We witnessed a rare event in RPL – double defender.
The Samara team prepared perfectly for the match
Spartak was terribly rebuilt against the Soviet Wings. The empty support zone gave Samara many excellent attacks. Coach Osinkin’s team, thanks to the defeat against Zenit in Orenburg, had the chance to gain a foothold in second place in the table RPL, approach Krasnodar at a distance of three points. Last season, Samara was the unluckiest in the league, with the worst difference between expected and actual points. Now luck smiles at them much more often, but the old saying “lucky is he who is lucky.”
The first three shots on target were converted into two goals by Krylya left back Sovetov Gorshkov. Discouraged, Spartak rushes to win back, but falls into Zenit’s trap. Perfect execution is important, but it is even more important to respect your opponents. Abaskal did not respect Semak when the champion was visiting Moscow, so he lost 1:3. Furthermore, in Samara there was no respect for the style of “Wings of the Soviets”. The capital club came out to play as if there was a weak opponent in front of them, with whom they could dance while staying at their own stove. This is a mistake for which Maksimenko’s defense was punished four times.
Abaskal gave Osinkin a two-goal advantage, which significantly complicated the task for the players in white shirts. In terms of pace, scheme, intensity of pressure and scheme of counterattacks, Krylia Sovetov showed ideal readiness. There were also no problems with mood. The Samara team believed they could score against Spartak.
Rivals studied Spartak’s tactics
Muscovites had the ball, but the score in shots on goal was 7:3 in favor of Krylia Sovetov. Moses in the role of a free artist, Zobnin in spurts in the penalty area, Sobolev’s movements in the depths of the pitch, independent passes by Promes and Bongonda. All of this happened in previous games and wasn’t always beneficial. Abascal offers nothing new, not even at the level of tactical halftones. Khlusevich on the left cannot always make a difference. Denisov lacks offensive capabilities.
“Spartak” does not have a subtle final pass after the next attacks. There is no place for attacking midfielder Ignatov in the starting lineup, while Zobnin and Moses do not encourage with the number of assists. The promising players can create chances, but Quincy will not always be the team’s savior, because he is not as good physically as he is in terms of game intelligence. Zinkovsky and Prutsev, former Krylia Sovetov players, have no place in Abascal’s optimal base. Spartak, strong in composition, was unable to offer anything new to its respectable opponent. Whoever makes mistakes against Muscovites loses.
But just show character and we immediately see the same type of failures as the favorite. And if the opponent is brave enough to attack with five players in front, as Krylya Sovetov did, then woe to the vanquished: Maksimenko missed four goals and could have even received a fifth goal. Spartak didn’t hit that hard RPL from the match against Zenit and the defeat 1:7.
The “Wings of the Soviets” have gained more self-confidence
Samara has a great team. The Argentine legionnaire Garre and the young Russian Saltykov added natural arrogance to them. There was also a third participant, Ezhov, but the winger was sidelined for a while due to injury. Goalkeeper Lomaev is also undergoing treatment, Krylia Sovetov was unable to use the optimal base against Spartak. But as useful arrogance works, Rasskazov also revealed himself in the attack. The former right back of Spartak from Samara works successfully on the wing together with the Dutch Bale.
Krylia Sovetov often plays rather primitively without the ball, plays with takeaways. This is dangerous and sometimes leads to missed goals and obvious defensive errors. But Spartak failed to score and came back with a score of 2:0. The number of approaches does not count if out of eleven shots in the first half the “red and whites” only scored two. Goalkeeper Ovsyannikov rejoiced more often at Krylia Sovetov’s cold counterattacks than his team’s save. Gorshkov’s first goal shows how confident Osinkin’s team has become in the new season.
The goals from Garre and Bale proved what we have been saying for years. Although Spartak does not have a real defensive midfielder, there is no talk of any title RPL you can’t even dream. Martins is not suitable, and Litvinov also does not always work competently in the position of the Brazilian Fernando, who helped Glushakov and Zobnin become national champions. A huge hole in the center of Spartak’s plan helped Krylia Sovetov.
Spartak deservedly lost an important match
The result was a rout, not just a defeat. Gorshkov became one of only five defensemen with doubles in the last five seasons RPL. Nearby are the forwards Tiknizyan of Lokomotiv and Villena of Krasnodar, the central defender of Spartak Zhigo and the winger Khlusevich, a former winger. A defender’s brace is always a coincidence, but not in favor of Spartak, its tactics, players and coach. In football, double defenders are so rare because almost all teams choose their positions wisely, not allowing defenders to take offensive positions.
Gorshkov’s exploits only highlight the main conclusions after a memorable battle. Spartak spent a third of the season without success. Missed a historic opportunity to send Zenit to fifth place by the beginning of October. And it is even worse for Abascal that his players did not reduce the gap to Krasnodar to five points. But let’s just congratulate Krylia Sovetov, they played one of the best matches in recent years. Osinkin has prepared a team in which central defender Evgeniev is ready to unleash a dangerous shot from distance and no one is afraid to work with the ball.
Samara’s boys are in perfect order, the spring works: they bend and shoot better than many greats RPL. First in goals, scored 25 times in 10 rounds. There are no Maldini and Cannavaro in defense, but they fight. The score on the scoreboard, a 4:0 defeat, means Krylya Sovetov’s fifth consecutive home victory in the championship. We haven’t played this well since coach Gadzhi Gadzhiev’s success.
