Sportbox.ru continues to sum up the results of the first round of the Russian Championship. We have already talked about pleasant surprises. The second part of the review will focus on unpleasant ones.
The intrigue will live on! Five pleasant surprises of the first round of the RPL
New legionnaires
As in the whole world, transfer activity, or rather the solvency of RPL clubs over the past summer window, has significantly decreased. Nevertheless, the Russian league has replenished with a number of new players, including real stars such as Dane Lovren or Victor Moses, as well as promising expensive legionnaires in the person Wendela, Adolfo Gaicha, Bruno Fuksa and some others.
Among the listed players, so far only Lovren has proven himself to be the best. The ex-representative of Liverpool does not act flawlessly, but Zenit’s defense is hard to imagine without the vice-world champion, who was quickly able to replace the former captain Ivanovich. The Japanese makes a great impression Kento Hashimotowho managed to score five goals for Rostov despite the fact that he cost the club only 800 thousand dollars. There are other successful examples, but there are still more disappointments and questions.
Surprisingly, the leader of the championship CSKA, which is habitually characterized by frugality and prudence, is among the leaders in dubious deals. Argentine striker Gaich (€ 8.5 million) began by introducing the RPL as a springboard for his future European career in an interview. Alas, so far he has scored only one goal in the Europa League. Another striker, Chidera Ejuke (11.5 million), played several good matches, has more playing time, but also scores little (2 goals) and lost his place at the start. Brazilian defender Fuchs (8 million) spent only a few minutes on the field and has been on treatment for almost three months.
Wolfsberg – CSKA. 0: 1. Adolfo Gaich
The league’s most expensive summer rookie, Wendel (20 million), plays for Zenit from time to time and clearly does not cope with the function of connecting the middle line and the attack. Young Croat plays for Dynamo with varying success Nikola Moro (8.5 million). Lokomotiv newcomer did not make a single effective action in 12 games Francois Camano (5.5 million), which was supposed to strengthen the attack. Railroad striker Ze Luis (7 million) and Spartak’s flank defender Moses (loan) have distinguished themselves once in five matches, but it’s still too early to assess their usefulness.
https://twitter.com/fclokomotiv/status/1295331289311084544
Return of Kokorin to Moscow
Another loud transfer, the real bomb of early August is the transfer Alexandra Kokorina to Spartak. Today, summing up the results of the first round, one could have forgotten about it, if not for the derby with the former club of the forward Dynamo. He came out at the “start” and from a football point of view, nothing is remembered. For the media, this was an excellent informational opportunity to turn again to the topic of Kokorin, fueled by his nightly game of the popular computer shooter after the match.
CSKA Moscow – Spartak. Kokorin’s debut
Already from this it becomes obvious that the adaptation of Kokorin in “Spartak” is taking place with great difficulty. So far, the near-football exhaust is tens of times more powerful than the influence of a newcomer on the game of red and white. However, before the winter break, the 29-year-old striker will probably still have the opportunity to prove himself, because one of the main forwards of Spartak Alexander Sobolev will no longer play due to knee surgery in 2020.
Eurocup background
The performance of Russian representatives in the Champions League and Europa League is a separate topic, but it directly affects the balance of power in the domestic championship. In the conditions of an unprecedentedly tight schedule, participants in European competitions have to determine their priorities – sacrifice the championship or chase two birds with one stone. So far, both strategies look extremely unconvincing. For the first round of the group stage “Zenith”, «Locomotive», Krasnodar and CSKA on four did not win a single victory, gaining 6 points in all in 12 matches.
Lokomotiv seems to be keeping up with dignity in the difficult group of the Champions League, but every time they lose after Europe in Russia. So, in the matches with him, Rotor won the first victory in the tournament, Sochi confidently took the upper hand, and Dynamo completely destroyed in the derby (5: 1). The case for Krasnodar was similar. CSKA more or less managed to maintain the balance before leaving for Feyenoord (0: 3). And even Zenit, which has a wide reserve, stormed after a series of injuries for its strikers – the last place in the Champions League quartet and the lost leadership in the RPL.
Dynamo – Lokomotiv – 5: 1. Goals and Highlights
Bench “Krasnodar”
Krasnodar suffered the most from participation in European competitions, which for several years was desperately trying to break into the Champions League. The Bulls achieved their goal and even started in the main tournament with a decent draw on the field of the main rival in the Rennes quartet (1: 1). Alas, after this local success, obtained with great losses, the team Murada Musaeva lost five times in a row in all tournaments. In the Russian championship, Krasnodar is only ninth, 11 points behind the leader and continues to experience personnel problems. Be afraid of your desires!
Krasnodar – Spartak – 1: 3. Goals and Highlights
However, in the 15th round, Krasnodar scored its first victory since mid-October, beating Tambov minimally. The winning goal was scored by Remi Cabella, who recovered from an injury, Ari entered the field for the first time in this championship, and in general, Musaev had a decent choice of performers for the first time in a long time. On the whole, taking into account the unusual conditions, the length of the Krasnodar bench turned out to be critically short for fighting on two fronts.
The fall of “Ufa”
In the last draw of the Premier League, Ufa under the leadership Vadim Evseeva finished in the middle of the table, just 3 points behind the Europa League zone and conceded the least of all, except for the title holder “Zenith ” (24). Alexander Belenov was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the championship, and Ufa was considered, perhaps, the most unpleasant opponent for the favorites. Then, in the summer window, the Bashkir club lost Fomin, Krugovoy, Vombergar, Nedelcharu, Putsko, Urunov and some other players, and the newcomers who came could not restore the carefully built game.
As a result, as of the 15th round “Ufa»Closes the table with 7 points, cannot win 12 rounds in a row in the championship and conceded much more than all the others (29 goals). Yevseyev’s resignation in early October did not help in any way. Rashida Rakhimov Ufa lost 4 games out of 5, including the principled home to Khimki (1: 2). At the moment, the club from the capital of Bashkortostan is 5 points behind the 14th place, which makes it possible to get out of the direct relegation zone.
Ufa – Khimki – 1: 2. Goals and Highlights
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