“CSKA is closer to Zenit than to Krasnodar: Grishin on Chalov’s position, Spertsyan’s breakthrough and comparing Akinfeev with Safonov

- In the next round, CSKA will meet with Krasnodar, a victory in which will bring the army team to a clear second place in the RPL standings.

At the same time, bookmakers give preference to the owners.

Do you share their optimism?

— Yes, CSKA is the favorite.

The army has picked up the pace.

Krasnodar is a good team, showing good football.

But the wards of Alexander Storozhuk will play the upcoming match on a foreign field, and not everything is going smoothly in the center of defense.

But the attack is good.

Aleksey Ionov and Olakunle Olusegun look great, Eduard Spertsyan is great at set-pieces.

Therefore, the confrontation will be worthy of the title of central in the tour.

- But at the same time, after eight rounds, Krasnodar shares the second line with CSKA and is only three points behind Zenit.

What is the reason for this - an easy calendar or progress under the leadership of Alexander Storozhuk?

- So far, too little time has passed and it is too early to draw conclusions about the prospects of teams in the fight for medals from the table.

Many have not yet played with strong opponents.

The same "Krasnodar" has not yet met with "Zenith", so it's too early to say anything.

Petersburgers stand apart, and the bulls, CSKA and Spartak are among the main pursuers so far.

- Storozhuk led the team in a very difficult situation, but did not lose face.

Last season, Krasnodar was fourth, and this season it is in the group of leaders.

Do you see any special handwriting of this specialist or is everything still done strictly in accordance with the vision of the club owner Sergei Galitsky?

- This is the philosophy of Krasnodar, Storozhuk follows it.

The black-and-greens try to control the ball, perform penetrating passes, and combine near the opponent's penalty area.

Alexander Alexandrovich built a good team.

- Now many people admire the form of Eduard Spertsyan, who scored seven goals in eight rounds.

Can he be called the leader of Krasnodar?

- Now Spertsyan is definitely one of the leading players in the attack.

Together with Ionov and Olusegun, they formed a powerful bunch.

Alexander Chernikov also looks good, but his disadvantage is frequent violations of the rules.

The defender gets a lot of yellow cards.

In addition, in the confrontation with Sochi, he was injured and did not go to Moscow.

For guests, this is a very serious loss.

At the moment, the army team has a very powerful middle line.

Sasha Zdelar and Victor Mendes leave a good impression.

- Recently, the composition of the national team for a friendly match with Kyrgyzstan was announced.

And it could well contain Spertsyan, who, according to his entourage, wanted to represent Russia a few years ago.

This season it became completely clear that the national team missed a serious player.

Who is to blame for this?

- No one is guilty.

Each athlete makes a choice at a certain point in time.

Now nothing can be changed.

Spertsyan will play for another national team.

- If Spertsyan was played for the Russian national team, would he be the main one?

- There are many good players in the team.

I am sure that in the next two meetings, Valery Karpin would give absolutely everyone the opportunity to prove themselves.

But at the same time, I do not think that Spertsyan would be one of the key performers.

- Alexander Kovalenko, who can also represent Armenia, was included in the extended list of the Russian national team for the match with Kyrgyzstan.

In your opinion, is this to some extent dictated by the reluctance to lose him, like Spertsyan?

- I can not answer this question.

It is necessary to understand for what purpose it is called.

Will he enter the field or not, is it possible to change sports citizenship if you played for another country in a friendly match.

There are many nuances here.

- If we take the composition of Krasnodar as a whole, how comparable is it with the current selection of performers in CSKA?

— CSKA is very strong now.

I think that the level of the army team is closer to Zenit than to Krasnodar.

They are better equipped, they got strong foreigners, Jorge Carrascal is very good, Jesus Medina has found himself in the team, Fedor Chalov is in great shape.

Although in a meeting with the "Wings of the Soviets" he did not realize two points.

First hit the crossbar, and then the goalkeeper.

