Difficulties in adapting: why the best scorer of the last RPL season has not yet played in Akhmat

This summer, Hamid Agalarov became one of the most talked about football players in Russia.

In the 2021/22 season, he scored 19 goals and won the title of RPL top scorer, but could not save Ufa from relegation and was forced to look for a new team.

And although initially many expected to see him in one of the top clubs of the national championship, the forward went to Akhmat.

Then many were quick to explain this by the desire to have a place at the base and an abundance of game practice, but so far the striker has not received either one or the other.

This state of affairs cannot but surprise, because most experts and fans saw Agalarov at the start of Akhmat.

And the point is not only in his performance last season, but also in the level of competition.

In Grozny, Hamid has to fight for a position not with conditional Fedor Smolov or Alexander Sobolev, but with less high-class performers.

Among them are Mohamed Konate and Vladimir Ilyin, forwards who scored only 12 goals for two last season.

And if the bet on the 24-year-old Ivorian can be explained by his teamwork with partners, and hopes to subsequently sell him more expensive, then the choice between the Russians seems obvious.

But it was the ex-player of Krasnodar who had already played three times in the base and got the opportunity to prove himself in the confrontation with the army team.

And this is at a time when the Grozny team were losing 2-3 and had a chance to take points.

Even during the meeting, Match TV commentator Konstantin Genich was amazed at the absence of Agalarov on the field, and after the game other journalists raised the issue.

It was assumed that it could be an injury, but the head coach of Akhmat denied this option.

“Everything is fine with Agalarov, he adds, he works under loads.

If he scores chances, as with Zenit and Spartak, he will get more time.

Does Konate play badly?

We have competition in this position, ”Championship quotes Andrey Talalaev.

The mentor of the Grozny team named several reasons that could explain Agalarov's lack of an iron place at the base.

One of them is the implementation, which still leaves much to be desired.

Of course, the first thing I remember are the misses in the meetings with Spartak and Zenit, when Hamid could not distinguish himself from an advantageous position.

In the first case, with a difference of three seconds, he struck first at Alexander Selikhov, and then at Daniil Khlusevich, who was on target, and in the second, he missed the ball after Ivan Oleinikov's pass.

It should be noted here that in Akhmat, Agalarov, in principle, began to hit the goal much less.

Last season, he threatened goalkeepers much more often, and he converted chances on a completely different level.

With what it can be connected?

For example, with a general change in requirements.

After the meeting with Zenit, Talalaev made it clear that he was setting slightly different tasks for him than Alexei Stukalov did in Ufa.

At least in terms of playing without the ball.

According to the mentor, "it never happens that the striker has an average speed less than the central defenders."

In the new team, Hamid has to do a lot of rough work, and in the absence of proper experience, this may well affect other aspects.

“I had a scorer from the Second League in the Volga, they took him from Ivanov.

We increased his work - and immediately lost accuracy.

When a football player is fresh, when he is standing, the whole team works for him and he scores - this is one football.

And when a football player is constantly working and this freshness is not there, then the accuracy is lost.

This is where the complexity lies.

Gotta go through it.

Not only Agalarov is going through this.

The biggest plus is that it continues to work ... It has a positive trend, but there will still be a loss of accuracy, ”Talalaev said in a conversation with the Metaratings portal.

In this case, another question arises, namely, what is more important: to bring Agalarov to a common denominator and teach him to exist in the new system, or to create the most comfortable conditions for the realization of his talent.

Talalaev adheres to the first option, but so far the dividends are not particularly noticeable.

Adaptation takes time and may well be delayed for a long time.

And then it will be extremely important not to let the athlete lose faith in himself.

On the other hand, in modern football it is difficult to imagine a static striker who practically does not take part in defensive actions and is not involved in different phases of attack development.

There are exceptions, but they are few, and most of them are representatives of the previous generation.

Notable examples are Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez, who are often criticized for being passive when playing off the ball.

But if the Portuguese and Uruguayan compensate for their shortcomings due to the phenomenal level of skill, then Agalarov cannot boast of such.

At the same time, it is difficult to say that Hamid would have found himself in more familiar conditions in any of the top RPL teams.

Among the leaders of the league, only Dynamo does not use active pressure, but there is not only extremely high competition, but also the requirements for attackers.

To carry out smashing counterattacks, Slavisa Jokanovic needs high-speed center forwards, and the top scorer of last season can hardly boast of this.

His strengths have always been the ability to fight and find space in someone else's penalty area, and not make jerks with the ball 30-40 meters.

Therefore, Agalarov has no choice but to continue to progress and adapt to the requirements of Talalaev.

His contract with Akhmat runs until 2025, and there are no prospects for going abroad yet.

As far as is known, Standard Liege was interested in the player’s services, but due to the difficult political situation in the world, the club was afraid to shell out serious money for the young striker.