The RPL season has already crossed the equator, and Rostov settled in the top 3 of the standings quite unexpectedly for most fans. Wards of Valery Karpin, after 16 rounds, are in third place – it seems that the southerners can already be considered contenders for medals.

It is all the more surprising that since the spring of 2022, absolutely all legionnaires have left the Rostov club. In the second half of last season, Valery Karpin heroically saved the team from relegation, and now he is fighting the yellow-blues for the top places.

It seems that foreigners are not needed at all for success in the RPL.

Savior Karpin

Track the progress of the Rostov club should be from the beginning of last season. Invited to the Russian national team last summer, Valery Karpin quickly abandoned his own idea of ​​​​combining posts in Rostov and in the national team, transferring his wards to the legendary Yuri Semin. Palych in the camp of the southerners, to put it mildly, did not go well – 1 win in 7 matches. And in less than two months, he left the club, leaving him in the “joints” zone.

Photo: © FC Rostov

They decided to correct the situation in Rostov on their own, and until March the team was led by Karpin’s former assistants in the person of Zaur Tedeev and Vitaly Kafanov. With this tandem, the results of the yellow-blues by and large did not change: the team scored an average of 0.86 points per game, which is identical to the results under Semin. As a result, Rostov collapsed into the relegation zone, and the outflow of legionnaires from the club, to put it mildly, did not add optimism.

Karpin returned to save the team, who decided to combine the two posts again after the removal of the Russian team from international tournaments. And this decision paid off as much as possible: in the 11 remaining matches, the team, inspired by the return of Valery Georgievich, got 6 wins and 2 draws. With such results, the Rostovites soared to the 9th final place in the table – it is simply impossible not to connect this success with the coaching factor.

Further more

With the start of the 2022/23 season, Rostov, having lost all legionnaires, hardly anyone predicted anything more than the middle of the standings. The club made two good transfers: the southerners signed midfielder Daniil Utkin from Krasnodar and bought out the contract of forward Nikolai Komlichenko from Dynamo. Nevertheless, the main weapon of the Rostovites, of course, was and remains Karpin’s coaching talent.

Over the past 16 rounds of the current season, Rostov was defeated only twice – by Zenit and Ural. The team is seven points behind the leading Petersburgers, and only one behind the second-placed Spartak. No matter how great a mentor Karpin is, for such results he needs a top squad, which he does not have. Rostovites do not play football players who could be called stars even by the standards of the RPL. However, the right mentality and atmosphere in the team, as it turned out, are capable of much.

– What has changed after the departure of foreigners? Perhaps the team has become more cohesive. There are no groups, we are moving forward as a single friendly team, ”Rostov captain Danil Glebov told RB-Sport.

Right now, Rostov is demonstrating the best result during their performances in the Russian Championship. Never in 16 rounds Rostovites scored more than 32 points. The last time the yellow-blue enchantments were in the 2015/16 season, having 31 points after 16 games. Then the club finished the season on the second line – the only time in its history. In the current campaign, you can expect a repetition of that result.

Photo: © FC Rostov

It is not surprising that after such results of the “most Russian” RPL team, 7 Rostov players got into the extended application of the national team: Sergey Pesyakov, Maxim Osipenko, Alexander Silyanov, Viktor Melekhin, Danil Glebov, Daniil Utkin and Nikolai Komlichenko. This is again a record figure for the yellow-blues.

Yes, the national team is headed by Karpin, and the desire of the coach to organize the team’s game with the help of “his own” is logical and expected. However, it can hardly be said that any of the above-mentioned players were undeservedly included in the national team’s application. Yes, and the composition will be narrowed down.

Rostov clearly demonstrates how to get the most out of available resources. Karpin’s team plays attractive and, most importantly, productive football, having the 7th most expensive squad in the Russian championship. The cohesion of the Rostov team after the departure of the legionnaires, as well as the competent coaching and, above all, the mentoring work of Karpin, are becoming one of the main discoveries of the current RPL season.