The prospects of the Russian youth team for Euro 2021 are one of the most discussed topics in Russian football.
The reason is the high status of the tournament, for which domestic athletes have not been selected for eight years.
Almost all the strongest performers that Mikhail Galaktionov can count on at the moment are sent to competitions in Hungary and Slovenia.
Of course, the absence of Maxim Glushenkov and Alexei Tataev was a serious blow, but against their background, the non-challenge of Krasnodar goalkeeper Matvey Safonov stands out qualitatively. within the selection for Euro.
It is all the more offensive that the goalkeeper has already returned to training, but did not have time to get in shape.
Paradoxically, even the loss of Safonov could hardly have seriously worried the coaching staff of the Russian national team.
The reason is the presence of Alexander Maksimenko, who, along with Matvey, is considered one of the most talented young goalkeepers in the country.
At the same time, according to statistics, the Spartak goalkeeper looks preferable to his colleague.
According to the football statistics portal FBRef, in terms of the number of goals conceded on average in 90 minutes, he takes seventh place in the RPL (1.13), while the gate guard of Krasnodar is 11th (1.29).
Also, Maksimenko surpasses his compatriot in the percentage of hits reflected (79.5 - 77.8), and is second only in the number of saves (3.87 - 4.14).
As for the replacement Maksimenko, Denis Adamov and Ivan Lomaev will get a chance to replace him in the most extreme case.
The pupil of Krasnodar did not have constant practice even in the double, and after moving to Sochi he never appeared on the field.
His colleague won the competition with the experienced Evgeny Frolov in Wings of the Soviets, but this is unlikely to become a serious argument in a dispute with Alexander.
Despite the absence of Tataev, the defense is doing pretty well.
The defender of Mlada Boleslav was not a starting player, so his absence is unlikely to ruin all of Galaktionov's plans.
Especially considering that in 2020 the mentor finally moved away from the five-defender scheme and came to the more traditional 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1.
With this in mind, Igor Diveev and Roman Evgeniev, who are already solid representatives of the foundation both in their clubs and in the national team, will most likely be in the center.
It was this duo that formed the backbone of the defense in most matches of the qualifying tournament for Euro 2021, and it was only experiments with the scheme and Diveev's injury that prevented all the games in such a combination.
In September, he injured a muscle in his right thigh, which is why he missed about three weeks.
Now both are in excellent shape, which is confirmed by the statistics of performances.
In the spring part of the RPL season, they held a total of five meetings out of eight.
Roman missed one game due to busting yellow cards, and Igor missed two due to illness.
It should be noted that Galaktionov has a good choice in the center of defense.
And if Nikita Kalugin with almost 100% probability goes to the tournament as a substitute, then Pavel Maslov has all the qualities of the main one.
In terms of the number of successful selections on average per match (1.9), he holds the sixth place among young defenders of the RPL (no older than 24 years old) and is ahead of Diveev (1.7), and among colleagues in terms of role he loses only to Evgeniev (2.0).
At the same time, in terms of the number of beats allowed, he is completely on the second line (0.3).
And above there is only a young soldier Vadim Karpov (0.1).
As for interceptions, the Spartak footballer is also not losing ground.
In this aspect, he (2.0) is also inferior only to Dynamo (2.4), while Diveev is only in fourth position (1.9).
So why is it Diveev who is the firm starter and not Maslov?
It can be assumed that the reason is experience.
The point is in the number of performances not only for the youth team, but also within the framework of a given tactical scheme.
In "Spartak" Maslov is the right-hand central in the top three, as a result of which he performs slightly different functions.
Unlike Igor, Pavel is much more likely to join the attack, and when defending, he is often forced to close the edge or even advance to the attacking midfielder.
The CSKA footballer is a more classic center-back and is good on the second floor.
He is ranked first among young Russians in winning single combat (3.2), and ninth among all defencists in the league.
As for the full-backs, here the controversy was caused only by Galaktionov's decision not to call Nikolai Rasskazov.
And this despite the fact that he is a solid player of Arsenal and one of the leaders in a number of indicators among competitors for a place in the youth team - second in qualifications (2.3), third in key assists (0.3), fourth in won riding martial arts (1.6) and the fifth in interceptions (1.7).
But if you believe the rumors, the reasons for his absence from the team are not sports.
According to the footballer's agent Valerius Mizhigurskis, the matter is in his personal conflict with the mentor.
“I have known this situation for a long time, it is not new.
It's personal.
There is definitely nothing sporting here ... There was a certain situation that Galaktionov could not overcome in himself.
That's all.
The most interesting thing is that (between the player and the coach. -
RT
) nothing serious happened, "the agent said on Match TV.
In his absence, Artyom Golubev, who had previously replaced Rasskazov in this position, will be responsible for the right edge.
It is difficult to call it an equivalent alternative, because it is not the main one even in Ufa, but there are practically no other options.
Of course, the same Kalugin and Maslov can close the flank, but this should be attributed to the anti-crisis options.
