Reward for patience: how Dynamo inflicted the first defeat on Spartak in the RPL

Tyukavin's controversial performance

Compared to the matches of the 5th round of the RPL, the head coaches of Dynamo and Spartak made only two permutations for two, and one of them became forced.

If the appearance on the field of the more frisky Denis Makarov instead of Vyacheslav Grulev was tactical, then the absence of Fedor Smolov was explained by the imperfect state of his health - Konstantin Tyukavin appeared at the base of the blue and white.

Before the reporting match, the young striker has played a total of 95 minutes this season and has not scored a single effective action.

And given the team's counter-attacking style, this could well instill alarm in the fans of the hosts.

In conditions of a deficit of scoring chances, the striker is required to maximize the implementation, but it was reckless to expect this from a football player who did not have constant practice.

As a result, Tyukavin's performance left a double impression.

On the one hand, he nevertheless took advantage of one of the few chances and punished Nail Umyarov for a gross mistake in his half of the field, and his runs allowed him to keep the defense of the guests in suspense.

On the other hand, there were very few really bright episodes with his participation.

For the entire meeting, Konstantin touched the ball only 22 times, clung to it with great difficulty, and looked unconvincing in the accompaniment.

And his ability to press was practically not used.

Dynamo was again located very deep and put pressure on the opponent only at the beginning of both halves.

Against the background of Tyukavina, Grulev, who replaced him, looked no worse.

And if this match was supposed to help Slavisa Jokanovic decide on the candidacy of a possible replacement for Smolov, then this is unlikely to have happened.

The effectiveness of the Dynamo game model

Nevertheless, the derby with Spartak gave an answer to one of the main questions regarding Dynamo, namely, is the team capable of defeating strong opponents in its current state.

It's one thing to rely on quick attacks in meetings with opponents who are clearly inferior in class and organization of the game, it's quite another - with equals.

The previous round showed that the blue-and-whites can have difficulties with this.

With Krasnodar, Jokanovic's wards lost points and practically did not create dangerous moments at the gates of Matvey Safonov.

Then, although they struck 11 shots, they managed only 0.67 of the expected goal (xG), setting a team anti-record in the current championship.

This time they were a little more productive, but mainly due to the phenomenal execution of standards.

It was after the drawing of free throws and corners that the most striking episodes arose at the gates of Alexander Selikhov.

Roberto Fernandez and Daniil Fomin hit the post in turn, and Saba Sazonov not only shook the crossbar, but even sent the ball into the net.

And if it weren't for a kick of Nikola Moro, who was offside, then the pupil of Zenit could well strengthen the advantage of Dynamo.

As for dangerous attacks from the game, everything was rather poor here.

With the exception of Tyukavin's goal, only Dmitry Skopintsev and Grulev had chances to score.

The first one dragged the ball down the flank and shot after the shift, while the second won the fight in the penalty area and rolled into the far corner.

This inspires concern: by and large, neither Denis Makarov nor Arsen Zakharyan could create serious problems for the defense of Spartak.

And this despite the fact that the guests from the middle of the first half were forced to open up and go forward with great forces.

The departure of Promes and Sobolev into the shadows

In general, Spartak can hardly be very disappointed with their performance in the lost derby.

Yes, the result was negative, but the wards of Guillermo Abascal again looked pretty good.

Especially before the missed goal, after which the hosts were able to finally step back and close in defense, relying solely on casting on Tyukavina and standards.

The red-whites had almost twice as much possession of the ball (66.6% - 33.4%), delivered much more shots on goal (17:10) and controlled the course of the meeting.

The duo Roman Zobnin - Daniil Khlusevich, who literally reigned on the left flank, looked especially impressive.

Together, they dealt with Sergey Parshivlyuk and Luka Gagnidze without any problems, and the midfielder acted as one of the main creatives of the team.

Up to a certain point, Quincy Promes formed a trio with them, but then he practically disappeared from the radar.

And this is not surprising, because Jokanovic focused on neutralizing the top scorer of the championship.

Two or three rivals often defended against the Dutchman, which deprived him of his freedom and forced him either to go to the flank or move into the depths, where he was not so dangerous.

Alexander Sobolev was also not allowed to turn around, remembered only by an insidious blow from outside the penalty area, a hit in the face of Anton Shunin and numerous disputes with the referees.

As a result, the leaders of Spartak performed only six key passes and four shots on goal for two of them, only two of which reached the target.

Sobolev forgot about smart shifts in depth and was focused solely on closing innings, and Promes, who was under constant supervision, reminded himself of the sample of the beginning of the previous season.

And in the second half, Zobnin and Khlusevich mixed up with the general mass, noticeably tired of unsuccessful attempts to break through the massive Dynamo defense.

Spartak's problems with positional attacks

This ailment of the red-whites has been known over the past years.

Neither Domenico Tedesco nor Paolo Vanoli were able to fix the problem, and under Rui Vitoria this shortcoming came to the fore.

At first, the Portuguese also relied on ball control and positional attacks, but after a series of unsuccessful attempts, he abandoned this idea.

Under Abascal, things do not look so depressing, but so far no great progress has been made.

At times, "Spartak" again begins to stray into throws from the flanks, although they practically do not bring success.

During the match with Dynamo, the guests 34 times hung in the penalty area, and 14 times they did it from the corner.

However, there were not many dangerous moments.

Neither the appearance on the field of the second overall forward (Shamar Nikolsson) and Anton Zinkovsky, who has an excellent long pass, nor the removal of Nikola Moreau at the end of the meeting helped.

The Jamaican once managed to win a riding duel and even hit the target, but did not cause any difficulties to Shunin.

As a result, the figure is only 0.8 expected goals for the entire team.

Thus, even if, in general, Spartak played the match at a fairly good level, but lost solely due to bad luck, there are reasons for reflection.

Opponents with an organized and low-lying defensive line still create many difficulties, and the red-whites do not yet have working mechanisms to break into such a defense.