Monday, May 27, 2013

2012-13 Russian Premier League Season Review


RnkTeamMPWDLGFGA+/-Pts
1
CSKA Moscow30204649252464
2
Zenit St. Petersburg30188453252862
3
Anzhi Makhachkala30158745341153
4
Spartak Moskcow30156951391251
5
Kuban Krasnodar30149748282051
6
Rubin Kazan301551039271250
7
Dynamo Moscow30146104134748
8
Terek Grozny30146103840-248
9
Lokomotiv Moscow30127113936343
10
FK Krasnodar30126124539642
11
Amkar Perm3078153451-1729
12
FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod3078152846-1829
13
FK Rostov3078153041-1129
14
Krylia Sovetov Samara3077163152-2128
15
Mordovia Saransk3055203057-2720
16
Alania Vladikavkaz3047192653-2719
This season saw a number of interesting occurrences for multiple teams, particularly those who finished the year in mid-table or the Europa League places. Firstly, Dynamo had a woeful start, losing their first 5 matches and taking only 3 points from 8 games but managed to win 10 of their next 12 to claw themselves back into Europa League contention, although they eventually missed out by 2 points. Meanwhile, Terek had an incredible start for a club of their stature, winning 6 games of their first 8 and holding a top 4 position for most of that time, before dropping away in the latter part of the season. Zenit can also count themselves unlucky due to injuries, as both first choice fullbacks, Aleksandr Anyukov and Domenico Criscito, missed most of the season, while Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Igor Denisov were involved in race controversies and dropped to the reserves for a short time. CSKA managed to take their fourth Russian Premier League title with a game to spare, despite missing key players in Keisuke Honda and Seydou Doumbia, as well as rotation striker Tomas Necid, for most of the season. All 3 made their returns in the closing weeks of the season, although Necid's only appearance of the campaign came off the bench in a 3-0 loss to Rostov on the final weekend.

Team of the Season:

GK: Igor Akinfeev - CSKA Moscow
Consistently the most competent goalkeeper in Eastern Europe, Akinfeev was one of the main reasons that CSKA conceded the joint least goals this season. Despite playing behind an aging central defence, Akinfeev was solid in almost all of his 29 appearances and the single match that he missed was the shock 3-0 loss to Rostov on the final day.
DR: Mario Fernandes - CSKA Moscow
Although he suffered some unfortunate errors in his first few matches, Fernandes adapted well to the more physical nature of the Russian Premier League, eventually becoming a key tool in providing width for CSKA's attack.
DC: Vedran Corluka - Lokomotiv Moscow
The ex-Tottenham player initially appeared to falter in his new central position on the pitch, but like Mario Fernandes, he adapted well. His lack of pace was less obvious than it had been when he played at right back and he was able to use his intelligence to consistently position himself in the ideal location to break up attacks.
football formations DC: Salvatore Bocchetti - Rubin Kazan/Spartak Moscow
Impressed early in the season as the more adventurous of Rubin's central defensive pairing and earned himself a transfer to Moscow, where he immediately slotted into the first team at the cost of Juan Insuarralde. The partnership he formed with Marek Suchy became increasingly formidable in the tail end of the season.
DL: Yuri Zhirkov - Anzhi Makhachkala
Although he had to perform with being largely the only player on Anzhi's left flank for large parts of the season, Zhirkov performed admirably in his wingback role as his side marched on to a 3rd place finish. At times, he seemed like the only Anzhi player on the pitch actually interested in playing and always put in a good shift.
MC: Bibras Natkho - Rubin Kazan
The versatile box-to-box midfielder was key to Rubin's defensive performances and their 6th place finish. Natkho combined defensive competence with creativity on the ball to manage man of the match performances in a number of crucial matches for Rubin.
MC: Christian Noboa - Dynamo Moscow
Noboa, like Natkho, played a key box-to-box role for his side, and was the centrepiece of the side throughout their strong run during the middle of the season which salvaged a 7th place finish.
AMR: Ahmed Musa - CSKA Moscow
Due to injuries, Musa was forced from his preferred right wing into becoming CSKA's first choice striker, notching up 11 goals and 4 assists in 28 matches. He developed a reputation for being in the right place at the right time to finish deflections and parries.
AMC: Vagner Love - CSKA Moscow
Love was excellent in his return from Flamengo as he played a typically deeper role than he had in his first spell in Moscow. He scored 5 goals and provided 7 assists in 9 appearances after returning to CSKA in January.
AML: Wanderson - Krasnodar
The joint top scorer of the league gained substantially less attention than his part-time teammate and other top scorer, but Wanderson was excellent in each of his 22 appearances, helping Krasnodar with 13 goals and 2 assists.
SC: Yura Movsisyan - Krasnodar/Spartak Moscow
Movsisyan was excellent in the first half of the season, scoring 9 goals in 13 games for Krasnodar before earning a transfer to Spartak Moscow, where he scored a hat-trick on debut against Terek Grozny. His form cooled off in the tail end of the season, only finding the back of the net once more in his last six matches, but there were bright spots in his performances nonetheless.

