The end of last season was extremely disappointing for Dynamo.
In a few weeks, the wards of Sandro Schwartz lost their chances for gold medals, and then missed the silver ones, devastatingly losing to Sochi in the final, 30th round of the RPL.
The defeat from Spartak in the final of the Russian Cup completed the picture.
And in this case, too, it was not without drama.
Since 2015, Daniil Fomin has taken 23 penalties and was accurate every time, but at the decisive moment of the match at Luzhniki he hit the sparrows.
And although all key meetings were lost, the potential of the blue and white allowed us to count on progress in the new competitive year.
However, a few days before the start of the 2022/23 championship, the prospects for Dynamo are rather alarming, and the status of a contender for the title seems lost.
The team lost its head coach, who instilled in it an attractive attacking style, as well as revealed Arsen Zakharyan and Konstantin Tyukavin.
In addition, Dynamo was left practically without a center of defense, did not keep a star playmaker and a reactive winger, and did not acquire anyone in return.
The only reinforcements were Luka Gagnidze and Vladislav Karapuzov, who returned from loan, as well as Vladislav Galkin, who played for the champion of the Latvian Higher League - RFS.
True, he was not the main one there and spent a total of 274 minutes on the field, including the half for the double.
If you trust the numbers and pay attention to the cost of the RPL clubs, then the fears may seem groundless.
Last season, Dynamo finished in fifth place in this indicator, and now it ranks second, second only to Zenit, despite serious personnel losses.
But in this case, the data from the Transfermarkt portal is only misleading: even though the blue-and-whites have a number of star players and a huge attacking potential, they seem to be an extremely unbalanced team.
This is due to the departure of four central defenders at once.
But it was precisely the lack of performers in this position that largely caused the failure of the team in the spring segment.
In the first part of the season, Dynamo boasted one of the most reliable defensive lines in the country.
Fabian Balbuena and Ivan Ordets formed a powerful bunch in the center, and Diego Laxalt and Guillermo Varela on the edges.
Prior to the winter break, the team ranked second in expected xGA goals conceded (17.96) and tied for sixth in actual goals conceded (20).
But after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the Paraguayan's partner refused to play for the Muscovites.
Roman Evgeniev, who had noticeably stagnated, and Saba Sazonov, who had not been fired upon, were forced to replace him.
All this turned into a disaster.
According to the created moments at their gates, the blue and white rolled back to the tenth line (13.21) and lost not only to Zenit, Sochi, CSKA and Spartak, but even to Akhmat and Ufa, which flew out of the RPL.
Moreover, Anton Shunin and Igor Leshchuk stopped helping out.
In total, at the spring stage, the gates of the blue and white hit 21 times.
More often, only the goalkeepers of Arsenal and Rubin had to get the ball out of the net.
It would seem that this is already a reason for a large-scale transfer campaign to attract defenders.
Indeed, at the end of May, it became clear that the bronze medalist of the Premier League was unlikely to be able to count on Ordets, therefore, he risks being in the same difficult situation.
But now the situation is completely discouraging.
In addition to the Ukrainian who went to the German Bochum, Dynamo lost three more of his colleagues.
But if Balbuena took advantage of FIFA's permission and suspended the contract with the club, then Evgeniev and Zaurbek Pliev left as free agents - no new agreements were signed with them.
On the one hand, both can hardly be called defenders capable of solving serious problems.
They proved it during the last championship, and the lack of interest in their candidacies from the top clubs only confirms this hypothesis.
If you believe the rumors, Evgeniev is close to joining the Wings of the Soviets, there are no specifics according to Pliev.
But it is one thing to part with them in the presence of stronger competitors, and another when they are not.
Now in the clip only 20-year-old Sazonov and Alexander Kutitsky.
Yesterday's doubles Ruslan Shagiakhmetov, Denis Osokin and Svyatoslav Tses do not count.
At the same time, Dynamo is in no hurry to strengthen the problematic position.
So far, interest has been reported in the Paraguayan Roberto Fernandez, who defends the colors of the local Guarani.
But it is difficult to regard him as a possible replacement for the same Balbuena.
After all, he came to Moscow as an established football player with experience in the Premier League, and his 22-year-old compatriot has still not managed to attract the attention of European scouts.
Yes, and his status as a player in the youth team of the country is greatly exaggerated.
Previously, he was called up to it only for qualifying matches for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but he spent two meetings on the bench, and spent only 49 minutes in the third.
In fact, the hole in the center of defense in itself is more than a serious reason to put an end to the prospects of Dynamo in the fight not only for gold, but also for RPL medals.
However, the list of team losses does not end there.
But if the departure of Clinton N'Zhi and Nikolai Komlichenko is unlikely to be a blow (there is already an overabundance in attack), then the absence of Sebastian Szymanski can create serious problems in the middle line.
Over the past two seasons, the Pole has been one of the main creatives of the blue and white, and last year ranked second in the number of assists in the entire league (eight).
More often, only Anton Zinkovsky assisted his partners, who replaced Wings of the Soviets with Spartak in the offseason.
Like Balbuena, Szymanski used the right to suspend the agreement with Dynamo and left the club without an important organizer of the attacks.
And even if he can later return to the capital, in the near future the team will have to play without him.
Theoretically, it is quite possible to replace him: Gagnidze, who returned from loan, can close the position, and Zakharyan can take some of the functions.
But how equal and harmonious it will be - time will tell.
As for acquisitions in the middle line, everything is at the level of rumors.
The authoritative portal Goal reported interest in left-back Rubens from Atlético Mineiro, but a week later there was no specifics.
And there are fears that it will be very difficult to reach an agreement.
The contract of the lateral with the club stipulates a release amount of €50 million, while Muscovites are ready to pay no more than €6 million. Previously, information about negotiations with Denis Cheryshev was denied, and nothing is clear about the transfer of Dmitry Barinov.
According to the midfielder, his future should have cleared up last week, but there has been no official announcement.
Of course, the purchase of Barinov would not solve all the problems of Dynamo, but it could become very important.
In this case, the club would not have to worry about the possible departure of Nicola Moreau.
Together with Fomin, he could organize a powerful fist in the center of the field and partially relieve the burden on inexperienced defenders.
And this is not to mention his ability to play in the center of defense if necessary.
He had such experience in the Russian national team, however, there he acted in the top three.
But while the state of "Dynamo" can be assessed as critical.
And this was partially confirmed by a friendly match with Lokomotiv, in which the blue and white, although they scored three times, were content with only a draw.
At the same time, it is necessary to take into account how easily the railroad workers broke into the enemy defense, scoring three unanswered goals by the 63rd minute.
After that, they slowed down and started looking at the reserve.
However, Dynamo still has time.
In the first four rounds, Muscovites will not play with any top-class opponent, therefore, they will have time both to build up and to build potential newcomers into the system.
But an even greater delay threatens that they will approach the games with Krasnodar and Spartak without a well-coordinated defense and alternative options in the middle line.
And this may well cost them the most important points, which can be decisive in the fight for medals.