Defeat “Loco” from “Zenith” - certainly a bitter orphan. By and large, Valery Filatov has no one to give parental rights to him. Is that to adopt himself. To the dismissed from the team Slavolyub Muslin, the dull team with his eyes turned out cannot be blamed. On the other hand, it would be too bold to say that the cause of the terrible imbalance of the game actions was a few trainings conducted with the new coach.
With confidence we can only talk about the failure of the calculations of the club general for a shake-up with a positive effect. It was hard to expect, knowing about the alertness that was not hidden from outsiders, with which the team met a sudden coaching substitution.
And in terms of calendar, the time of drastic changes was chosen with obvious folly: Dolmatov’s first locomotive ten-day trip will include three rounds of the national championship! Insignificant inter-game intervals in addition to the actual recovery of the players will probably be marked by attempts to put a new broom in a new way. Oleg Vasilievich is a recognized dock in the field of tactics. Can you imagine that for such a long time he will resist the temptation to break something in the prevailing stereotypes, to rebuild the game in his own way? And this, by the way, is the assimilation of new theoretical knowledge by football players - with inevitable, sorry, mental stress. Read: distractions, loss of concentration. We emphasize that there is no time for that!
By the way, the St. Petersburg match “Loco” gave a vivid example of such a dangerous breaking of stereotypes. True, she was forced. Due to the disqualification, Gurenko, an indispensable supporting midfielder under Muslin, could not play. Dolmatov couldn’t find a mechanical replacement for a competent and working Belarusian. Zuagi and Kingston, who divided his position in time, were the weakest links in the game constructions of Muscovites. And this is largely due to the lack of the usual Gurenkov's safety net and his ability to “offer” near when there are no long-term continuations of the game, Lokomotiv played defensively and non-Dolmatically primitively.
These problems of the guests in a destructive way for them coincided with the fiery, perfectly built and, perhaps, the best football of the season, “Zenith”. This combination of opposites resulted in a naturally devastating score. Always proud of his opening accelerations, Arshavin broke the defense of his opponents in the first minute, but struck high. Muscovites were clearly uncomfortable under the persistent zenith press, pushing them far beyond the central line. Remember what a stupid corner led to the first St. Petersburg ball. Loskov (Loskov himself!) Was confused in time pressure when receiving a pass from the side and kicked the ball perplexedly over the front. Hagen scoring marked the beginning of the complete dominance of the hosts. Arshavin’s game wit was especially impressive. He, clearly in accordance with the current situation, “appointed” Evseev as an extreme opponent, who disgustedly defended himself on the right. The leader of the “Zenith” for long sections of the match actually turned into a left brovok, blasting the railway track from a holey flank. However, Andrei performed an amazing second goal in the center, having opened under Radimov’s filigree long throw into the zone exposed by the rivals in front of the penalty area.
In the second half, Dolmatov, rather out of hopelessness, how much of good reason, tried to build with three forwards. And this seemed to fit perfectly with Dick Lawyer. The Dutchman himself seemed to be thinking about playing the second number. Her “Zenith” and led, more reliably strengthening the penalty. Hagen and Riksen “ate” Asildarov in the air. With the new tactics, the Petersburgers were constantly rushing into counterattacks. And one of them, with the completion of Shirl - Kerzhakov (who had just replaced Tekke) - Denisov, was successful. By the way, the goal was scored from the zone, which should be covered by the defensive midfielder. However, Kingston at that time somewhere in the depths of the field comprehended the "mustard plaster" presented to him.
The exchange of goals on the flag did not carry a fundamental semantic load. Unless O'Connor introduced himself to the new coach as a cool blow on the fly. But by then, the lawyer had already exponentially given rest to Arshavin and Radimov, clearly reflecting on the imminent visit to Kazan. And perhaps, wondering how the top of the table looks in his mind.
There, after the Saturday draw of CSKA in Perm, metamorphoses were much more puzzling than they happened on Sunday evening. The efforts of Amkar for the benefit of the group of pursuers did not find a worthy response, not only at Lokomotiv. Spartak, too. He generally anecdotally parted with two points (and a chance to share leadership) at the very finish of the meeting with Torpedo. Budylin scored a fantastic goal with a canopy from the left. The ball flew incredibly into the “nine” over the Spartak goalkeeper. Kovalchuk, who shortly before that was raised by Vladimir Fedotov from the reserve to replace the brightly playing Boyarintsev, was free to make a fatal touch for the lucky torpedo man. The logic of this replacement, if it was, is now of no interest to anyone. The result was an instructive story on the theme "Do not confuse height with arrogance."
Sergey NOVIKOV