To draw conclusions is a favorite pastime of fans. At the same time, conclusions on the hot track are the most delicious dish. And there is no negative in this: the degree of perception is more important than a certain age-old wisdom. And in football, as you know, everyone understands. That is why, it must be, that during the course of the season, absolutely mutually exclusive verdicts sound at the same address (both team and personal - here, as they say, no difference). Yes, verdicts are sentences. And this also must be treated philosophically. If it were different, football would be much less popular ...
The season is over. In every sense: as a championship, as a starting segment for Euro selection for the national team, as a champions campaign.
The upcoming CSKA match in Hamburg will still remain “outside the brackets”: the defeat from Porto and the group table given by this defeat in the corresponding form - it still looks like a result. Even incompleteness (or incompleteness) has a result. Or it seems to us that there is. What are they, the results of the season?
The first result. CSKA is the champion. The declaration of this result by a good half of the fans is pronounced sarcastically. At the same time, even the champions of sarcasm readily admit: yes, CSKA played better, more organized, more solid than all. But the grin from the face with this recognition will not be removed. There was a lot of noise. More, so to speak, critical mass. As clearly exceeded this critical mass and the total desire for "trouble for the neighbor." There were four of these “neighbors” - exactly the number of applicants for the championship. CSKA, Spartak, Lokomotiv and Zenit. With leaps and bounds, the growing online discussion (and when talking hot on the Internet gives 90 percent of the shaft) allows us to predict: in the future, an instant charge of all the deadly sins of anyone who is “against us” can become not only a given, but also a tool. And certainly it will. A card to be played, probably, even ahead of time ... Therefore, there will be even more noise next year. There are at least four applicants. The same as this year. With big budgets and ambitions. With an indispensable task to qualify for the Champions League.
Actually, this year it was like that - about the task ... And no matter how CSKA looked more solid, skeleton, better calibrated and thought out geometrically than the rivals, anyway, any of the chances for the championship (and considerable) four leaders. All gathered half of what they could. Zenit failed the first round. “Lokomotiv” after each break (whether it was the start of the championship, a pause for the mundial or a ten-day intermission for double matches of the national team) managed to get into the pit. Spartak, so to speak, played exactly half the time in each match. And CSKA, as the richest and most wealthy gentleman, was tipping much more than was necessary. The impression even developed, as if this gentleman himself would not remember - where, when and to whom. Who knows, maybe it was the abundance of the lost that forced the army to tear the veins at the finish of the championship - and there weren’t enough for the Portuguese. But the rest was not enough.
Spartak with its black ninety-fourth minute. Lokomotiv, who did not escape from driving past the Champions League station with coaching castling. “Zenith”, in recent matches, looked physically thirty percent from that clockwork, non-stop team, which he looked almost the entire second round. Collector cars, inclined by Pettay and Kulalaev and unwilling Nikolaev - all this is loud, but, as it turns out, is unprovable. And in relation to their losses, nothing needs to be proved.
That's just the abundance of their losses and does not allow us to draw conclusions on the season without throwing the bridge in the next season. Because already now the upcoming season can be called "Well, wait a minute!". This is the mood that is kept not only by the fans, but also by the club leaders. Moreover, not only in relation to the champion, but also to himself, loved ones, too. Well, if you, yourself, your beloved, be taken out of the brackets, then the policy will be ostrich.
Let’s make sure that there are four applicants. Even if not so, then more likely clarification will be in favor of a decrease, not an increase. What are the possible changes? Visible from afar - from a border zone, so to speak, between autumn and winter?
Bundle One: CSKA and ZenitIt is absolutely clear that, no matter how much the club management declares the sufficiency of one and a half dozen players for a war on two fronts, this is really not so. The club should attend to the long benches. And looking at a wonderful double last year is unlikely to be without a chance. Perhaps Taranov. Maybe someone else. No wonder that in the match with Porto 20-year-old Kirill Kochubey entered the field. On the whole, the steady progression in the Euro ladder set out in the strategy still requires a jump through two or three steps. And any place in the championship, except the first, with such a formulation of the question can not be considered anything other than failure. It is very likely that the systematic behind-the-scenes “match-up” of any (even more correctly, each) of the three Brazilians and Olic to different clubs will one day prove true. Plus - the leadership of CSKA will not forget what problems (both in modulus and in variety) were caused to the team by a serious injury to Chidi Odia. There will be nothing to break Gazzayev. But how to “cement” the edges and give lightness to the attack (CSKA goals scored in the season weren’t hard for the season) - you’ll have to smash your head over it. However, at least it is permissible that personnel decisions on many issues at the army club have already been taken. Or almost accepted. Yevgeny Lenorovich Giner was blamed for the course of the season for a lot, but not for the lightness or hasty decisions ... CSKA was a typical heavyweight, who had been consciously conscious for several years striving to gain cruising speed. CSKA will not give up the strategy. CSKA is understandable. It will still be quite easy (in theory) to prepare for games with him. It will still be very difficult to play against him (in practice).
