Vanoli's debut, Berezutsky's scheme, the appearance of newcomers and the appointment of Meshkov: the main intrigues of the Spartak derby - CSKA

According to what scheme will Spartak play in the first match under Vanoli

The appointment of Paolo Vanoli as the head coach of Spartak became known back in December, which gave the Italian specialist enough time to get to know the team.

Under his leadership, Muscovites held a full-fledged training camp in the UAE, after which they went to Turkey, where they took part in a couple more control meetings.

And during this time, a rough understanding of how the successor Rui Vitoria plans to build the game of the ten-time champion of Russia could appear.

Former assistant Antonio Conte has gambled on his mentor's favorite three-back scheme.

Earlier in Spartak, Domenico Tedesco also actively used it, who openly expressed admiration for the current Tottenham mentor.

But if the place of Georgy Jikia and Samuel Zhigot at the base was hardly in doubt, then the appearance of Ruslan Litvinov in conjunction with them can hardly be called expected.

Until now, the young Russian has played exclusively in the position of a defensive midfielder (not counting the games for the youth team), but at the training camp he played the role of the far right in the top three.

As a result, Litvinov was the only defender who started all five meetings in Dubai, it is possible that the situation has not changed in Belek (the matches were held in a closed format).

Obviously, Vanoli wanted to give the player as much time as possible to get comfortable in an unusual role and play with partners.

With him, Spartak conceded only three goals, and this is taking into account the fact that Ruslan actively supported the attack and regularly made dashes into the opponent's zone.

In the era of Tedesco, Pavel Maslov was famous for such connections.

Variations are possible in the middle and attacking lanes.

Spartak tried both the 3-4-3 formation with Alexander Sobolev advanced forward, and 3-5-2, in which Jordan Larsson was a pair.

As for Shamar Nicholson, the oversized Russian has never been paired with the Jamaican.

And this is hardly to be expected in the derby with CSKA.

Of course, if the red-whites do not find themselves in the role of catching up and decide to arrange a bulk on the gates of Igor Akinfeev.

Will Berezutsky again mirror the Spartak scheme?

In this regard, it is extremely curious what lineup for the match of the 19th round of the RPL will be chosen by the head coach of CSKA.

Yes, at the training camp, the army team mainly used the formation with two central defenders, but in the meeting with Murcia they unexpectedly switched to a trio, which was made up of Igor Diveev, Bruno Fuchs and Yaka Biyol.

“We just wanted to try, nothing more,” Alexey Berezutsky explained this decision.

But it may well turn out that this particular scheme will become the main one in the derby with Spartak.

It is worth recalling that in the first round the specialist has already tried to mirror the lineup of a direct competitor.

In five of the seven matches at the start of the season, the coach relied on the duo in the center, but with Zenit and Arsenal he tried the trio, and then opted for it in the confrontation with Spartak.

And then it paid off.

The red-blues, although they lost in the number of shots (8:15), but managed to get three points.

Subsequently, CSKA only in three out of ten meetings resorted to the services of a trio in defense, but it should not be ruled out that Berezutsky will again go for it in the derby.

Only injuries can prevent this.

For example, Fuchs and Mario Fernandez missed the last control game with Rubin, although the headquarters assured that the reason for this was imperfect conditions.

But the mentor has someone to replace both.

Herdur Magnusson recovered from the injury, and Kirill Nababkin can go both in the center and on the flank.

In what form will the midfield of CSKA appear

Even more interesting is how the middle line of the army in the Moscow derby will look like.

There is hardly any doubt that Anton Zabolotny, left without a replacement, will come out on top, but there are many options in midfield.

In the winter transfer window, CSKA acquired Yusuf Yazici, Jorge Carrascal, Jesus Medina and Jean-Philippe Gbamen, as a result of which the coaching staff had a huge scope for imagination.

Now it seems logical to exclude the appearance of Gbamen at the core.

Opornik was rented from Everton only at the end of the re-application period and did not have time to play a single match for the red-blues.

It is unlikely that Berezutsky will decide to immediately throw him into battle and, most likely, will opt for a pair of Ivan Oblyakov - Maxim Mukhin.

It was this duet that came out from the first minutes in all six matches of the training camp.

Otherwise, options are possible, and much will depend on the chosen arrangement.

If CSKA stops at four defenders, then three newcomers may be in the attacking line at once - Medina, Yazici and Carrascal.

It was in this combination that they came out from the first minutes in the confrontation with Rubin, but already in the 33rd minute they were forced to rebuild.

Jorge received a red card and thus drew a line under a very unsuccessful debut for a new club.

Perhaps, in a responsible match, Berezutsky decides to play it safe and leave the Colombian in reserve, releasing Chidera Ejuka.

In the scheme with three defenders, the appearance on the field of one of the Medina-Carrascal pair may be in question.

It is very risky to let two attacking players on the field in the positions of the laterals, therefore, on the edges, most likely, there will be more defense-oriented players - Georgy Shchennikov or Baktiyor Zainutdinov and Fernandez.

In this case, a place will remain vacant next to the chief designer of attacks - Yazici, which can be occupied by any of the newly minted army men, or by the same Ejuke.

Will any of Spartak's recruits get a chance to prove themselves?

As for the red-whites, everything is not so simple here.

In winter, they also carried out a large-scale transfer campaign, but basically they acquired players either for the future or to increase competition.

This explains the fact that the old-timers of the team went out at the training camp from the first minutes, while the recruits basically remained in the reserve.

As a result, only defender Christopher Martins, who played all 90 minutes in the matches against Ural and Pyunik, managed to get into the start line twice.

It is hard to imagine that Vanoli will experiment in the derby and immediately trust the young Leon Klassen, Daniil Khlusevich and Danila Prutsev.

With a high probability, all of them will start the meeting on the bench, like the more experienced Nicholson and Nikita Chernov.

Jamaicans are unlikely to help even the fact that in the offseason he chalked up two goals, while Sobolev scored only once.

And the ex-defender of "Wings of the Soviets" has only recently joined the team.

Will Spartak be able to beat CSKA for the first time under the refereeing of Meshkov

However, not only tactical drawings and team line-ups are of interest before Saturday's derby.

No less curious is the appointment of Vitaly Meshkov as the chief arbiter, who had previously worked only twice in one of the country's most fundamental confrontations.

Spartak played both matches at home, but lost twice.

In 2015, CSKA prevailed with a score of 2: 1, and all three goals fit in a six-minute period.

Sergei Ignashevich and Ahmed Musa provided the Red-Blues with a comfortable advantage, while an accurate shot by Dmitry Kombarov only helped close the gap.

Four years later, the army team won more confidently - 2:0.

Then Arnor Sigurdsson scored a brace in nine minutes.

At the same time, CSKA as a whole performs very successfully under the refereeing of Meshkov.

The army team won 22 wins, drew seven times and suffered five defeats, and the unbeaten streak is three matches.

Starting from April 2021, Tambov, Krasnodar and Krylya Sovetov were defeated, and an 11-meter kick was assigned to the goal of the Wolves.

"Spartak" can not even come close to boasting of this and has a negative balance of victories and defeats in the meetings that were served by the referee's team (13 - 6 - 14).

At the same time, the December match with Akhmat, although it ended in favor of the red-whites, was marked by a scandal.

In the 32nd minute, Sobolev received a red card, hitting Igor Konovalov in the shin with spikes.

It is noteworthy that the striker was with the ball, and the joint occurred after he performed the transfer to a partner.

But the judge, after watching the video replay, nevertheless removed him from the field.