Problems of "Zenith" with motivation, the progress of "Spartak" in the attack and the nature of CSKA: what did the 4th round of the RPL remember

Confident victory for Spartak

Spartak at the start of the season continues to delight its fans.

Following the defeat of Orenburg, Guillermo Abascal's wards confidently beat Ural on the road - 2:0.

On the one hand, the victory over a noteworthy outsider should not be overestimated, on the other hand, the red-whites scored three points and share the lead in the standings with CSKA.

It is important that under the new mentor they learned how to break into the saturated defense of opponents who are inferior in class.

During the days of Domenico Tedesco, Rui Vitoria and Paolo Vanoli, the team experienced difficulties with positional attack and felt more comfortable in the counteroffensive.

Now she has scored six goals in the last two matches and in terms of the number of goals (11) she leads along with the army team.

The club differed more only in the 1994 championship, when it upset opponents 12 times in the starting four rounds.

Another important indicator is the average number of hits per match.

According to this indicator, the red-whites are confidently leading (20.5).

For comparison, Zenit has 14 assets. They are also in the top 5 in terms of ball possession (52.5%).

In the confrontation with Yekaterinburg, the Muscovites had an overwhelming advantage and inflicted almost three dozen shots on the opponent's goal.

If not for the saves of Ilya Pomazun and the incredible misses of the guests, the hosts could have conceded much more than two goals.

However, it is too early to draw serious conclusions on the game of Spartak.

Much more will become clear at the end of the first third of the championship.

In the next rounds, Abaskal's wards are waiting for meetings with Sochi, Dynamo, Zenit, Rostov and Lokomotiv.

In addition, they risk being left without Victor Moses for a long time, who received a severe Achilles injury.

Willpower CSKA

CSKA in the confrontation with the newcomer RPL Fakel had a much harder time.

The team of Vladimir Fedotov, after a most offensive misfire in the match with Paris Nizhny Novgorod, was obliged to rehabilitate himself and not allow Spartak to go into the lead.

However, the first half was unsuccessful for the army.

Voronezh took the lead in the 43rd minute thanks to a rather controversial penalty.

But after the break, the red-blues showed that they can take a hit and showed character, scoring four times.

The ability to improve in the second half of games can already be called a hallmark of the red-blue.

In this segment, they managed to finish off the Ural, hit the Sochi gate twice and defeat the Fakel.

In total, after the break, they scored seven goals out of 11 - more than anyone, including Khimki, Orenburg and Krasnodar (all six).

This indicates both good physical readiness and the right psychological attitude.

The exception that proved the rule was the match with Pari NN, when CSKA relaxed and failed after the break.

But despite this, the army team, having scored ten points out of 12 possible in four rounds, gave the best start since the 2015/16 season.

That time they took the gold and will certainly try to repeat the success.

Inexplicable misfires "Zenith"

But Zenit, after three rounds sharing the lead with CSKA and Spartak, failed to follow their example.

The current champions unexpectedly parted ways with Akhmat (0:0) and showed the worst start in the national championship under Sergei Semak.

Prior to that, in the first four matches, in the most unfavorable scenario, they allowed one misfire.

Last year, they tied with Lokomotiv, and in 2019 - with Krasnodar.

Now the Petersburgers lost points in confrontations with opponents inferior in class.

In the very first meeting of the new RPL season, they sensationally failed to beat Khimki on the road.

On the one hand, goalkeeper Daniil Odoevsky let down the team in Grozny, who committed an optional foul on Lecha Sadulaev and received a direct red card already in the 41st minute.

In addition, due to various injuries, Dejan Lovren and Claudinho left the field ahead of schedule.

As a result, in the second half, the guests were forced to act on defense.

On the other hand, the second failure in the confrontation with an opponent from the middle of the standings indicates that after four titles in a row, it is difficult for the Zenit players to tune in to such games and I can’t take my own through, following the example of CSKA.

Lies on the surface and another reason.

In previous years, the tall and powerful Artyom Dzyuba helped push through the defensive line of low-defending opponents.

In his absence, there is no one to do it.

Ivan Sergeev and Mateo Cassierra are forwards of a different plan.

For example, in 87 minutes in the capital of Chechnya, the latter won only two martial arts.

And in total, according to this indicator, the blue-white-blues occupy only the 13th line (9.5).

Shaft penalty from the judges

The fourth round of the RPL also turned out to be rich in 11-meter ones.

In total, the judges pointed to the point seven times.

Vasily Kazartsev, who served the match between Rostov and Orenburg - three times, Yan Bobrovsky provided CSKA and Fakel with one opportunity to score from the standard, Sochi and Torpedo presented such a chance once more.

In terms of implementation, the reporting round turned out to be a record one this season, because none of the performers missed.

For comparison, in the first one, only one attempt out of two (50%) fell on the target, and in the second and third, five out of six (83.3%).

However, it can already be stated that this season the referees often resort to such harsh measures than before.

In the previous championship in this segment, they in total appointed 11 penalty kicks, and the year before last - 15.

The growth can be explained in two ways.

Firstly, with the departure of a number of strong legionnaires and a decrease in financial opportunities, the teams began to act worse in defense.

This instantly led to an increase in performance.

In the first 32 matches, a total of 104 goals were scored (an average of more than three per meeting).

A large number of errors in defense leads not only to goals, but also to regular violations of the rules in the penalty area.

Secondly, fouls have become much more accurate due to VAR.

Only in this round, the judges pointed to the point four times in total, after watching the replay.