To begin with, there is something that is important to repeat over and over again: tactics in the classical sense of the word are not as important for a particular match as its dynamics are. The dynamics of the match are all the movements of the players plus the context of the game: the weather (haha, relevant in this round), refereeing decisions (often a decision can blow up the game, and the dynamics will change), substitutions (and their order: sometimes it is necessary not to participate), yellow and red cards (not always in favor of the majority).
By the way, we are talking about a match where the elimination benefited the team:
Now you will understand why you specifically like Prutsev’s game. One Spartak attack is enough
Sometimes injuries can change the dynamics of a game. And again: in rare cases it happens that this is even beneficial. Such a rare paradox saved Krasnodar from big problems with Orenburg and allowed Vladimir Ivich’s team to return to first place before the last autumn round.
Here are the introductory notes. Sergei Petrov and Alexander Ektov weren’t even on the Bulls bench, meaning that if one of the full-backs was injured, there was no direct replacement. You can move Olusegun to the full-back position, Ivic feels more and more confident in football, but due to an extra card, Kadi is not there and Akhmetov is not ready to play in the starting lineup, which means that then There will be no option ahead instead of Kunle. We’ll have to think of something.
This is the first piece of the pre-match puzzle. The second is the disqualification of Córdoba and the appearance of Alexander Koksharov in his place. As a coach, you understand that with all the effort of the young talent you will not be able to get the same from Córdoba for objective reasons (although the restart in the attack on penalties is purely Córdoba).
Consequently, it can be reasonably assumed that it is better to create more similar, but faster situations than to look for better approaches with an unpredictable finish from the attacker. What does this mean in relation to Krasnodar? The team always attacks aggressively from the right, and the left back (now Olasa) usually remains low at the beginning of the attack, next to the central defenders, receiving pressure from the opponents. Taking into account Koksharov’s size and Olasa’s good center, it is logical to want to create more situations with the serve and from the left to increase the probability of scoring from the second floor simply due to the frequency of play in the area. This, in turn, means that Olas needs to stay a little higher at the start of the attack (Batchy disciplinedly creates space and time for his teammate to cross), which begs the question: who helps the central defenders play the ball?
The third piece of the puzzle is playing against two players on the opponent’s front line (simply put, this is a 4-4-2 defense). Ivich usually uses 4+1 (four short defenders and one defensive player behind a pair of opposing forwards; this was the case with Krylia in the spring), or 3+2 (two central defenders, one short winger and two defensive players) . This was the case this season in Grozny). “Orenburg” defended exactly this way, sending Lukas Vera to striker Vorobyov on the first line, but “Krasnodar” was determined to keep both Olasa and Volkov well ahead in the tie. Who was supposed to create 3+2? One of the midfielders.
And here it is important to return to Grozny.
Photo: Video frame
There Krasnodar also planned to lower one of the midfielders to the defenders. On the screen, Kadi is in the central circle waiting for the ball and falls lower, causing pressure from one of the opponents.
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When the ball reaches Kadi, the right centre-back logically begins to widen to give Kadi the opportunity to attack him. The first problem is already visible here: since the midfielder stays behind the ball, Krasnodar has little between the lines, and even the fact that Córdoba is in deficit does not help much.
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Tormena went wide, but Kadi did not pass him and the striker can only play with Chernikov, who is close to pressing. At the same time, upon intercepting, Akhmat’s attackers are ready to fly into the space created between Alonso and Tormena. And now the second problem with situations involving the inclusion of midfielders in the line with defenders: if on the screen Kadi is closer to his goal than Akhmat’s forwards, then, as befits a secondary defender, he will freeze and fail to. :
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These two problems (the elimination of a player from the center when a midfielder appears next to the defenders and the reaction that usually occurs only in specialized defenders when faced with a loss) are key in this method of building attacks. And before Olasa’s injury, Krasnodar suffered so much that Ivich began the press conference by confessing: “We didn’t play the first half as we had planned in the preparation for the game.”
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This is one of Krasnodar’s first possessions in the game, Chernikov reaches the defenders. The connection between defense and midfield is broken, there is one less player in the central axis.
