In almost every RPL season, one of the top clubs begins to flirt with the relegation zone. In the last championship draw, this role was assigned to Spartak. This time, the Moscow Lokomotiv is in the spotlight. The railway workers have already lost four matches in a row – and quite deservedly they catch glances at themselves, in which pity and mockery are mixed.

Usually coaches don’t live long with such results, especially in big teams. But the leadership of Loko seems to believe in Josef Zinnbauer and even brings him new assistants. But, alas, nothing changes – and now Loko again sat in a puddle. Now the Muscovites have been defeated by the worst RPL team!

After the shameful defeat, the German did not even have the courage to appear for a flash interview. Wouldn’t they be kicked out anyway?

Nothing changes

When Loko beautifully and to the point beat Khimki in the Russian Cup (5:0), many thought: “Now the revival will begin!” By the way, they thought the same thing after the railroad workers defeated Krasnodar on penalties – within the framework of the same tournament. However, both times the Zinnbauer team disappointed and showed the same empty football, from which the fans in Cherkizovo are already sick.

The match with Ural, which occupied the last place in the RPL before the 11th round, looked like an ideal opportunity to finally climb higher in the standings. You just had to go out and show your class, which Loko still has. But in the end, everything turned out quite the opposite. “Ural” scored a quick goal, “Ural” looked more solid, “Ural” converted their chances. The railroad workers, on the other hand, made incredibly stupid mistakes in defense. Particularly indicative in this regard is the fourth ball – the passing of the Yekaterinburgers on the second floor, almost in the goalkeeper’s room, looked extremely humiliating for the hosts.

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Yes, in the end, Loko won back two goals, but this is just another proof of the fortitude of individual players – first of all, Dmitry Barinov. The rest of the railroad deserved a devastating account. They were lax (Tiknizyan’s fall in the episode with the second goal), wasteful (Izidor’s missed moment) and careless (Nenakhov’s red card). And all because the team still does not have any general idea. Not without reason, even during the break, with the score 0:2, the usually calm expert Dmitry Sennikov called what was happening a “shame”.

When is the resignation?

In the years when Lokomotiv was at the top, the team was famous for its defense. Now the defense of the railroad seems to consist of plush toys, although, of course, neither Tin Edvai nor Stanislav Magkeev ever avoided the fight. But the fact remains: Loko has completely forgotten what an organization is. Everyone does something different on the field – and here is the result.

Zinnbauer’s team allows opponents to create catastrophically many chances at their gates. In terms of expected goals of the opponents, Loko ranks fifth from the bottom (18.63). In addition, opponents of the railroad often feel very at ease on someone else’s half of the field. On average, Lokomotiv’s rivals make about 96 passes per match in the final third of the field – that is, in the immediate vicinity of Daniil Khudyakov’s goal. For comparison, this figure is 60 for Spartak, and 41 for Zenit.

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The defense is dead, and it is not clear how this can be fixed. Under normal circumstances, such a defeat would have been a verdict and Zinnbauer, along with his staff, would have been dismissed.

This decision could have been influenced by the strange act of the coach after the defeat from Ural: within 40 minutes after the end of the match, Josef did not appear for the mandatory flash interview. You might think that the specialist decided instead to clean up the locker room by arranging a scolding for his wards, but for some reason it seems that the German simply chickened out. However, the coach did not miss the subsequent press conference – he still had to answer the question about a possible resignation:

– Does the management have confidence in me? I can’t be responsible for management. I feel the support of the players – they stand behind me tightly, – said Zinnbauer after the match.

One way or another, as long as everyone stays where they are. Either the leadership knows something about the talents of the German, or they simply do not want to interfere. However, sooner or later you will have to intervene, because there are no signs of progress – only strange bursts of activity, like those of a dying star.