In matchday 6 of the RPL, Spartak could not beat Akhmat in their field 0: 0. For the first time in the current season of the Russian Championship, Guillermo Abascal’s team failed to hit the opponent’s goal and for the first time time managed not to miss.
This was the third consecutive match for the rojiblancos in the championship, in which they failed to win. Previously there were defeats in matches against Ural (2-3) and Zenit (1-3). Of the teams that are now in the top 6 of the RPL, no one has a winless streak that long. Why does this happen with Spartak?
Here are the details of the match “Spartak” – “Akhmat”:
“Spartak” finally did not fail! But Abascal’s team has no matches
The “Spartacus” attack can be countered in several ways.
The difficulties for the rojiblancos were already in the two previous games. This is especially true in the match against Zenit, whose goals the rojiblancos could only score with a penalty kick, designated after Wilmar Barrios carelessly touched the ball with his hand.
“Ural” and “Zenith” made life difficult for the creative team of “Spartak” with an arrangement of five defenders, which created the maximum density in defense. The rojiblancos’ attack was not impressive: only four shots from the area with Viktor Goncharenko’s team; With the Russian champion there were seven hits from the box, and without taking into account the standard provisions – five.
Zenit in the match against Spartak
In terms of sharpness, Akhmat allowed even more – 12 shots from the penalty area at once! But here is the nuance: the Spartak players came to the goal of others, already exhausted from the pressure and half deflated. The rojiblancos central midfielders were the most affected by the opposition’s pressure: the accuracy of Christopher Martins’ passes fell from 86% (his average for the season) to 65% (the result in the match with Akhmat ), and the quality of Nail Umyarov dropped from 82% to 74%.
Unlike Zenit and Ural, Akhmat did not play with three central defenders, choosing a 4-2-3-1 formation. To press the number in the center of the field and the attacking group were needed.
Akhmat in the match with Spartak
In none of the games did Guillermo Abascal show that he was in control of the situation. He sometimes even made strange decisions. For example, with the pressure of “Akhmat” he removed the powerful Alexander Sobolev from the field. As a result, the tall and strong-headed striker was sorely missed at the end of the match, when Grozny retreated into his goals. The Spanish coach was not prepared for the variability of the rival.
The starting lineup of “Spartak” in the match against “Akhmat”
Spartak’s defense did not become reliable. The team has old problems.
The rojiblancos did not differ in reliability from the defense last season either, this situation has not changed. In terms of shots on goal allowed (14.3 on average per game), only Lokomotiv (17.6) is worse than Spartak! Abascal’s team has individual failures in the rear. The reason is the level of mastery here and now. When Ural scored the game-winner, defender Ruslan Litvinov and goalkeeper Ilya Svinov took so long to decide which of them would play the ball that Eric Bikfalvi got around them and sent the ball into the net.
Eric Bicfalvi will score thanks to the confusion of Ilya Svinov and Ruslan Litvinov
Photo: Frame of the transmission.
The rojiblancos also have mistakes in their team. One of the reasons is the constant turnover of players. Spartak is the only RPL team this season that has already involved three goalkeepers! Duarte, Jikia, Litvinov, Denisov, Khlusevich and the newcomer Ryabchuk were already on defense from the first minutes. Another reason for confusion in the team is that the club has not yet strengthened the problematic position of the defensive midfielder.
Giorgi Jikia alone against three Akhmat players. After hitting Camilo, Spartak will be saved by Alexander Selikhov
According to the results of six rounds, Spartak lost 10 goals. Only Dinamo (11), Rostov (12), Rubin (13) and Orenburg (13) got the ball out of the net more often. Defense was the team’s main problem and still is.
Guillermo Abascal and Spartak are going through a very inopportune period of stagnation
There is absolutely no positive dynamic in the game, although a breakthrough could be expected from the rojiblancos early on. For several reasons.
First of all, in the current transfer window Spartak spent more than other RPL clubs on newcomers: according to Transfermarkt, €24.00 million. In terms of spending on offensive players, the rojiblancos are also ahead of the entire league: they gave Jesús Medina and Theo Bongonda for 13 million euros.
Secondly, the champions of the last five seasons, Zenit, faced big problems. Malcolm left the club, Wendel and Mario Fernández joined the team late, missing the pre-season. When to declare serious ambitions, if not in such a situation?
The most paradoxical thing is that Guillermo Abascal was never able to face long-standing problems, while Sergei Semak quickly resolved large and unexpected difficulties. Even with an extra-class defender, Barrios, the Zenit coach didn’t hesitate to switch to playing with three center backs to find balance, while his colleague couldn’t invent anything worthwhile.
Will Abaskal still have a chance in Russia to show his willingness to fight for gold? I really doubt it. And you?
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