I would like to guess what the St. Petersburg club will look like next season based on the game shown by Zenit in the second half of the championship. Bail - Dick Lawyer. The lightness attributed to the Dutch on the verge of lightness refers to the players (and even then, since joining the head coach of the national team, Marco van Basten, there have been serious shifts). And she never belonged to Dutch coaches (now we already know!). The lawyer is a serious man. So what has obviously become more football in St. Petersburg since the time of Petrzhela is the order. The St. Petersburg audience is already accustomed to the fact that even a lot of scoring is not necessary at all: three points are older than three goals. Plus - Gazprom’s resource, multiplied by its own, Gazprom’s ambitions. Plus - the breeding experience of Konstantin Sarsania. If it resonates, there can be an explosion of terrible power. But all sorts of "ifs" remain. Zenit enters its first season with a truly royal swing. This is not only a potential strike force, but also the need to learn how to hold such a powerful weapon in your hands without danger to yourself. I wanted to use the image of the recoil of the butt on the shoulder, but, firstly, it contains the word “recoil”, which is perceived in the strictly narrow sense by the football public. And secondly, it will still be an army term. Although Zenit clearly (like CSKA several years ago) is striving for the heavyweight category. And from this point of view, CSKA and Zenit can be perceived in one bundle. Considering this, however, some advance for the St. Petersburg club.
A bunch of the second: Spartak and LokomotivThis is a bunch, I insist. Alternating leaders of post-Soviet football, unable to set goals other than champion goals. Color cinematic persuasiveness in the best matches and the same bright paint of failed matches. Everything is in sight. A clear desire to make contact with the press. A clear desire to “score more than miss”.
And the similarity of the vector of post-season issues. Starting with the main thing: who will be the coach?
In the Spartak annals there is at least an interview with Fedun, who said: "Fedotov will remain." However, many doubted. After all, the last matches of the whist championship were not added to Vladimir Grigoryevich. Spartak (with the exception of the match against Dynamo, and only from the time when it got hot) did not look more infantile, more decorative during the championship. And in the summer period of additional applications, except Gedera, I did not get anyone. Why? Fedotov suited Stark's staffing option? Or did Fedotov admit that he was a temporary worker? Or just too shy to demand? None of the options looks completely plausible, anyone can be true. Nevertheless, Fedotov completed the task: Spartak retained the second place. And for many fans of the club, the noise around some of CSKA's victories instantly gives an impetus to consider Spartak champion. True, even the most zealous people still shun the term “game champion” that has become popular in recent years. This is certainly not about Spartak 2006. Spartak has no set game (in the sense of - working like an automaton). And this, of course, minus Fedotov. And the fact that Fedotov began to spin the double is, of course, a plus. The Spartak team has a vertical situation based on a double. Shishkin, Torbinsky and Rebko for half the season - oh, how many! While the leadership, one must think, considers the pros and cons. How long will it take? And is there a Fedotov Vladimir Grigorievich coach-winner? No answer. And already the offseason. And after all, the equipment of the team should be held “under the coach”. Otherwise, at the exit we will again get another interview of the next Cavenagi. So who will coach Spartak is not known for certain. And you can think a lot about this topic. But anyway - either Fedotov, or someone completely “new to”. With a long-term loan of confidence. In search of a candidate, you can even become a specialist in the game of “football manager”. Perhaps the only one who should not be taken into account now is Oleg Romantsev.
But about Semin in the “Locomotive” they say. This conversation was so far isolated and very peculiar. It was reported that “Semin met with Yakunin”, a reference to “reliable” (but therefore not more specific) sources. And - silent. But those who want Semin’s parish, and those who simply “twist the topic” (but how not to twist it?), Have their own arguments. In Muslin’s hasty retirement, it was quite possible to see elements of “nerves running out” if desired. Although it’s not Muslin’s direct fault: the club’s failures after the breaks, ignorance of the seemingly started game “tightly”, physical “unconditioning” at the very finish of the championship, plus the rant about putting half of the team for a transfer in the style of the Romancev president of the mid-90s ? And yet, Muslin’s departure is an argument. The arrival of Dolmatov, which did not give immediate positive results, but yielded exactly the opposite, is the second argument. Non-fulfillment of the task declared during the season (place in the deuce) is the third. Given all this, talk about the return of Semin could not help but go. Moreover, according to a purely Russian tradition, the majority completely ignores Semin’s results for the past year and a half (read - in the national team and in Dynamo). Rather, the lack of results. Only Semin for Loko fans is a fairy tale, a legend. And returning to a fairy tale for almost any Russian is the best way to escape from hopelessness. That is how many people perceive the current situation in Lokomotiv. Dolmatov for three rounds did not give a result - which means he is not able to work. Muslin was kicked out (returning to the beginning of the article and the popular love for immediate conclusions - how many did not demand to kick him out in the spring?) - then the situation is not controlled. So, back to the future?
