Modern football and pragmatism: how Krasnodar will change after the appointment of Goncharenko

Why did Krasnodar choose Goncharenko?

For southerners, this season has become one of the most controversial in history.

Crumpled preparation due to the coronavirus pandemic and the debut in the Champions League seriously affected the results of the team at home.

Murad Musayev's wards have demonstrated that they are not yet capable of consistently performing on two fronts, which led to a failure in the RPL.

After 24 rounds, they are tenth in the standings with 34 points and are nine points behind the European competition zone.

In addition, the team began to suffer devastating defeats on a regular basis, which has not happened in the last four years.

First, the bulls lost to Spartak (1: 6), and then they were beaten by Akhmat (0: 5).

After that, it became clear that the current mentor finally lost control over the players and stopped managing the team.

Against the background of resigned Musaev, Goncharenko really seems to be a coach of a different level.

Before joining Krasnodar, Murad Olegovich had no experience in professional football, which is why both fans and experts were skeptical about him.

By and large, he himself studied and progressed along with the players - not the best option for a club that sets itself the task of successfully performing in all tournaments in which he takes part.

The Belarusian specialist, on the other hand, managed to achieve good results with both BATE and CSKA, with which he twice took second place in the RPL and made a lot of noise in Europe.

Just reach the Europa League quarterfinals and win over Real Madrid in the Champions League.

In addition, the arrival of Goncharenko may be a confirmation that the owner of Krasnodar, Sergei Galitsky, is ready to take a “step forward” and trust an experienced specialist.

Many considered Musaev to be only a conductor of the functionary's ideas, believing that he himself did not make important decisions.

With Viktor Mikhailovich, this is hardly possible.

An experienced mentor will probably try to implement their own ideas and transform the team at their discretion, and not unquestioningly follow the instructions of the leader.

Did Krasnodar have more attractive options on the Russian market?

We can say that among free specialists, few could compete with Goncharenko in the dispute for a place on the Krasnodar bridge.

Of course, at the moment such masters of the coaching department as Yuri Semin and Kurban Berdyev are without a contract, but the invitation of both to the camp of the bulls seemed unlikely.

The first did not fit the team in terms of the style of play, and the second would certainly require expanding powers and actually combining the posts of mentor and CEO.

It is difficult to imagine that Galitsky would agree to do this.

As for the rest of the candidates, they are all noticeably inferior to Goncharenko.

Dmitry Khokhlov and Dmitry Alenichev unsuccessfully showed themselves in previous places, and Vadim Evseev, with his focus on defense and resonant statements about the importance of goals, was hardly seriously considered by the leadership.

At the same time, the return of Igor Shalimov or Oleg Kononov can hardly be called a reasonable decision.

The main successes in the careers of both are connected precisely with the period of work in Krasnodar, and subsequent attempts to declare themselves ended not very successfully.

The first was unconvincing in both Khimki and Akhmat, and the second hardly wants to remember his time at Spartak.

Was it worth Goncharenko to agree to Krasnodar's invitation?

Perhaps, this is precisely why the main concerns about the arrival of Goncharenko are connected.

The work at CSKA took a lot of energy from the specialist, and not only physical.

And at the end of his stay in the team, not only a crisis of ideas, but also emotional fatigue was clearly visible.

Constant pressure from the management and fans, coupled with the expectation of high results, seriously hit Viktor Mikhailovich's psychology and eventually led him to leave the club.

It should be noted that the symptoms of emotional burnout began to appear during the previous season.

It's no secret that after a crushing defeat from Zenit in the 23rd round of the last championship, Goncharenko voluntarily left the country and spent several days in his native Belarus.

Then many thought that the days of the coach at the helm of CSKA were numbered, but in the end he held out for more than six months.

In this regard, there is every reason to believe that Goncharenko's decision to head Krasnodar became too hasty.

A little more than two weeks have passed since his departure from CSKA, and it is almost impossible to recover and recover psychologically in such a short period.

The management will demand from him only victories, and it will be difficult to cope with this press.

And whether the Belarusian will succeed is a big question.

Is Goncharenko an ideal candidate for the head coach of Krasnodar?

Considering the above, it is difficult to consider Goncharenko the only true successor to Musaev as a mentor to the bulls.

His psychological state raises questions, and this is not counting another important factor.

Krasnodar pays great attention to the development of young footballers, and this is exactly what the Belarusian has had problems with lately.

Many noticed that Fedor Chalov stopped in development, Ivan Oblyakov was not progressing, and Ilzat Akhmetov began to play worse at all.

In the previous two seasons, the midfielder has not dropped below 1.32 expected assists (xA) in 90 minutes, and this figure is only 0.15.

The number of key gears has significantly decreased - 0.5 instead of 1.6 (2018/19) and 1.4 (2017/18).

In addition, one cannot but take into account the experience of other top teams that have changed coaches over the past one and a half seasons.

Spartak, Dynamo and Lokomotiv staked on foreigners and succeeded.

As a result, Domenico Tedesco not only helped the red and white to get out of the crisis, but also made them contenders for gold medals.

Sandro Schwartz discerned talent in young Arsen Zakharyan and Konstantin Tyukavin - something that the former mentor of the “youth team” of the blue-and-white Kirill Novikov failed to do.

Marko Nikolic did not have a squad capable of fighting on two fronts, but in the second part of the championship he demonstrated excellent results with the railroad workers.

Perhaps Krasnodar should have also followed the example of its competitors and invited a foreign coach who could give the team a new vector of development.

As the examples of Spartak, Dynamo and Lokomotiv show, an outside perspective is often more objective and can help to achieve success.

What can Goncharenko give Krasnodar?

Nevertheless, Galitsky has already made his choice, and the contract with Goncharenko has been signed before the end of the 2022/23 season.

In this regard, it is more reasonable to talk not about who could be on the bench of Krasnodar instead of the Belarusian, but what exactly he can give the team.

And in this regard, everything is not as pessimistic as it might seem at first glance.

Despite the difficult period, Vikt is still one of the strongest specialists in the post-Soviet space and has every chance to help the southerners make progress.

Do not forget that at a certain moment CSKA could safely be considered the most attractive RPL team, if we rely solely on the style of play.

A high line of defense, a bet on counterpressing and a short pass - all this meets modern football standards and meets the requirements of Galitsky.

Goncharenko's problem is that he ended up in the army team in an extremely difficult period - the leaders left, there was no money for quality reinforcement, and the players in the cage did not always fit the assigned tasks.

As a result, the specialist was forced to gradually shift the focus towards defense, which did not benefit either himself or the army team.

In Krasnodar, Goncharenko will have more chances to implement these ideas.

The club has already gathered technical and high-speed players who are able to fulfill the tasks set by the coach, and there are no plans for a mass sale and the departure of leaders.

At the same time, the existing experience will certainly give the Belarusian more freedom in terms of decision-making than Musaev had.

“Bulls” often lacked pragmatism - the ability to play according to the score, deviate from the club philosophy and step back.

And Goncharenko, most likely, has enough authority to take such measures for the sake of a result.