The first game day of the fourth round of the Russian Premier League ended in Krasnodar. The local team of the same name hosted Lokomotiv, winning a crushing victory with a score of 3:0. But the score is deceptive: Krasnodar was better, but did not win enough to defeat, and the red-greens’ mistakes became the sponsor of the fun at the end of the half.
At the moment, these two teams are trying to match the now popular football trends. Krasnodar is trying to play ball control: 4-3-3, attacking football and that’s all. Lokomotiv, on the other hand, follows the German (well, almost) path: high intensity, pressure and verticality.
Only now, both teams with great difficulty (and frankly unsuccessfully) implement these ideas on the field. “Bulls” clearly lacks performing skills. Only Eduard Spertsyan stands out individually, while Chernikov in the support zone is still more distinguished by his defensive rather than creative qualities.
Before Ramirez’s goal, which obviously opened the game, Krasnodar’s fattest moment was Irakli Manelov’s shot in the fifth minute (0.15xG). Loko had a 1v1 out from Isidor Wilson and a header from Ivan Ignatiev (again we applaud Matvey Safonov).
Lokomotiv has been living according to Ralph Rangnik’s notes for a year, but it is not yet clear when the game will be built. Loko didn’t lose players (unlike Krasnodar), didn’t lose a very valuable and capable coach (we won’t seriously say why Daniel Farke is better than Markus Gizdol?)
But over the course of the year, Loko never built up adequate pressure. Under the Germans (we will call this group of coaches that), the red-greens are consistently leaders in terms of intensity, but this only speaks of the team’s mood to run a lot after the ball. There is no need to dream about the quality of pressure yet.
In Krasnodar, Loko tried to press according to the 4-2-3-1 scheme, where Anton Miranchuk had to play on the opponent’s bottom defensive midfielder. At first he received a yellow card for talking, but then he committed a very rough foul, which almost led to a removal.
As a result, the 11th number of Muscovites was replaced during the break. He was replaced by François Camano, who in his best matches was the finisher of counterattacks, but this was the case under Marko Nikolic.
The guests failed to convert their activity without the ball into dangerous moments for the opponent on a regular basis. The main highlight of the match was Ivan Ignatiev’s header from the penalty area, which Matvey Safonov parried very spectacularly.
Christian Ramirez’s goal is a real bomb, which made a frankly boring match going to a goalless draw a little more fun. The Ecuadorian made a pass on the half-flank and hit the ball from 30 meters away:
Loko’s goalkeeper Daniil Khudyakov obviously missed the shot into the near corner.
And now the moment of horror has come: Lokomotiv is in the position of recouping. After the 77th minute, Loko hit the goal 0 times, possessed the ball for 46% of the playing time. At the same time, Krasnodar, controlling the ball, managed to organize two 1-on-1 exits for themselves. The reactive Nigerian Olankule Olusegun scored with a double, whom Loko lost in the central circle.
The final pressing and pressure attempts were so reckless and poorly organized that the red-greens not only left without goals, but helped the opponent get two free runs to the lone goalkeeper.
Krasnodar was clearly praised for the end of last season: the bulls were often lucky in the spring, they scored more points. The chic realization and form of Matvey Safonov helped. In this match, the captain of Krasnodar also saved in key episodes, and the decisive goal was scored from a great distance and thanks to the mistake of the opposing team’s goalkeeper.
But the clumsy and not quite skillful Krasnodar did not notice the pressure of Lokomotiv, organized counterattacks and defeated the guests in the case. Now they have two devastating defeats and a place in the play-off zone. But they sold Beck-Beck for a lot of money!
