In view of the home game against Dinamo.

First defeat in RPL bad for the team

Glebov is right that Rostov tried to play his own football in St. Petersburg. They went on the attack with a short pass, Pesyakov has more passes than Poloz, Komlichenko and Bayramyan combined. They imposed a tough fight, they looked decent. But they lost. The class of “Zenith” made it possible to own the ball more often, to allow fewer marriages in passing, to attack with an emphasis on accurate shots. Semak won 9: 2 on this component. In theory, “Rostov” could not miss from the astute Kuzyaev, react and equalize. But it is like with the evaluation of the first draws of “Rostov” in the season. Karpin has had five straight starter wins in football, only they didn’t play the best way against Khimki. But then there was a home comeback against Sochi, a series of difficult victories, not always significant, like against Torpedo. In the league, the first defeat took place in St. Petersburg. And the difference with the sample, which Rostov recorded in practice, broke them. Ural and Fakel took points from Karpin. Akhmat dispersed a series of dangerous attacks, which, without an unexpected overhang of Osipenko on Silyanov – the winning goal in the end was arranged by two defenders, could lead to the victory of Tashuev. Now Rostov are not as good as they were at the beginning of the season, it is not surprising that they are dealing with it newcomers of winter.

Claims accumulated on the line of attack

There are Utkin sheds on Komlichenko, they are still working. But you can’t always win because of set pieces. Rostov is productive, he scored as much as Krasnodar, but 6 goals were set pieces, 8 goals were penalties, 1 goal was an own goal. There are only 12 accurate shots from the game. Compare with Spartak’s 27 goals and Zenit’s 37. If Rostov plans to force the favorites to fight for a spot in the top three, then it is time for the team to admit there are problems up front. For example, there is no man with the last step, like Eremenko and Noboa in the past. Utkin and Poloz create goals, but the first crosses and the second, after dribbling, rolls the ball to his teammates. Komlichenko covers the ball with his body before passing or works in the background, like Dziuba at Zenit. But the team does not have a very good dispatcher with a low pass in the middle of the field. Glebov is too immersed in the scheme and, although Danila is clean, he does not indulge in the last gears. Poloz scored a lot from the spot, Komlichenko scored from set pieces. But where is the third force? Bayramyan scored only once, as did Tugarev. The third striker is not enough, and since Chernov and Silyanov are inferior to Terentiev himself in terms of created opportunities, Karpin’s attack can hardly be called multilevel and not stereotyped. They earn penalties, score on set pieces, but the goals of the match are not yet given to the team. As moments, only 2-3 shots on goal per game. In terms of the sum of qualitative possibilities, Rostov is not much ahead of Lokomotiv.

The defense upsets with terrible stretches in the game

The defense of Rostov can be posed as an example of the defense of Lokomotiv and Sochi. But to teach life CSKA and Spartak Osipenko and the company will no longer be able to do so. Pesyakov is not happy with the number of insane saves. And even if they lack what they deserve, there are flaws. In some segments of the matches, Rostov is well positioned in defense, there are few opportunities, good high pressure, which distinguishes Spartak and the southerners from the successful teams this season. But there are stupid subsidence nearby. We lost two points to Lokomotiv when we put someone else’s bike on the match menu in overtime. In Nizhny Novgorod they led 1: 3 and then conceded two goals. He was also lucky that Glebov diluted others’ goals with his, they won 3: 4. But against “Sochi” the main sin of the defense of “Rostov” has been fully revealed. The opponent does not need to constantly create chances. As soon as Osipenko loses control of his line, Melekhin and Prokhin make mistakes and the sides do not help them. Glebov and Utkin, who work competently in the calm phase, are also useless in defense when Rostov “floats”. The bipolar attitude towards defense as a concept leads to the key problem of the season.

Karpin installations are better than their implementation

Karpin is not a Russian football legend, like Bozovic’s self-praise, but it can do a few things. In the first round, Rostov played better away than Dinamo. Jokanovic’s team seemed to be crawling on the pitch, but the visitors’ attack lost to Shunin and Grulev scored a quick goal, which saved the draw for the Muscovites. Subsequently, in the Russian Cup, the same teams played twice more. In the first case, Karpin took his – 2: 0, but on the third attempt Jokanovic took into account the mistakes, the Dynamo forwards were stronger. Permutations in the composition for the cup also do not interfere with the search for a pattern. Often Karpin has the right game plan, for example with CSKA he gave the ball to the “army team” without giving up the game, and Fedotov is infuriated by this alignment. But rarely in the last matches Valery Georgievich sees a high-quality implementation of his ideas, as in the case of Spartak. In that match, only with the score of 4: 1 in their favor, Rostov relaxed a bit. But even on a successful evening, at first they conceded from Promes, that is, the advantages of their attack did not work out and there were characteristic incomprehensible mistakes in defense. Maybe Karpin should have looked for a competitor for Pesyakov in the summer and sign a foreign central defender, left winger and midfielder for Utkin and Glebov of the same class? It is clear that Rostov can be limited by the financial situation: there was almost no huge transfer budget, they are rather based on the name of the manager to which the players are transferred. But the now small audience has accumulated complaints.

Rostov is a mood team, but they have ruined it

A year ago Rostov played badly at home, but better away. He’s now up in the standings, but he could have done even better at home across the board without FanID. Yes, and the suspension of clubs RPL from European competitions it kills motivation, finishing in the top five will not bring fame and money. Hence the differences in the game? Against Krasnodar, they conceded two goals first, almost allowed Ionov to upset the former team, and were only saved after a break and Cayo’s departure. And if the opponent didn’t stay in the minority, would there be three points in the piggy bank? Karpin said earlier in the season that the good segments of the game, created working moments and patterns, such as Utkin’s sheds on Komlichenko, shouldn’t be overrated. Rostov tops the table, on par with CSKA. But that doesn’t mean the team follows the season perfectly and easily. Rostov has only a two-goal win over Spartak, which collapsed unexpectedly that night. Not a single defeat in the first round, only three Pesyakov “crackers”. And all this against the background of characteristics that allow Karpin’s team to be called strong: controlled high pressure, progress of the central midfielders, the presence of a star in defense, because Osipenko stands out in class. Valery Georgievich included extended composed national team seven of its players. Only seven in total were selected from Zenit and Dynamo. From CSKA invited a certain Chalov. It is clear that there are many great legionnaires in these clubs, but a team with seven national level players should be critical of their game. Rostov is already good, but maybe even better.