It can, of course. But is not a departure from hopelessness in a fairy tale a departure from reality? After all, it is necessary (not to the fans, but to the leadership) to consider the development of the situation cold, and not naively, wonderfully. This, by the way, is the difference between Loko and Spartak. It is impossible to consider the situation there, but here it is not only possible, but necessary. A fairy tale, because it is because the fairy tale that woke up - and the sky is in diamonds. Well, if not? If the result does not work with Semin? Could this lead in fans' minds to such a panic, in comparison with which the unrest at the end of this season will appear as a trifle? With Dolmatov - there was a risk (as, by the way, was with Muslin). C Semin - will be poker all in.
It’s possible to simply lay on the fact that “for Palych, Lokomotiv is his own home”. But does it automatically follow from this that everything will be fine and good right away (the latter is very important, patience of the leadership with such returns, if anything, ends much faster than with any foreigner, and the coach himself has the first failures in such situations wont resign)?
It is possible and necessary to remember the conversation about how difficult it is to enter the same river twice. And at the same time, do not forget how the last two advents of Oleg Romantsev ended. Speaking of returning: one cannot be held captive only by exclusively positive-nostalgic moods. Even in the movies, if the hero returns home after a long absence, the filmmakers usually give a beautiful melody - and the credits go on. A curtain. Because what begins again is a completely different, at times more complicated story. But, having retained the name, Lokomotiv was radically updated. Even in composition. Not to mention game philosophy.
The answer to the “who?” Question for Lokomotiv out of the four is most important. And there must be speed: for Spartak players, for example, the preseason with Fedotov looks logical and does not affect the strategy, Loko does not have this temporary backlash - if Dolmatov remains, then he must be declared the main one. And yet - this answer should be loud until the arguments are optional. In all likelihood, the task for the season will be set maximum. And the coaching palette, apparently, should be like this: either Dolmatov remains (in this case, the club management takes responsibility for the result by default), or the winning coach. This is a slogan, no one argues. But by the end of the season, this slogan found concrete content. A winning coach is one who knows how to bend his line is absolutely understandable to everyone around him. Like Hiddink, for example.
Not our everythingA thread of thought led to another result of the season - the result of the Russian team. In which Loskova is no longer there, but Titov is, and sometimes even captain. And pulls out games (as with Estonia). But still, the uninflamed eye sees: this is not “our all” Hiddink. The decisive player of the episode. But - not a supporting structure.
One of the most powerful coaches of our time, Hiddink showed the viewer a new face of the Russian national team (in yet another single match) after five months of work. For the club coach, the team, of course, is not a decree. The timing is different. But it’s clear - not immediately! Only in Macedonia did everyone understand: the team was ideally fast. So - young. All vignettes - this is only later. Will he be in time? Or do not have time to do it, only tell you the way? The fact that the construction itself for Hiddink is hardly less important than the result seems to be absolutely obvious to the author.
Even such a picture appeared. The national team does not get to Euro 08. And called at first all the wizard (and he turned out to be not quite a wizard), Hiddink plays a sort of masculine version of Mary Poppins before leaving. And he says, for example, to Arshavin: “You will still write your best songs, Mr. Hey!” And flies away. And we wave after him - and remain more confident in ourselves. And already, on our own, we draw vignettes.
Are you sure that will be so? Are you sure that if we don’t get to the Euro, we will cease hard-working to cement what the Dutchman taught us? Yes, we will draw vignettes? Why don’t we reach out to look for the guilty one and punish him immediately?
But this is Hiddink. Which, by the way, two years of work were guaranteed. Who today (not only here) can guarantee the coach two years ?! No one. You can talk about the need for patience, laying the foundation and other right things. But - no one will. Life teaches this. It’s bad, good - it’s so, and not otherwise. And the task for the season for the Big Four will still be maximum. Therefore, even without being equal to Hiddink, one should probably admit: a person can be as hard as possible to give a result as soon as possible. This is if it will be new. As a lawyer, for example. There is another option. Gazzaev. Here the opposite example is return. Gazzaev just returned as another coach. Maybe that's why he returned to others that he didn’t leave the club.
This is how the third bunch is seen from the border of late autumn and the beginning of winter - the seasons of the departing and the future. But it seems, of course, to a single person. Therefore, of course, these notes are subjective. Yes, and the message, as stated at the beginning, is the tendency to draw conclusions on the hot track.
Yuri Rozanov