Giveaway game: how the defeat of CSKA and Spartak finally confused the RPL table

The second defeat of "Spartak" and the first failure of CSKA with Olic

The Sunday defeats of CSKA and Spartak have exacerbated the intrigue in the struggle for tickets to European competitions.

Four rounds before the finish, the Moscow teams seem to have decided to play giveaway.

Now the second place from the sixth is separated by only three points.

Lokomotiv is two points ahead of Spartak and three points ahead of Rubin, CSKA and Dynamo.

In the derby with the railroad workers a week earlier, the red and whites, at least, created a lot of chances, but Marinato Guilherme caught the courage.

But in the game against Ufa (0: 3), the Muscovites looked faded and practically did not threaten the goal of Alexander Belenov (only five shots on target with 66% possession of the ball).

As a result, before the break for the national teams, the ten-time champion of Russia scored 16 goals in four rounds, and after that - zero in two.

Until recently, the team's striking actions in the attack masked defensive mistakes, but on Sunday, old illnesses exacerbated again, especially in the absence of the disqualified captain Georgiy Dzhikia.

In 26 RPL matches, Spartak conceded 33 goals and shares eighth-tenth places in this indicator with Akhmat and Ural.

This is largely due to the fact that the team is still divided into attacking and defensive lines.

Roman Zobnin, even with all his efficiency, is not capable of covering the entire support zone alone, and on the flanks in defense, legionnaires Lucas Ayrton and Victor Moses are not regularly refined.

And Zobnin himself played extremely unsuccessfully in the match against Ufa as the right winger.

It was from his zone that the first two goals matured.

And the derby from CSKA on the coming Sunday will miss the red-carded Samuel Gigot.

In the remaining meetings with Arsenal, Khimki and Akhmat, Tedesco's team is theoretically capable of scoring nine points, but in fact no one can guarantee this, especially in the confrontation with the Tula, who are fighting for survival.

As for the army men, they continue to experience problems even after the change of mentor.

Now it's hard to believe that back in March it was CSKA that was in second place and even continued to fight for the championship.

But defeats to Arsenal and Zenit threw him out of the European Cup zone and led to the resignation of Viktor Goncharenko.

Ivica Olic, who came to replace him, has not yet made fundamental changes to the team's game.

Under the leadership of the Croat, CSKA won three victories in a row, but Tambov, Rotor, and Arsenal are obliged to beat the Red-Blues with any specialist at the head.

But the very first serious opponent, Sochi, managed to stop the Muscovites - 2: 1.

CSKA, like Spartak, is experiencing defensive problems.

And the severe injury of Herdur Magnusson only exacerbated the situation.

Before the match against Sochi, Mario Fernandez was also damaged, and the guests' line of defense looked as experimental as possible: Igor Diveev and Viktor Vasin in the middle, and Vadim Karpov and Georgy Shchennikov on the flanks.

As a result, the southerners struck 17 strikes, 13 of which were on target.

For the derby with CSKA, Fernandez will probably return to duty, but the fans will still have to worry about the center of defense, whoever kept Diveev company: young Karpov or Vasin, who made a lot of gross mistakes.

In any case, it will not be easy for them to cope with the powerful attack of the opponent.

In addition, the army team will have to play two derbies at once in a week: on Wednesday they will have a semi-final confrontation with Lokomotiv in the Cup.

And in the last rounds, the red and blue should not expect an easy life, because they will have to measure their strength with Ufa, Krasnodar, which Goncharenko will bring to Moscow, and Dynamo.

Nine wins of Lokomotiv in 2021 and three conceded goals

At first glance, the favorite in the fight for silver is Lokomotiv.

After the season resumed, Marko Nikolic's wards scored an excellent move and in nine matches in all tournaments won nine victories with a total score of 23: 3.

The team looks bright in attack, scores a lot and at the same time practically does not concede.

However, the road to the Champions League will not be easy for Muscovites.

On the one hand, they will have to meet with Tambov and Ural.

On the other hand, in the 28th round on the road to face off against Zenit, who practically secured their third championship in a row, and in the 29th round - at a neutral stadium with Dynamo, which scored an excellent move.

Moreover, the derby was originally supposed to take place in Cherkizovo, but the FTC RFU decided to hold it elsewhere.

These matches will be decisive for Loko and will demonstrate how red-greens are ready to tackle really serious problems.

However, in 2021 they already beat direct competitors more than once: CSKA, Sochi, Spartak and Rostov.

Finally, we must not forget that already this week the railway workers will face the most important confrontation with the army team in the semifinals of the Russian Cup, while the pursuers will have the opportunity to rest.

Litmus paper for Dynamo and Rubin's champion gait

The blue and white also have an extremely difficult schedule of the remaining meetings. At the finish line after the meeting with Khimki, they will play away with Rubin, then at a neutral stadium with Lokomotiv, and, finally, at home with CSKA. Sandro Schwarz's wards in the spring really fell in love with many fans. This is not surprising, because they show modern fast football and score a lot (17 goals in 7 games). In addition, under the guidance of a German specialist, young Konstantin Tyukavin (seven points for performance in the RPL in 2021 plus a goal to Spartak in the Cup) and Arsen Zakharyan (also seven points), who have already traveled with the Russian youth team to the European Championship, were revealed.

On the other hand, the Muscovites won almost all of their victories in matches with opponents inferior to them in class (Akhmat, Tambov, Ufa and Rotor). The exception was the meeting with Krasnodar (3: 2), but the southerners after the resumption of the season are not in the best condition and, moreover, were forced to act in the minority for most of the game after the removal of Cayo Pantaleao. Now the young blue and white have to prove that they are able to withstand the top clubs.

But Rubin, on the contrary, managed to meet with almost all direct competitors. Kazan had an incredibly difficult calendar, but they managed to beat Spartak (2: 0), Zenit (2: 1), Sochi (1: 0), and Rostov (1: 0) ... It is characteristic that the Kazan team won the last three victories, including over Ural, with a minimum score in a champion style. The wards of Leonid Slutsky managed to snatch points even in those meetings in which they did little. Surprisingly, if not for the unexpected home defeat against Khimki, Rubin would be on a par with Lokomotiv right now.

In many ways, the progress in the team's results is associated with reliable actions in defense.

In the last nine league games, she conceded only four goals, three of which were from Khimki, and Yuri Dyupin also saved two penalties.

In the attack, the team continues to rule the ball three Djordje Despotovich - Khvicha Kvaratskhelia - Denis Makarov.

True, the last two will not take part in the home match of the 27th round with Krasnodar.

The Georgian was injured in the game with Ural, and the Russian was red card.

According to preliminary data, Khvicha may miss the most important game with Dynamo, which will also take place in Kazan.

The absence of a key player in two fateful meetings can hurt Slutsky's charges.

But for the games with outsiders - "Arsenal" and "Rotor" - Kvaratskhelia should recover.