Karpin's trap, the disappearance of Carrascal and the bright exit of Gaich: the main conclusions about the match "Rostov" - CSKA in the RPL

Karpin's cunning plan

In the match with CSKA, the head coach of Rostov, Valery Karpin, chose to abandon open football and play as reliably as possible.

And for this, the mentor went on several experiments.

Surprise was caused both by the appearance of lateral Alexander Silyanov in the center of defense, and the role of Danil Glebov.

The nominal defensive midfielder went down so deep that the hosts actually switched to the 3-4-3 scheme, a "mirror" of the guests.

And this helped not only to better control the ball and develop attacks, but also not to allow opponents to turn around in front.

In the first 35 minutes, the guests did not strike a single blow on Sergei Pesyakov's goal and had practically no dangerous approaches to his possessions.

In total, in the first half, CSKA checked the goalkeeper's vigilance only four times, while never being able to force him to show his skills.

Closest to a goal was Ivan Oblyakov, who twice had excellent scoring opportunities after Fedor Chalov's passes.

The attacker of the red and blue failed the starting segment of the meeting, but at the end of the half he gave out two excellent passes - first he won the riding fight and made a discount, and then threw the ball back with his heel.

But his colleague missed the target in both cases.

At the same time, Rostov's performance cannot be described as anti-football.

Yes, the yellow-blues acted with an eye on the defense, practically did not reveal themselves and overdid it with “sterile” possession in their half of the field.

Suffice it to say that 32.7% (138 out of 422) of passes they made in their own third.

But Karpin's decision is clear.

Playing on opposite courses, the hosts would have taken too much risk and could not only be defeated, but lose big.

"Rostov" without sharp standards

However, betting on defense and low blocking is a double-edged sword.

Although Karpin's wards managed to reduce the number of approaches to their own goal to a minimum, they also made their way to strangers infrequently.

In the opening, Kirill Shchetinin almost took advantage of the opponents' mistake, but Igor Akinfeev showed himself great in close combat, and then, after a cross from the flank with his heel, Dmitry Poloz struck.

Otherwise, Rostovites relied on long-range strikes and set pieces, which on this day did not bring them such dividends as usual.

The pairing of Daniil Utkin and Nikolay Komlichenko, which made a lot of noise at the start of the championship, practically did not work.

But if it was difficult to expect much from a dependent forward in such conditions, then the hosts obviously wanted to see more from the main creative than two key passes and one hit on target.

Rostov had an extremely unsuccessful match, if we talk about creating scoring chances.

In total, the team scored 0.86 expected goals (xG), which became an anti-record for them this season.

Previously, they did not reach one twice - in meetings with Lokomotiv (0.90 with a score of 2: 2) and Khimki (0.98, 1: 0).

The failure of Carrascal and the potential of Gaich

Among other things, the reporting confrontation showed that the main creator of the army team is not yet able to give out bright performances on a regular basis and drag the team along.

Jorge Carrascal literally disappeared on the Rostov Arena lawn and, under conditions of strict guardianship, did not chalk up any hits or key passes, and in general he practically did not take part in the final phases of the red-blue attacks.

As a result, zero expected goals (xG) and assists (xA).

Previously, this happened to him only once a season.

But such an unsuccessful performance in the match with Zenit can be explained both by an imperfect physical condition and a lack of playing time.

Then he spent only 42 minutes on the field, but at the same time he looked very decent and brought a lot of benefits.

Neither Chalov, who was not used in the best way, nor Jesus Medina, who lost the ball a lot, could not properly prove himself, in a limited space looking less impressive than usual.

But a vivid impression was left by Adolfo Gaich, who appeared as a replacement.

The Argentine came out in the 86th minute and almost became the protagonist of the meeting.

His raid into the penalty area on the left flank almost ended with a goal, but Rostov was saved by the post, and the score remained unopened - 0:0.

And this was another reason to think about the need to trust the overall striker more, because a cool pass in the game with Rostov is no longer an isolated case.

In the previous round, Gaich also appeared in the end and almost scored the fifth goal against Akhmat, having previously dealt with two opponents.

It remains to be seen how Fedotov will react to the efforts of the ward and whether he will provide him with more playing practice.

At a minimum, all the conditions for this are in place.

Nominally, the second forward of the army team, Anton Zabolotny, suffered an injury to the acromioclavicular joint and was out for an indefinite period.