Player of the Season: Vagner Love - CSKA Moscow
As mentioned above, he was excellent upon returning to CSKA in the winter break. Statistically he was excellent, but he also revitalised an injured and tired CSKA attack that had struggled for goals in the latter weeks of the first half of the season.

Young Player of the Season: Zhano Ananidze - Spartak Moscow
Only missing out on the Team of the Season due to the excellent form of Wanderson and Vagner Love, both of whom are much more experienced than 20-year-old Ananidze. Despite often being played out of position on the left, the Georgian international was a constant threat with his dribbling and passing and eventually tallied 2 goals and 2 assists in just 6 starts and 8 substitute appearances.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Rostov 3-0 CSKA: Rostov decimate second-string CSKA but still fall into playoff places

Rostov put in a superb performance over a weakened CSKA Moscow side, but it was not enough to escape the relegation playoffs as Dinamo and Zenit failed to beat Volga and Amkar respectively.

Leonid Slutskiy's team selection was something of a mystery today, with large swathes of the first team missing from the 18-man squad. Igor Akinfeev was relegated to the bench in favour of Sergei Chepchugov, whilst Mario Fernandes, Sergei Ignashevich, Seydou Doumbia, Vagner Love and Keisuke Honda missed out entirely. Nonetheless, CSKA lined up in their standard 4-2-3-1, with Dzagoev sitting behind Musa while Mark Gonzalez and Pavel Mamaev took up the wide positions. Bizarrely, Georgi Schennikov and Kirill Nababkin interchanged quite frequently in the fullback positions.

CSKA seemed content to sit deep in the early stages and allow Rostov to tire themselves in attack. As a result, the hosts saw the vast majority of the possession in the first half hour, although they failed to take advantage for the most part. Rostov's attack throughout the season has relied mostly on pace, so when given time on the ball, they found it nearly impossible to break through CSKA's defence. Indeed, Rostov's opener came following one of CSKA's only attacks of the half, as Pletikosa made an excellent save before playing the ball out to Guelor Kanga Kaku, who made an excellent lobbed through ball to the onrushing Dmitri Poloz, who was able to slide his shot past Chepchugov to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute. At this stage, Slutskiy pushed Alan Dzagoev into a more advanced role behind the striker, rather than the deeper central midfield role that he had played up until that point. This move gave CSKA greater attacking impetus and the possession numbers mostly leveled out as the half continued. Indeed, it was Dzagoev himself who provided CSKA's most notable chance of the half as he dribbled into the Rostov box before unleashing a strong shot on goal that Pletikosa was able to parry as far as Siyanda Xulu, who was happy to clear the danger. Mere moments later, Rostov pushed down the other end and Danko Lazovic fed Kanga Kaku with an excellent through ball and the Gabon international chipped Chepchugov to put Rostov two goals to the good immediately before half time.

The interval saw no changes, although CSKA's fullbacks appeared to cease their interchange and remained locked in their natural positions: Schennikov on the left & Nababkin on the right. Dzagoev also continued in his advanced position and created a number of chances early on, most notably a lobbed pass to Ahmed Musa, who contrived to put it over the bar. However, it wasn't long before Rostov put the finishing touches on the win, when Kalachev headed home a long Lazovic cross in the 55th minute to make it 3-0 and put the game out of reach of the champions. A substitution just under 10 minutes later allowed Tomas Necid to make his first and only appearance of the season after suffering a number of injuries. His introduction also forced Ahmed Musa out to the left flank in place of the relatively static Mark Gonzalez, leading to more fluidity and interchange between CSKA's attacking band of 3. Necid didn't look like a player who had missed 12 months of play, and he did well to set up chances for both Dzagoev and Musa with his hold up play. However, despite the impressive cameo, Necid was unable to turn the tide. Xulu came close with a header late on and Jan Holenda saw a volley skew wide in the closing seconds, but the score finished 3-0 to the relegation battlers.

Man of the Match: Guelor Kanga Kaku
Constantly dangerous throughout the first half, with accurate passing and shooting that allowed him to notch up a goal and an assist.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Krylia 3-1 Rubin: So yeah, that was a thing

I want to preface this with a warning. This is less a match report and more a rant about poor refereeing because it was particularly atrocious today. Anyway, onto the actual report. Krylia beat Rubin thanks to an offside goal, a penalty and a cool finish.

Both sides started the match in their typical 4-2-3-1 formations, with Burdyev opting to pair Bibras Natkho and Yann M'Vila in Rubin's double pivot. The move looked to pay off, as the visitors looked dominant in the early stages, finding several balls in behind Krylia's defence in the opening 10 minutes. Nevertheless, Krylia rallied and managed a counter in the 11th minute, at which point Oleg Kuzmin dragged down Bruno Teles on the left side of the box to earn the visitors a free kick. What followed was one of the most dismal calls by a linesman that I have ever seen. Luis Caballero smashed the ball home after the play should have been given as offside, not once or twice, but three times! I'm not trying to take anything away from Caballero because his finish was excellent and neat, but the play should have been stopped long before he even touched the ball.  The poor officiating didn't stop there however, as Salomon Rondon was sliced down from behind in the box while the referee allowed the game to play on. At this point, Rubin would have been perfectly justified to feel hard done by, but their poor luck continued after the break.

