Football
Abascal is doing everything for his resignation. Spartak need to urgently look for a new coach
The Spaniard is destroying Muscovites and driving them into a deep crisis.
Guillermo Abascal for a little over a year in Russia twice gave Spartak fans a ride on a rollercoaster of emotions. At first he gave hope last summer, but in the spring he fell into experiments and leaked the ending. In the new season, the gap between enthusiasm and curses from the fans turned out to be even smaller. After five victories at the start, game impotence followed, leapfrog with the roster and, as a result, a new wave of hate towards the coach.
If the first year for Abascal could be considered lapping, especially after the disastrous 2021/22 season, now the demand from the Spaniard is completely different. In winter, his contract was extended on improved terms, and in the summer all transfer requests were granted.
But Spartak, obviously, did not receive the expected return from the coach.
Abascal got too many players
It’s no secret that Abascal is directly involved in the transfer business of the club. Not all coaches are so lucky. Often they are simply put before the fact of purchase, and the player is chosen by the heads of breeding and analytical departments. Abascal, on the other hand, did not simply indicate positions for reinforcement, but directly participated in the selection of candidates.
The idea of a fix for the Spaniard was the search for left-footed players. All four summer rookies ended up being left-handed. The club fulfilled all the coaching wishes, having spent a total of €24 million. For comparison, the much more authoritative Rui Vitoria was given a lift two years ago by one Cofrie.
After the arrival of Bongonda, Medina, Ryabchuk and Babich, Spartak became the most complete club in the league. Abascal now has at least two candidates for each position, but a wide choice only confuses the coach himself. The Spaniard has players like a fool candy wrappers – he simply does not know what to do with them. Instead of a sane rotation, Guillermo arranges real chaos when choosing a line-up, confusing not an opponent, but his team.
The attacking combination Promes-Sobolev-Bongonda remains the most stable, coming out in five out of seven rounds in the starting lineup. Throwing Abaskal began after the first failure in Yekaterinburg, and Litvinov was appointed the main scapegoat. The Spaniard sent a player who played in the center of defense to the reserve, betting on the dubious pair of Duarte-Jikia. After the arrival of Ryabchuk, Khlusevich went to the bench, giving a bright start. As a result, the team did not improve in reliability on the left flank, and the help of the attack from this zone only became less.
So far, among all the newcomers, only Bongonda justifies his purchase, and he has not scored a single score in the last three matches. Medina, except for a goal in Kazan, has not yet been marked by anything special. Babich made a good impression in the cup game with Dynamo, but in Krasnodar he entered the field only in the end. Why Spartak has been chasing Ryabchuk for so long is not yet fully understood.
Abascal’s concept of “two players per position” is failing. Even the random number generator has more logic than when choosing a starting lineup. For a team claiming the championship, the main backbone and the nearest reserve are definitely needed. So it was with CSKA Slutsky, who even in his best years used 13-14 iron players of the main clip. Semak works in the same way at Zenit, and this is with all the possibilities of the club. Abascal prefers to go his own way, but leads him to a dead end.
tactical stupor
Searches and experiments that distinguish Abascal in Spartak since the beginning of the year are typical for a novice coach. If the same Fedotov does not retreat from his 3-4-3 scheme already in the third team, then Guillermo is constantly trying to compose something original. It usually turns out not very well, as the match with Zenit proved.
The main problem of Abaskal, which was discovered back in the spring, is the inability to break into someone else’s defenses during a positional attack. The attack of Spartak with flying Promes and Bongonda is good in open space. When the opponent covers all the zones, and also strains the defense with pressure, preventing it from making a good first pass, Spartak turns into a harmless dog from a meme. The Abascal team looks like a pumped-up dog only against the background of the raw Rubin and the semi-main line-up of Dynamo.
The first problems of “Spartak” were discovered by “Ural” Gancharenko, who put pressure on weak points – the support zone and the center of defense. The team did not have, and still does not have, a normal defensive midfielder. In this role, Abaskal could use Danil Prutsev, but he spent only 12 minutes in the RPL this season. Martins and Umyarov are not convincing in this role yet, but Abaskal continues to keep Prutsev on the bench.
Abaskal never learned to play with the system teams of Spartak. It’s not just about rivals at the level of Zenit or Krasnodar. Even Akhmat in Moscow allowed almost nothing to be done at their gates. The head coach has driven himself into a trap. The rule “you score as much as you can, and we – as much as we want” can work with Orenburg, but if the opponent is higher in class, and also bites into every ball, Abaskal simply has no arguments left. Plan B is very weak: if Zinkovsky comes out instead of Bongonda, and Medina replaces Ignatov, little will change on the field.
Fire now or wait until winter?
Abascal’s actions at the beginning of the season are reminiscent of a crossbow attempt. Perhaps the Spaniard was simply tired of being in Russia. It pulls home, but I don’t want to lose money for early termination of the contract. With voluntary resignation, no one will pay a penalty. So far, this version seems absurd, but it’s hard to find logic in the coach’s actions. Why shoot yourself in the foot when you have everything you need to succeed?
The new general director of Spartak, Oleg Malyshev, does not give the impression of a person making rash, drastic steps. After the uncontested defeat from Krasnodar, he spoke cautiously about his trust in the head coach:
– Do four matches without winning the championship affect the credibility of Abaskal? It certainly affects our mood. For us, this is a serious situation. Now, together with Guillermo, we will think about how to get out of it, ”said Malyshev.
A pause for national teams is the perfect moment for coaching changes. If Spartak decided to part with Abaskal, then you need to do it right now. His replacement will have more time to get to know the team and prepare for the most important segment in the RPL until the next break, which includes matches with Krylia, Dynamo and CSKA.
The dismissal of Abascal is only part of the solution to the problem. If the club decides to part with the Spaniard, first you need to prepare a replacement in advance. It is not worth waiting for the repetition of a wonderful story with Carrera who was at hand. Spartak will have to quickly find a new coach, and there are not many free options on the market.
The most accessible of the top coaches by the standards of the RPL is Stanislav Cherchesov, who at one time left Spartak with a sense of understatement. The return of Karpin, whom the new leadership did not call a downed pilot, can never be ruled out. But there are too many difficulties here: you need to somehow negotiate with both Rostov and the RFU.
You can always find a new foreigner, but since 2022 it has become more difficult to lure a good foreign specialist. On the other hand, the same Abaskal arrived at the moment when the rest of Russia were fleeing. Krasnodar found Ivic already this year, so Spartak will certainly have options.
From the words of Malyshev, we can conclude that Abascal will not be removed right now. The Spaniard will be given a couple of rounds to correct. In certain scenarios, management can wait until winter. Now Spartak is much more immune from the impulsive steps that accompanied the era of Fedun. Despite the fact that Abascal has recently been doing everything for his resignation, they are ready to give him another chance.
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Source: Sportbox
Thomas Astudillo is a sports journalist and author who writes for Sportish. He has a deep love and knowledge of sports, and is known for his engaging and informative writing on the latest sports news and events.