- Alexander Mostovoy believes that in terms of the composition of CSKA, along with Spartak and Zenit, he is one of the top three RPL.

If we leave out the Petersburgers, which of the Muscovites is stronger in this aspect?

- It seems to me that at the moment CSKA is better equipped than Spartak.

- Which of the Krasnodar players would now have a solid place at the heart of CSKA?

— I think it's the same Spertsyan.

Perhaps John Cordoba from his debut for the Bulls, when he scored a lot.

I think the Colombian could strengthen the army.

In all other positions, CSKA is stronger.

- And if we are talking about the goalkeeper?

- Matvey Safonov can not be compared with Igor Akinfeev.

No one will argue that the CSKA goalkeeper is better.

— Nevertheless, recently they are often put in one row.

- In my opinion, Safonov has not yet grown to the level of Akinfeev.

And he still needs to do a lot of work to achieve it.

For Krasnodar, this is a good goalkeeper, he helps a lot.

But this is not Igor.

- Over the past years, rumors have been actively circulating in the media about the possible transfer of Safonov to Zenit.

Don't you think that his signing could solve the problem of eight-time Russian champions with goalkeepers for many years?

- If Zenit really wanted to acquire Safonov, they would have already done it.

Now in St. Petersburg more attention is paid to strengthening the attacking line, where the Brazilians rule the ball.

- CSKA has added five new players this off-season.

And that's not counting Carrascal, whose contract was bought from River Plate.

Is it possible to assess the transfer campaign of the red-blues already?

- Of course.

In the summer, CSKA strengthened very powerfully.

Of course, Carrascal stands out against the general background.

Zdelar and Moises are also impressive.

- Valery Masalitin expressed the opinion that in the absence of international matches, it was worth trusting the young pupils more, and inviting a large number of foreign players would close the start for many of them.

- It's football.

This is where competition is needed.

Someone wins it, someone concedes.

In addition, having such a long bench, you can rotate almost painlessly, which we could see in the Russian Cup.

The same Ivan Oblyakov spent 90 minutes in a meeting with Torpedo, and with Wings he got a rest and came out only as a substitute.

The presence of a large number of high-quality performers unties the hands of Vladimir Fedotov.

- Do you now have the impression that the conditional Zdelar or Victor Mendes are noticeably stronger than the same Oblyakov and Maxim Mukhin?

I think it's too early to draw such conclusions.

It's hard to judge by one game.

Need to watch more.

- After the confrontation with the "Wings of the Soviets" Fedotov hinted that he would not mind seeing a couple more newcomers in the team.

How to evaluate such a statement in the current situation?

- I think any coach wants to have as many strong masters as possible at his disposal.

But in this case, Fedotov most likely hinted at the central defender.

Apparently, Willian Rocha was acquired for this.

- This season, the top three in the center of CSKA defense are Igor Diveev, Kirill Nababkin and Bakhtiyor Zainutdinov.

Do you think one of them does not suit the head coach?

- Nababkin and Zainutdinov started the season at a very high level.

Roche will have to make a lot of efforts to oust someone from the base.

- Before the start of the championship, it could be assumed that the army team would strengthen the attacking line.

But in the Fedotov system, Chalov opened up, Adolfo Gaich began to work off the funds invested in him.

And there is also Anton Zabolotny recovering from injury.

- I can’t say anything definite about Gaich.

In the Cup of Russia, he performed well, scored a goal.

But the best striker of CSKA is Chalov, who is gradually coming to his senses.

Plays sharp, scores goals, creates chances.

Therefore, for now, it is the main option in the forward position.

- In the last couple of seasons, Chalov was not like himself and not only fell out of the start, but was even forced to go on loan.

What has changed with the arrival of Fedotov?

- First, the attitude to football.

Secondly, they began to use it correctly, put it in its place.

It is not surprising that Chalov felt uncomfortable on the flank, because he is not a winger.

Fedor is a center forward.

And in this role, he reveals himself best.