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Another possession of the first 15 minutes, now Banjac reaches the defenders. The symptoms are the same: the coherence of the lines is lost, the axis remains slightly empty. Notice two things. First: Banjac shows Olas, who hangs down by habit, that he needs to get up, today he will work for him with the defenders. Second: what a void there is in Krasnodar between the lines. Where normally there was one or even two players, now there is only one referee.
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And since the connection is broken, losses occur when trying to play forward: the receiver of the ball is under pressure, he has no one to beat. After the defeat, it turns out that there are not enough extra players in the axis when the ball passes to Orenburg: there is no one to counterattack and there is no one to help the defender. Here the “bulls” are lucky: Vorobyov asks for the ball to play, but he cannot handle it and misses the most dangerous opportunity to go to the goal. And Krasnodar had three or four such requirements for failure in the first 15 minutes.
But what changed with Harutyunyan’s release? A lot of things. Of course, he is not a classic full-back and therefore cannot connect to attacks like Olasa, but he can stay lower like the Uruguayan does. Butchi returned to his usual role on the left wing and moved to the center with a pass to the right. The most important thing: a) Krasnodar no longer abandoned the midfielder and retained an extra player in the center; b) thanks to this he was better prepared for losses when he played as a forward.
Let’s consider both points.
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Harutyunyan passes the ball to Alonso, putting pressure on the opponent. The midfield remains intact and the immediate effect is noticeable: there are two options between the lines. Butchie, as usual, tries to take out the opposing full-back.
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Harutyunyan is not in the frame, but neither is his opponent: Georgy took him out due to his low position. Butchi caught the attention of the Orenburg full-back, and then Alonso just needs to find an extra player in the center, which again became an option. Spertsyan raises his hand.
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Alonso makes a simple pass, Spertsyan overtakes him and Krasnodar immediately begins its trademark attack under Ivic. This is how the extra midfielder immediately began to work on the central axis, which was not there because they took turns hitting the defenders.
Now to control the losses when trying to play forward.
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Tormena comes in with the ball past a couple of Orenburg attacking players, Harutyunyan and Alonso remain as defenders. Since Krasnodar already regularly uses an extra player between the lines, this forces the opponent to keep their midfield lower to remain compact. But this is still a problem: see how one of the defenders points out that Spertsyan is starting to open up without defending? Chernikov’s position is also important here; Now you will understand why.
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Krasnodar makes mistakes after playing forward; It happens, but what matters is how prepared you are for a defeat. Chernikov looked ahead and continued to ignore Vorobyov; this is almost a copy of what Kadi does in Grozny. And this is not a complaint: central defenders are simply much more accustomed to controlling in such situations. Vera on the screen with the ball is almost at the same point as in the situation with Vorobyov almost one on one, but there is a big difference, namely: the position of the Krasnodar midfielders forced Orenburg to play lower, Vorobyov needs to run from his own midfield, and there is no longer a single player who can withstand the counterattack. Furthermore, in the left central position there is not the midfielder Banyats, but rather the profile of Harutyunyan, who immediately begins to close the gap with Alonso.
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And when “Orenburg” reached the point of trying to climb, the “bulls” already had a good defense, Vorobyov cannot jump as dangerously as in the situation at the beginning of the match, Chernikov and Tormen are Vera rushes, and his pass to the right Oganesyan is easily interrupted by number 33 Krasnodar.
Thus the changes that occurred with the substitution of Olasa began to work and Krasnodar took control of the game.
Of course, this wasn’t the only thing that helped Ivic’s team win (there was even some luck involved; it’s unlikely you remember Akhmetov scoring with his head). But this restructuring, which seems insignificant, broke the dynamics of the party in favor of Krasnodar. And in this sense, it is curious that Orenburg’s only goal came precisely after the “bulls” in the second half, almost the only time in more than 45 minutes, left the center empty and lost the ball on the flank.
And yes, to Lukas Olase: a speedy recovery, he is a very important player for the current Krasnodar.
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