At a crossroads: how the defeat from Fakel gave rise to a wave of rumors about Abaskal’s possible resignation from Spartak

This season, Spartak regularly throws itself into hot and cold weather.

Muscovites can win several matches in a row and then have a couple of unexpected misfires.

It is not surprising that they started 2024 in a similar manner.

In the first round after the restart of the championship, the red and white gave battle to Zenit and almost achieved victory.

However, just a week later they failed at home against Fakel in Luzhniki and dropped to sixth place.

Another failure gave rise to a wave of rumors about the resignation of Guillermo Abascal.

He himself looked irritated at the press conference and attributed everything to the individual mistakes of his players.

“Two blots, loss of concentration, a penalty and an own goal.

Because of this they gave in.

We didn’t win because we didn’t score, didn’t attack the opponent, passed the ball slowly, weren’t good enough at using wingers in the final third,” the specialist complained.

There was also talk about his departure.

When asked by one of the journalists why the team was playing better without him (the coach missed the derby in St. Petersburg due to disqualification), he advised the correspondent to ask his wife if she was better off without him.

And when another reporter asked Abascal if his marriage with the club was, figuratively speaking, falling apart at the seams, the coach changed the subject.

Opinions about Guillermo's future are divided.

Some believe that he needs to be fired right now, since the RPL is essentially over for the capital’s team.

So far it doesn’t even make it into the top 5 and is seven points behind Dynamo, which is in third position.

At the same time, the red and white have an extremely difficult schedule for the remaining meetings, because they still have to meet with the blue and white, and with CSKA, and with Lokomotiv, and with Krasnodar, and with the growing Rostov.

They will also play only four rounds at home.

Accordingly, there is an opportunity, without waiting for the end of the season, to change the helmsman so that the new one has more time to adapt and get to know the players.

There are also those who think that Abascal should not be touched.

In addition, Spartak continues to compete in the RPL Russian Cup and is quite capable of winning the trophy.

In the first match of the opening round of the playoffs, he lost away to Orenburg, but can improve the situation in the return.

The management of the ten-time national champions made it clear back in the winter that they were keeping different options in mind.

“On the one hand, no decisions should be made based on emotions immediately after the match.

On the other hand, this is football.

This is where things may not go according to your plan.

Strategically, the club must be prepared for any development of events.

Therefore, I think it’s right to have plan B. Russian or foreigner?

It doesn't matter what passport.

It is important what professional and personal qualities a person has and how much they fit into our philosophy,” RBC-Sport quotes the words of Oleg Malyshev, general director of the Muscovites.

The defeat by Fakel only fueled interest in this topic.

One of the first to raise it was the famous insider Ivan Karpov.

According to his information, on March 11, the chairman of the board of directors of Spartak, Alexander Matytsyn, was supposed to have a meeting with Stanislav Cherchesov.

Abaskal's departure is supposedly a settled issue.

The former coach of the Russian national team remains unemployed after resigning from Ferencvaros last year.

However, his name is regularly mentioned in connection with certain domestic grandees.

It would be interesting to watch another experienced specialist return to his home team.

He already headed it in 2007-2008 and led it to winning silver medals.

Since then, the specialist has only increased his experience and skill.

True, he himself denied the fact of negotiations with the club.

“In the 20th round of the RPL, I attended the Dynamo - Akhmat and Lokomotiv - Sochi matches, but I did not go to Luzhniki for Spartak.

I haven’t communicated with anyone from the Red-White leadership recently; as of today, I don’t know anything about any meeting with me.

I wouldn’t want to read about myself something that doesn’t exist,” SE quotes Cherchesov.

There are many more rumors about Vladimir Ivich.

According to the media, Muscovites allegedly communicated with the Krasnodar coach back in November, and his brother Ilya acted as a liaison.

According to other information, the Serb’s intermediaries themselves contacted the ten-time Russian champions.

At the same time, the Serb encountered difficulties in his current team.

The southerners scored only a point in the first two matches of the national championship in 2024 and missed Zenit to the top of the table.

Dynamo also took advantage of their misfires, reducing the gap to a minimum.

Against the backdrop of not the most rosy results in Krasnodar, they thought about the resignation of the coach if the team also lost to Khimki in the upcoming Russian Cup match.

Thus, the specialist can become a free agent and sign an agreement with Spartak.

But it is not entirely clear whether Muscovites need such a coach, because with him they are unlikely to demonstrate bright, spectacular football.

In the meantime, Ivich’s brother, following the example of Cherchesov, denied the rumors.  

Spartak did not contact me about the possible appointment of Vladimir in November.

Now there was no contact either.

This information is not true,” he assured.

Another candidate is Valery Karpin.

This is a special coach for the club, because he not only spent more than 150 matches at the head of the capital team, but also served as general director.

But Muscovites are not ready to agree to a combination of steering positions in the club and the Russian national team.

“It is important to understand that the management of Spartak has different opinions about who should coach the team.

For now, Abascal remains in charge, but the club is thinking about who can replace the Spaniard if he leaves.

The candidacy of Marko Nikolic is not being considered.

“Spartak” would be interested in getting Karpin.

Moreover, the former boss, Leonid Fedun, is no longer there, so there are no barriers to returning.

But here the question will arise of combining posts in the team and the national team.

The capital club looks at this negatively,” a source told Match TV.

In turn, the sports director of the southerners, Alexey Ryskin, emphasized that he had no contacts with colleagues from Moscow.

A less obvious option seems to be Igor Osinkin, although this is not the first time his name has appeared in the press in relation to the grandee.

In “Wings of the Soviets” he established himself as a master in developing talented youth.

Under him, Sergei Pinyaev, Anton Zinkovsky, Vladislav Sarveli and others left Samara for promotion.

However, in the capital he will have to work with a motley crew of stars.

Not all talented mentors who have proven themselves in the regions succeed in this.

An illustrative example is Oleg Kononov, who achieved success with Arsenal Tula, but failed at Spartak.

It is also unlikely that Marko Nikolic will return to Russia, although, according to media reports, he is ready for this.

Allegedly, the main advantage of a specialist in the domestic team is the ability to work in crisis situations.

In 2020, the Serb replaced Yuri Semin at Lokomotiv and was able to keep the railway workers afloat.

However, as noted, a meeting between representatives of the parties has not yet taken place.