The main sensation of the RPL tour! “Loko” “nailed” in nine minutes in their own field
Anatoly Romanov September 17, 2023, 21:25 Moscow time
“Orenburg” turned off Dzyuba. And the judge mocked Artyom.
Lokomotiv, before the meeting with Zenit in Saint Petersburg (September 24), interrupted a streak of four games without losing.
In the first three matches under the leadership of the new Spanish coach David Deogracia, Orenburg looked very solid: they drew at home with CSKA (this was perhaps the worst match of the army team in the championship), and then defeated Fakel in the Cup from Russia and Sochi (first victory in the new RPL season). So the Orenburg team started the match with Lokomotiv very quickly, better than their rivals. Already in the third minute, the visiting banner ended with Adamov, abandoned on the goal line, hitting the crossbar with his head. It took a while for the railroad workers to wake up and get back to one hundred percent.
A curious decision by Deogracia is the transfer of central defender Pérez to the defensive midfielder position. It was probably a decision made by Dziuba to better control the forward’s “bounce” between the center backs and his discounts. Artyom felt really uncomfortable being under the care of the Orenburg residents. Before the break, Dzyuba had never touched the ball in the Orenburg area, except when he was called offside. After half an hour, Sivakov tore the former Russian national team captain’s shirt and Artyom reacted angrily. He presented his claims to the judge in a harsh manner and tore off the unfortunate shirt. And referee Fedorov is a man with humor. A few minutes later he shouted at Peres, who grabbed Dziuba: “Don’t touch him. He doesn’t have a second shirt!
After a slow start, Loko picked up pace and made a good run, quickly recovering the ball in the opponent’s half of the field and grabbing rebounds. However, the hosts did not maintain the advantage for long. Then Orenburg found space again, breaking out of defense with a pass. At halftime, the visitors outscored the home team in shots (7-5) and shots on goal (2-1). Mikhail Galaktionov’s team did not create any real scoring chances.
Results of the summer transfer market in the Russian Championship:
RPL clubs earned more from transfers than they spent. All summer transitions in images.
Lokomotiv knows how to turn around failed games, but the course of this game did not change after the break. Orenburg, in turn, did not give the railwaymen any room so that they could not use their strengths – quick retaliatory attacks. And even with Dziuba at the helm, positionals didn’t work. At the beginning of the second half, the Deogracia team had a good opportunity when the guests fell three to three, but Marín made a bad decision. The Costa Rican winger shot from outside the penalty area and sent the ball to the upper rows of the stands. He may have woken up some of the fans with his hit.
Galaktionov had made four of five substitutions in the 63rd minute. The coach changed the entire attacking group, except for Dzyuba. Pinyaev also left the field: it was not the best match for the winger after returning from the Russian national team: he shot only once and inaccurately, he did not make passes under attack. Izidor, who scored Zenit’s first goal in this round, was no longer on the Lokomotiv bench, but the newcomer from Paris NN Suleymanov was waiting for his chance. Galaktionov threw him into battle a quarter of an hour before the end, delaying the last substitution (no need to rush, yesterday’s Sochi example convinced us).
Thanks to the new players, Lokomotiv found the energy to push Orenburg towards their goal in the end. Several dangerous set pieces created tension in Sysuev’s penalty area. And Orenburg scored! They responded with an attack in which Gurluk and Bašić decided the episode. Kulikov probably didn’t do it quite right. Centrhav went to secure Tiknizyan, who remained one-on-one with the Turkish winger, and did not stop the Bosnian’s shot.
And in the 90+4 minute, the initial Lokomotiv missed the counterattack of “Lucas Vera”, and Vorobyov scored the second with a beautiful shot.
Lokomotiv lost both in shots on goal (3-4) and on the scoreboard. Dzyuba finished the match without a shot on goal. Deogracia earned his third victory with Orenburg and is going from an anonymous player to a respected specialist in Russia.
