets Lokomotiv down.

For example, in the game of the fifth round, Guilherme knocked the ball straight to Artyom Timofeev, and the railroad workers eventually suffered a defeat - 2: 3.

As for the actions in the attack, Anton Miranchuk is mainly responsible for creation.

From time to time he appears in position under the attacker, but more often he spreads out on the left flank, from where he makes his trademark shifts to the center under the working right leg.

This season Anton is both the team's top scorer (6 goals in all tournaments) and the best assistant (5 assists).

In the Champions League, he grieved and Bayern, and Atlético, and Salzburg.

But Miranchuk scored a goal only from Munich.

However, Anton has not yet become a full-fledged replacement for his brother.

For comparison, in this RPL draw, he, on average, makes 2.1 key passes per match, gives 29.6 passes (77.1% accurate) and inflicts 1.9 hits on someone else's goal.

Alexey was ahead of his relative in all respects last season (2.6 key assists, 43 passes (79.3%) and 2.9 hits), and at the same time acted more successfully in tackles and interceptions.

And most importantly, Alexey was able to create a moment from scratch.

Anton does not have such a quality, but usually scores from the penalty spot.

The team lacks in attacking actions and Krykhovyak of the last season.

Under Semin, the Pole with a powerful blow regularly found himself at someone else's penalty area and, as a result, gained many points for performance.

With the arrival of Nikolic, Grzegorz began to act deeper.

Under the leadership of the former coach, the footballer scored 12 goals and gave nine assists, under the leadership of the current one, he scored only two goals.

Failed transfer campaign

Loko's last additional application campaign turned out to be extremely unsuccessful.

In summer and autumn, the club lost Alexei Miranchuk, Jefferson Farfan, João Mario, Benedict Hövedes, Solomon Kverkvelia and Brian Idovu.

They were replaced by Ze Luis, François Camano, Lisakovich, Vitaly Lystsov and Slobodan Rajkovic.

At the moment, the team has benefited only from the Belarusian (four points for performance in all tournaments) and the Cape Verdian.

Buying others looks like a big mistake so far.

This is especially true of Camano, who was purchased from the French "Bordeaux" for € 5.5 million. The Guinean spent only 673 minutes for the new club in all tournaments and has not yet scored a single point for performance.

Lystsov and Raikovich, as a rule, enter the field only in the case of the forced absence of Murilo or Vedran Chorluka.

Both of them got into the main squad for the return game with Salzburg, but played only the first half.

In addition, the Serb made a productive mistake in the episode with the second conceded ball.

He also became the main culprit in the major defeat against Dynamo in the RPL, earning two yellow cards in two minutes in the first half.