“We got to the center and then to powerlessness.” Why is Karpin’s Rostov so weak at the start of RPL?
Dmitry Zimin August 28, 2023, 16:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Does Osipenko’s injury really reflect so strongly?
Rostov lost on the road to Pari NN and dropped to 10th place. Before the play-off zone: one point. There are six left for third place. In the last five years, the team only started worse once: in the 2021/2022 season, after the sixth matchday, it was ranked 14th. However, there were objective reasons: Karpin went to the national team, Semin temporarily led the computer, but it didn’t work. Soon Palych was removed. In the spring, Karpin returned and finished the season in ninth place.
We are so used to a stable autumn under the current manager that a bad start seems anomalous. Yes, even before the start of the season, Karpin, as always, announced his tasks: first of all, to protect himself from the relegation zone. It seemed to be just a habitual flirtation. But not. Everything is due to the fact that this season Rostov will no longer be in the leading group, and, perhaps, they will really have to fight in the background.
This is how captain Daniil Glebov described in a commentary for Metaratings what is happening now with the team after the match against Pari NN.
Daniel Glebov
rostov captain
“In two trips to Samara and Sochi, we scored nine goals into our own net; You can’t play defense like that. According to today’s game on defense: they played pretty solid and solid. But we go to the center of the field and it’s difficult: we can’t create episodes, we can’t take the ball to the attacker in the area. This is the problem. Naturally, we have to add interaction up front, because as soon as we get to midfield, more helplessness begins for us.”
Glebov’s words about away games are confirmed by statistics. It’s just a nightmare: six straight losses. The total goal difference is 2:18. Yes, the failure with Krasnodar or CSKA can still be explained by the level of the opponent, but five failures from Krylia or four from Sochi this season are beyond the logic of events.
And Spartak?
Is Abascal to blame for the Spartak crisis?
This is how the tactical author of the Championship, Evgeny Lomonosov, explains what is happening with Rostov.
“Karpin’s team has problems both in defense and attack. “Rostov” and last season the RPL was unreliable in defense, passing an average of 1.5 goals per game, and now, after Osipenko’s injury, the situation has become completely critical – there is no leader on the line. defensive.
Attacking football with two central defenders complicates the situation quite a bit in defense: in addition to individual failures in defense, there are also many free zones that opponents are willing to take advantage of. The same “Wings” managed to penetrate into the free pockets of the flanks and into the corridors between the defenders in front of the goal, as a result of which they scored five at once. A graphic example is the images of Khubulov’s goal: Yezhov calmly opened on the flank, his teammate is in front of the goal.
Yezhov opens on the flank
Photo: Taken from the broadcast of the match.
Transfer to Khubulov
Photo: Frame of the transmission.
If loopholes can be found in the Rostov defense, then the attack can be contained. Already in two matches of the RPL, Rostov failed to score: against Pari NN (0: 1) and Sochi (0: 4). The opponents have in common five defenders and a low block. During the 180 minutes of these meetings, Karpin’s team only shot from the box nine times and in two games they hit twice.
Karpin himself does not know when Osipenko will return. But, apparently, this will not happen soon. Therefore, you will have to make do with internal reserves. Now at least they are there; after all, FIFA has lifted the ban on registering newcomers from Rostov. But, by a strange coincidence, after that the failures began.
At the same time, the post-Pari NN coach was relatively optimistic. He said that he was to blame for what was happening, but he also added a positive. “The game is completely different. It inspires optimism and hope.”
Karpin is still out of the risk of resignations:
There are already two resignations of coaches in the RPL. Who will be the next to be eliminated?
True, the closest rivals are not the most pleasant to correct the situation: first the Cup with Loko, then the championship match with Dynamo. Rostov will play both games at home.
