Replacement of Anisimov, departure of Plotnikov and criticism of Gonchar: what is known about the preparation of the Russian national hockey team for the Olympics

Tkachev's challenge

Less than two weeks are left before the start of the hockey tournament at the Beijing Winter Olympics, but changes continue to occur in the Russian team. Already after the announcement of the final application, the coaching staff was forced to castling - Artyom Anisimov was transferred to the reserve, and Vladimir Tkachev was called in his place. Reportedly, this is due to a positive test for the coronavirus of the Lokomotiv forward.

“The relevant documents have already been sent to the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee. -

). Artyom Anisimov, unfortunately, has not yet joined the team at the training camp. He feels good, trains according to an individual schedule, but after negative tests, yesterday showed a positive result. Artyom still has a chance to go with the team to Beijing, he takes the necessary tests every day, we hope that the next tests will again be negative. All other players are in Novogorsk, training is going according to plan, the day after tomorrow we will play a control match "white" against "red", - said the press service of the Russian Hockey Federation (FHR).

Anisimov was included first in the expanded, and then the final composition of the Russian national team, but arrived at its location late. Prior to this, the striker also passed a positive test for coronavirus and was in quarantine until January 19. At the same time, a few days ago, the CSKA forward Sergey Plotnikov also left the base of the national team in Novogorsk, whose PCR test also confirmed the presence of infection. For the same reason, his teammate Kirill Marchenko cannot participate in training.

“The fact that Anisimov, Plotnikov and Marchenko have not been training with the national team for almost two weeks is very serious.

And this problem can get worse, and not only in our team.

I'm not sure at all that we will be able to hold the Olympics.

I wouldn't think about it.

I would very much like the Games to take place, because it is necessary, first of all, for the athletes.

This is important for the guys and for the development of hockey.

What should coaches do now?

They are hostages of the situation,” Honored Coach of Russia Yuri Novikov told the “Championship”.

The day before the arrival of Tkachev, the Russian team held a training session.

Based on its results, one could get an idea of ​​the combinations in which Alexei Zhamnov plans to use hockey players at the Olympics.

As expected, the first two three strikers were formed from performers sharpened for creation.

One of them was Vadim Shipachev, Nikita Gusev and Arseniy Gritsyuk, and the second was entirely army men Pavel Karnaukhov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Anton Slepyshev.

Also, reserve players took part in the lesson - Andrey Kuzmenko and Alexander Kadeikin, whose absence from the base came as a surprise to many.

But not for the well-known hockey functionary Leonid Weisfeld, who considered it logical that the Salavat Yulaev forward was not among the 25 strongest.

“It's not too strange for me.

Alexander is from the category of athletes that everyone likes.

But he plays, from my point of view, not very reliable.

Kadeikin is the hockey player whom I would not dare to release at a key moment if the scoreboard is a draw or my team wins.

If he loses, that's another matter.

He makes non-standard decisions, but sometimes takes them adventurously.

And it does this in situations where this cannot be allowed, ”Weisfeld explained. 

Passion according to Burdasov

But if Kadeikin and Kuzmenko, in theory, can perform at the Games in Beijing, then Anton Burdasov most likely will not have such a chance.

One of the best snipers of the KHL regular season was included in the extended list, but was subsequently unhooked from the national team.

As Zhamnov explained, the SKA striker was considered exclusively as a player of the first or second link, but the bet was made on other performers.

Apparently, the athlete himself did not really like this wording.

On the same day, he published a video in the Stories service on his Instagram page with an excerpt from the YouTube show “What happened next?”.

Many felt that in this way he expressed misunderstanding with the decision of the coaching staff.

And subsequently, the forward posted a joint photo with Kuzmenko and accompanied it with the caption “To be continued” (to be continued. -

).

Many in the media called Burdasov's reaction sarcastic, but his agent Shumi Babaev did not agree with this. According to him, Anton tries to react to everything with humor and look for moments to “synically”.

“Everyone now has one opinion: the team must win the Olympics.

It's good for everyone.

Therefore, it is unrealistic that someone will cheer against the national team due to missing the squad.

Anton Burdasov and another client of mine, Stanislav Galiev, are throwers who score a lot.

But they probably don't fit these schemes.

The head coach and general manager made this decision and took responsibility.

After the Olympics, we will see who was right - they or those people who believe that they did not take hockey players who deserve it ... Of course, he was upset, like any hockey player who does not get to the Olympics.

Every athlete wants to attend such an event,” Babaev told RB-Sport.

The non-call forward was also surprised by the well-known hockey player Alexander Yudin in the past.

He called it strange the decision of the coaching staff to abandon the ready-made bunch of Kuzmenko - Burdasov, who successfully performs in St. Petersburg SKA.

The former general director of Metallurg, Gennady Velichkin, also expressed bewilderment at this fact.

“I don’t understand why SKA forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Anton Burdasov didn’t get into the squad.

These are two leaders of not only one of the top KHL clubs, but also those guys who could lead the team.

It is enough to open the league website and look at the statistics: Kuzmenko with 53 (20 + 33) points is the second scorer, Burdasov with 23 goals is the fourth among snipers, ”Championship” quotes Velichkin.

Shortage of bright forwards and criticism of Gonchar

In general, on the eve of the Olympic tournament, one of the main problems of the Russian national team is the lack of creative and driving forwards that can decide the outcome of a particular match.

And the current line-up really looks weaker than the one that represented the team at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

Four years ago, it included promising Kirill Kaprizov and Alexander Barabanov, currently playing in the NHL, as well as experienced Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk.

Although the veterans were no longer in perfect condition, they still had a huge impact on the game of the team and participated in the creation.

Do not forget about Gusev and Grigorenko.

Yes, now they are also present in the application, but in 2018 they were in much better shape.

At least, Nikita, who became the top scorer of the tournament and became the main hero of the final with Germany.

“Look at our squad, who will score in Beijing? Gusev? Perhaps, although in Pyeongchang, in my opinion, he was in better shape. Grigorenko? But this season he is no longer as dangerous as three or four years ago. The same can be said about Slepyshev. So it turns out that we are flying to Beijing with a very modest attack. Yes, it has a lot of hard-working players, siloviki, minority specialists, but few sharp forwards. It worries. We are the reigning champions of the Olympics, we will have a special attitude, we won’t be able to sit out and push off!” - quotes Russia-Hockey three-time Olympic champion Vitaly Davydov.

As for the goalkeeper and defensive lines, their formation did not raise questions from the public.

But the topic of the distribution of duties among the coaches of the national team was raised again.

On the eve of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the headquarters has undergone drastic changes, but recently Sergei Gonchar has become one of the most discussed figures.

The same Weisfeld expressed doubt that the owner of the Stanley Cup as part of the Pittsburgh Penguins could properly assess the state of the defenders playing in the KHL, since "I have not seen a single game live."

And the honored coach of Russia Vladimir Plushev called him "a controversial figure in the national team headquarters."

At the same time, Gonchar's statement that in the national team he is responsible for the game in the majority caused the greatest resonance.

“The defender cannot initially be responsible for the implementation of the numerical advantage, since only the attacker can fully understand this area of ​​​​work.

Aleksey Zhamnov and Sergey Fedorov are the ones who should lead the majority, if not avoid responsibility, ”Plyushchev said.