“Paolo proved his professionalism with his work”

Information about the departure of Paolo Vanoli from Spartak was a real shock for the fans.

It seemed that after winning the Russian Cup, the Italian was guaranteed to continue working in Russia next season.

However, the club announced the parting with the head coach and his assistants by agreement of the parties.

In a statement on the official website of the club, it is emphasized that such a step is the initiative of a specialist.

He “made a difficult decision for himself” for a number of reasons beyond the control of Muscovites.

“By inviting an Italian specialist at the end of last year, our club was counting on long-term cooperation.

And with his work over these six months, which led the red-whites to their first victory in the Russian Cup in 19 years, Paolo proved his professionalism, ”the message says.

Finally, the Russian team thanked Vanoli and wished him success in his future career.

Paolo's departure was also unexpected because his agent Andrea D'Amico regularly denied the relevant rumors.

For example, immediately after the victory over Dynamo in the Russian Cup final, he called them fake.

By the way, the general director of the club, Yevgeny Melezhikov, spoke much more cautiously on the same day.

“Will Vanoli leave?

Don't know.

I hope no.

So far, we have not talked about this topic, ”Sport-Express quotes the functionary.

In turn, the Italian complained a little earlier that journalists themselves create such newsworthy events in order to write about possible replacements later.

At the same time, breaking the agreement with a mentor can only be the beginning of serious changes in the capital's club.

The media dispersed information from sources that Leonid Fedun and his common-law wife Zarema Salikhova would move away from the operational management of Spartak. 

“I came to Spartak in 2003 after winning the Cup.

I also closed the cycle, ”Fedun said earlier.

But sports director Luca Cattani, who arrived in Russia at the same time as Vanoli, on the contrary, stressed that despite the departure of his compatriot, he intends to continue working with red and white.

Probably, it is he who will have to search for a new mentor in the coming days.

"Match TV" suggested that Valery Karpin, who held both the position of head coach and general director in the Moscow team, could return to Spartak.

However, he denied this information.

“I am already tired of commenting on such rumors that have been appearing in the media since March of this year.

This is yet another misinformation.

At least this is the first time I hear about it, ”the Rostov and Russian national team mentor told Sport24.

Winning the Cup and failing the championship

As for Vanoli, he will go down forever in the history of ten-time champions of Russia thanks to his successful performance in the Russian Cup.

In the year of the club's centenary, he managed to win the long-awaited trophy with the red and white, which had not been given to them since 2003.

On the way to triumph, Muscovites knocked out Kuban, CSKA and Yenisei from the fight, and in the final they turned out to be stronger than Dynamo.

Although in the decisive confrontation, Spartak was also lucky, because Daniil Fomin did not convert a penalty in stoppage time by the referee.

But in the RPL, things were not going well for the Italian.

Led by him, the Muscovites held 12 meetings in the national championship, in which they won only four victories, three draws and five defeats.

At the same time, they lost an unforgivably many points in games with inferior opponents in the class: Nizhny Novgorod, Rubin, Rostov and Khimki.

At the end of the season, there was an impression that the red-whites had completely lost interest in the championship and concentrated on the decisive matches of the Cup.

As a result, the capital team finished tenth in the standings and repeated its own anti-record dated 2003.

And Vanoli, in terms of the percentage of points scored in the championship (41.67%), was ahead of only four among the helmsmen of Spartak: Dmitry Gunko, Mikael Laudrup, Raul Riancho and Sergey Kuznetsov.

Paolo not only failed to improve the situation in the RPL, but, most importantly, did not make a revolution in the team's game.

There were no strong changes compared to the period of Rui Vitoria.

He, like the Portuguese, relied on the scheme with three central defenders and moved away from it only twice.

This ensured relative reliability in defense - 17 missed in 16 meetings, although it could not do without gross individual errors.

First of all, this concerned Maximiliano Cofrie, who brought several penalties at once.

But in the attack, Spartak sometimes looked faded, especially in matches with opponents defending with a low block and leaving no free space.

The bet on the duo of powerful forwards Alexander Sobolev - Shamar Nicholson helped to partially solve the problem.

For two in the spring, they scored 15 goals out of 29 team goals.

And the last pass was set up by young Mikhail Ignatov, who, among other things, gave an assist to Sobolev in the Cup final.

The specialist also trusted two young Russians who joined the team in the winter.

Midfielder Danil Prutsev took part in nine games, and lateral Daniil Khlusevich - in 12. The latter, in addition, assisted partners three times.

One way or another, Vanoli left the successor not the worst legacy.

But much more tactical schemes and goals, the fans will remember the behavior of the Italian.

Like his foreign predecessors Massimo Carrera and Domenico Tedesco, the young specialist did not hold back his emotions.

He practically did not sit still, but rushed around the technical area, periodically receiving yellow cards from the judges.

Most of all, the mentor's impulsiveness suffered ... bottles, which he threw forcefully on the lawn after each controversial episode.

And during the derby with CSKA in the Cup, he even accidentally launched it into a fan in the stands, falling into a rage at the mistake of Alexander Maksimenko.

To the credit of the coach, he immediately apologized to the victim, and at a press conference he did it again. 

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