Not even two months have passed since the start of the KHL regular season, as the first resignation took place in the league.
Omsk Avangard announced the end of cooperation with head coach Dmitry Ryabykin.
His duties will be performed by Mikhail Kravets.
According to the club's general manager Alexei Volkov, the management's decision was influenced by the situation in recent matches.
She didn't let her wait any longer.
“We thank Ryabykin for his work, but it is obvious that cardinal changes are overdue.
Mikhail Kravets has experience as a head coach, in addition, he has recently been a member of the team's coaching staff, he knows the players and the system.
Therefore, a decision was made to appoint him acting head coach, ”the Avangard official website quotes the functionary as saying.
Changes in the coaching staff came as a surprise to everyone.
Including for the professionals themselves.
As Ryabykin noted, no one had previously communicated with him.
“Management did not discuss the decision with me.
It was accepted today, and today I was informed about it.
I won’t stay at the club, I won’t say anything about the new place of work yet, ”the ex-mentor of Omsk residents said in an interview with the City55.
Kravets was just as surprised.
He admitted that he had come to help Ryabykin, and not to take his place.
“I think he did a good job.
Of course, I didn’t have any thoughts of changing the head coach.
The management made such a decision, and I also worked in the KHL for several years as a head coach and assistant.
You need to be ready to correct the situation from the first training, ”TASS quoted Kravets as saying.
Of course, if you look at the statistics, the club management had a reason to fire Ryabykin.
Avangard is on the eighth line in the East, the team has lost 10 matches out of 16.
And the last straw was the home match between Omsk and Kunlun.
The Chinese team easily dealt with the opponent, scoring four unanswered goals.
However, according to the Telegram channel Throw-in on Board, the decisive factor was not the result of the last game at all, but the atmosphere in the locker room after a failed performance.
“Behind closed doors, a short but emotional conversation took place between the hockey players and the coach, where few people thought about subordination.
In such a vertically sharpened organization as Avangard, this is everything, a dead end, ”the message of the Telegram channel says.
Similar reasons for the head coach's resignation are also mentioned by Sport-Express columnist Aleksey Shevchenko.
“Hockey players were ashamed to lose in the first matches.
They said: we want to help Dmitry, he became the main one, we are for him.
But at some point, Ryabykin began to break down on them, and they did not fight for him.
And he was doomed.
This conversation was after the match with Torpedo.
There, hockey players say: he began to behave in such a way that he no longer wanted to fight for him, to try, ”the journalist said in his podcast on Youtube.
Volkov himself does not deny that the reason for the dismissal of Ryabykin is precisely in the atmosphere in the team.
As the general manager noted, at some point it became clear to the management that it makes no sense to give the coach a chance further.
“If the team added little by little, it would be visible.
However, in recent matches we alternate victories with defeats, and defeats are sensitive - 0:5, 0:4.
Of course, we are not satisfied with this.
The situation became critical.
The atmosphere in the team was depressing,” added Volkov.
At the same time, many experts believe that not only Ryabykin is to blame for Avangard's problems, but also the selection service, which could not strengthen the goalkeeper line: 34-year-old Stanislav Galimov, who replaced the Czech Shimon Grubets, protects the Omsk goal.
Big questions and to the defense of the team.
As this season shows, newcomers fail to become a full-fledged replacement for departed legionnaires.
Defenders often misread episodes, and sometimes act too slowly and lose opponents as a result.
The KHL calendar was also against the club: the team spent the first 12 meetings away.
So, the world hockey champion, former president and legendary forward of Avangard Maxim Sushinsky called Ryabykin's resignation hasty.
"Have you been fired yet?
It's a pity!
I think it's not the coach, but the team and the selection of players.
There is absolutely no defense and goalkeeper line.
Also 12 away games.
My opinion is that he was fired too early, ”the Championship specialist quotes.
It is not yet known how long Kravets will remain at the helm of Avangard.
Immediately after the news of his resignation, information appeared that the club was negotiating with Dmitry Kvartalnov, who left Ak Bars in the spring after three years of work in Kazan.
However, the Omsk leadership and the specialist denied it.
In any case, Kravets has time to train the team and try to correct the situation.
According to the expert, first of all, he needs to rally the players and stabilize the game.
“We had matches in which we performed well, and we need to build on this positive.
Purely in terms of tactics, we need to add that we keep the puck longer and create more chances in someone else's zone.
We need to improve the five-on-five game, given that the majority of us is good, and we even out the minority.
Well, we also need to learn to pull out those matches that we lose, ”concluded the specialist.