On the opposite side, the choice is also quite limited.
On paper, Daniil Krugovoy could be considered the main candidate for getting into the base, but the lack of playing practice at Zenit played a role.
As a result, during the qualifying cycle, he lost his place on the field, and the nominal midfielder Nair Tiknizyan began to play in his position.
Yes, he also cannot boast of a permanent place in the start of CSKA, but Viktor Goncharenko is counting on him a little more than Sergei Semak is counting on his colleague.
This season, he spent 706 minutes - 115 more than the Zenit player.
As for the midfield, on paper this line is the strongest in the Russian youth team.
The central axis is formed entirely by representatives of the base or the nearest reserve of the country's top teams - Ivan Oblyakov, Daniil Utkin, Nail Umyarov, Daniil Glebov, Daniil Kulikov.
And such a selection of performers frees Galaktionov's hands.
When choosing a 4-4-2 formation, he can bet on the Obljakov-Umyarov duet, proven by the qualifying tournament, and when using a 4-2-3-1 formation, he can bet a little higher than Utkin, more suitable for the definition of box-to-box.
Utkin's prospects can only be affected by the fact that he is the only one among his competitors who spent less than 1000 minutes on the field in the current Russian championship.
And this despite the fact that he had serious injuries.
In November and February, he missed a total of three weeks and four meetings.
At the same time, initially the place of the attacking midfielder was assigned to Konstantin Kuchaev, but he received a muscle injury and was forced to leave the location of the youth team.
According to the chief physician of the national team, Konstantin Modenov, recovery will take from one to two weeks, as a result of which the CSKA midfielder will not be able to perform at the group stage of Euro 2021.
In terms of the formation of the national team, only the absence of Konstantin Maradishvili can cause questions.
The 21-year-old defensive midfielder has already established himself in CSKA, and in a number of indicators it surpasses competitors in the middle line from the youth team.
In particular, in terms of tackles on average per game, he takes first place (2.5), in steals (1.9), total number of passes (46.1), accurate long (2.9) and short (32.5) passes are in the top-3, and for key ones they are on the fourth line (1.0).
In this regard, it can be assumed that he would hardly have looked weaker than the aforementioned Kulikov and Glebov.
If we take only names, then the attacking flanks of the Russian national team also look impressive.
Five performers will compete for two places at once, most of whom can safely be considered one of the leaders of their teams.
Daniil Lesovoy has nine points (4 + 5) according to the "goal + pass" system and is the most productive footballer of Dynamo in the season, Denis Makarov is the second scorer of Rubin (six goals), and Magomed Shapi-Suleimanov is Krasnodar is second only to the star legionnaires - Marcus Berg, Remi Cabella and Viktor Klasson in terms of the number of accurate strikes (four).
Surely it is this trio that will qualify for places in the base.
Moreover, if the position of Lesovoy is practically beyond doubt, then Makarov and Suleimanov will have to identify which of them will get into the start.
Given the current form, Galaktionov may well give preference to the Rubin winger.
In the last five meetings, Magomed-Shapi scored only one goal, while Denis - two goals and an assist.
At the same time, one of the precise blows brought the most important victory over Zenit.
As for Alexander Lomovitsky and Arsen Zakharyan, for objective reasons they are likely to start the tournament on the bench.
Yes, both look good in the spring part, and the Dynamo winger has become one of the highlights of the season, but the competition is too high.
At the same time, the youngest footballer of the national team will certainly get a chance to prove himself.
Against the background of the rest, the candidacy of the center-forward raises the greatest questions.
Yes, the names are more than impressive - what is at least the top scorer of the RPL of the 2018/19 season Fyodor Chalov worth.
At the same time, questions are raised not only by his condition, but also by motivation.
In recent years, he has already managed to get the unofficial title of one of the most talented football players in the country, enter the sphere of interests of the Premier League club, and his absence from the first team regularly became a hot topic for discussion.
Its current form also raises questions.
The 2020/21 season turns out to be far from the most successful in his career: in 20 RPL matches, Chalov scored five goals and gave four assists.
Moreover, all these successes fell on the first part of the championship, and three goals at once - on the game against Rostov in December.
And after the arrival of Jose Salomon Rondon, the Russian turned out to be in the role of a substitute and in total spent only 70 minutes on the field.
Thus, he approaches the youth Euro, having neither a solid place in the start, nor effective actions in the last meetings.
But even despite this, Chalov may well turn out to be the main striker in the tournament.
Two Dynamo forwards will compete with him, but each has weak points.
Vyacheslav Grulev, although he began to go out from the first minutes under Sandro Schwartz, cannot boast of high productivity (goal + pass in the last nine matches), and Konstantin Tyukavin lacks experience.
Yes, along with Zakharyan, he became a real discovery of the championship and already amazes with his charge at the gate and the ability to make the right decisions in difficult situations.
However, it is difficult to say if the 18-year-old will be able to do it regularly.