Driver change: who will lead Lokomotiv after the departure of Zinnbauer and Zorn

Lokomotiv Moscow in the 12th round of the Russian Football Championship once again disappointed its fans.

The railwaymen lost away to Sochi with an indecent score of 0:4.

The defeat of the red-greens was already the fifth in a row, and finally pushed the club's leadership to take radical steps.

Immediately after the meeting, head coach Josef Zinnbauer and sports director Thomas Zorn were fired.

This decision has been long overdue.

Firstly, it has become more difficult to grow football players in the club, and then sell them to Europe for a lot of money.

Secondly, already in the first rounds of the RPL, it seemed that the team was in a disassembled state and did not look like any “peregrine falcon”, and in each subsequent game this was only more and more confirmed.

The specialists did not notice any progress, although, according to the former head coach of Lokomotiv Rinat Bilyaletdinov, both legionnaires and their pupils should improve during the season.

“I don’t see this movement.

And for me, this is the most important indicator of coaching skills.

If a football player has become better with you, you are a good specialist.

And if an athlete degrades, look for the reasons in yourself, it means that something does not work.

Lokomotiv is having a tough time.

He has not adjusted the game, ”explained RT Bilyaletdinov.

Due to a series of failures, even the leaders of the team gave up.

The captain of the railway workers Dmitry Barinov a couple of weeks ago criticized the young people who came, who do not understand that the goal of Lokomotiv is to fight only for the championship.

He also talked about the inconsistency of the actions of the players on the field.

All this together led to five defeats in a row in the RPL, and even with terrifying statistics - 3:13 in goals scored and conceded.

Lokomotiv is already on the edge of the abyss: the club is one step away from direct relegation from the RPL.

Only one point separates the Muscovites from the 15th Khimki going.

However, it should be noted that the decision to fire Zorn and Zinnbauer still turned out to be a little spontaneous.

There are no more details in the official message on the Lokomotiv website.

For example, the names of the acting head coach, while the leadership of the railway workers is looking for a replacement for retired specialists.

At the same time, it is not entirely clear why only the sports director of the team ended up in conjunction with the German.

According to the former president of the red-greens Olga Smorodskaya, as in the situation with Torpedo, the general director Vladimir Leonchenko and the chairman of the board of directors Alexander Plutnik, who allocated funds for the acquisition of players and agreed on the “new philosophy” of the club, should also leave.

“He didn’t succeed.

To spend such a huge amount of money and not buy a single worthy player - you have to manage it, ”RIA Novosti quotes Smorodskaya.

However, it is possible that these changes will also take place in the near future.

According to RB Sport, Boris Rotenberg Jr., who previously played in Lokomotiv and ended his sports career at the beginning of the year, is applying for the post of sports director.

At the same time, Plutnik opposes such an appointment, since then a new specialist can receive expanded powers.

However, in this case, the resistance of the functionary can hasten his own resignation.

As the former president of Lokomotiv, Nikolai Naumov, explained, Plutnik remains the chairman of the board of directors of the club also because the intervention of the head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, is necessary for changes at this level.

“Just as Vladimir Yakunin appointed a new board of directors, it needs to be done here as well.

After all, all responsibility for what is happening lies with the current composition, they started it all.

And even if Semin comes now, he will not be allowed to work normally.

The situation with Leonchenko is also incomprehensible ... I remember when I came to Loko, I also had such a problem.

Then the board of directors ruled everything, over my head.

I immediately said - guys, there is a charter, which clearly states who is responsible for what, ”Naumov said.

Since it is still unknown who will make decisions at Lokomotiv in the near future, it is still difficult to talk about candidates for the post of head coach.

According to various media, Leonchenko has already negotiated with Andrey Talalaev, recently fired from Akhmat, and Plutnik talked with Sergei Yuran, who continues to look for a job after his resignation from Khimki.

At the same time, in the event of the arrival of Boris Rotenberg, another return of Yuri Semin is possible.

The 75-year-old specialist is currently not busy with anything, but has repeatedly repeated that he is not going to end his career, and also expressed a desire to help his native team again.

At the same time, this candidacy is proposed almost unanimously by all specialists: from coaches Boris Ignatiev and Rinat Bilyaletdinov, honorary president of the RFU Vyacheslav Koloskov, former Lokomotiv football player Sergei Gurenko to the same Naumov, who in 2009 invited Yuri Palych himself.

Then the team finished the season on the fourth line in the standings.

“Of course, it will be difficult to achieve any serious success right now, the team is not ready, it has “sunk”, but after the break, he will prepare the team so that they will make a big breakthrough and at least end up in the top five.

In addition, Semin can be given the task of preparing a shift for himself, there are so many guys there: Cherevchenko, Pashinin, Loskov, Maminov, Kharlachev, Bilyaletdinov ... All of them could well help Semin, and in the future one of them would lead the main team ", - added Naumov.

The last time Semin led the team was from 2016 to 2020.

During this time, Lokomotiv became the champion of Russia, won two Russian Cups and the Super Cup.