Rubin came out on time after the break, but Krylia were several minutes behind schedule and the referees appeared even later. It only took five minutes for Krylia to earn their lead as they found a neat finish through Maksimov, who latched onto a Nemov pass and slotted it into the bottom left corner. Undeterred, Rubin pushed on and pulled a goal back from a decent finish by Dyadyun, who had been introduced for Eremenko just after the hour mark. Unfortunately, Rubin continued to struggle against the more physical Krylia, who bullied the visitors all over the park. However, they did themselves no favours in stoppage time, when Cesar Navas brought down Nemov and Maksimov simply converted it. It was very likely the first and only correct penalty call of the four shouts made during the match for both sides.

Man of the Match: The referees
They won this game for Krylia. That's all I'm going to say

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Lokomotiv 1-4 CSKA: Heavy scoreline belies tight Moscow derby

CSKA Moscow triumphed 4-1 over Moscow rivals Lokomotiv, but the match was much closer than the scoreline showed.

CSKA started in their typical 4-2-3-1 formation, but the continued inclusion of Ahmed Musa forced Keisuke Honda into a position on the right of the pitch, although he often interchanged with Alan Dzagoev and Vagner Love on the right and in the centre respectively. Kirill Nababkin also returned to the side at the expense of Georgi Schennikov. Lokomotiv also started in a 4-2-3-1, although their personnel selection was entirely more baffling than that of CSKA. All of Dmitri Torbinski, Felipe Caicedo and Roman Pavlyuchenko failed to make the starting lineup, being inexplicably kept out by Aleskey Miranchuk, Victor Obinna and Dame N'Doye.

football formations
CSKA started strongly and had the most of the match's early chances, as Alan Dzagoev laid on a goal for Vagner Love in only the 6th minute to give the visitors an early lead. Lokomotiv were almost back level mere seconds later as Akinfeev could only parry Denis Glushakov's long range shot for Sergei Ignashevich to clear. Lokomotiv continued to press and came close a number of times in the next quarter of an hour, but were denied by the excellent Akinfeev time and time again. CSKA appeared content to sit deep and counter-attack and the keys to the majority of their chances were Alan Dzagoev and Vagner Love, both of which laid on chances for Keisuke Honda, who contrived to send both over the crossbar. Despite Lokomotiv's pressure, CSKA found a second in the 25th minute when Dzagoev sent a low cross to Musa, who couldn't really miss from a yard out to put CSKA up 2-0. Down two goals, Lokomotiv were still not content to give up and continued pressing, as Tarasov came close in the 39th minute, but was once again denied by Akinfeev. As they finally looked to be getting close to pulling back a goal, Lokomotiv suffered the ultimate sucker punch in the 43rd minute as Vagner Love pounced on Kresic's parry to put CSKA three goals to the good going into the break.

Slaven Bilic decided to shuffle the pack and made two changes at the half, introducing Felipe Caicedo and Dmitri Torbinski for Miranchuk and Glushakov and the improvement in the side was obvious in the early minutes of the second half. Caicedo saw a shot hit the post less than a minute after the interval, before Maicon fired narrowly wide mere moments later. However, it was not until the 54th minute that Lokomotiv found their way back into the match through Tarasov, as he latched onto a Caicedo pass and barged through 3 CSKA players before firing home low and to the left. Seeing the danger that Lokomotiv's pressing caused to his side's shape, Leonid Slutskiy uncharacteristically changed CSKA's shape to something of a narrow 4-3-1-2 (see diagram), with Doumbia coming on to condense the centre of the pitch. This change made an immediate difference, as CSKA countered well and Doumbia turned Taras Burlak inside out to score his third goal of the season in the 74th minute. It was only at this late stage that Lokomotiv looked down and out and CSKA finally took control in the final 10 minutes. A counter from N'Doye was simply too little too late and Lokomotiv slumped to an undeserved 4-1 loss at home.

Man of the Match: Vagner Love
Did well to lay on a goal for Seydou Doumbia and score one of his own. Quite frankly, one of the few bright spots for CSKA Moscow.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

New regular articles planned and coming soon

So far in From Beyond the Iron Curtain's history, I have only featured one match report a week from the Russian Premier League. Due to the thorough lack of good matches to write about this past weekend, I thought I would take this opportunity to announce the introduction of several new regular article releases to be implemented over the coming weeks and months.

Firstly, over the summer transfer window I will be releasing weekly transfer rumour updates that will include "news" from Russia. These posts will come out once a week on Wednesdays up until the end of the transfer window in September.

At the commencement of next season, I will also complete matchweek reports encompassing every RPL game to be posted on Mondays. These reports will be less in-depth than the standard match reports, but will cover each match and give a better idea of the overall state of the league. The regular match reports will continue to be written and posted once a week as usual.

Finally, I am planning a weekly news update for of Russia to be posted on Fridays, beginning at the start of next season. These will cover general football news from the country, but will not feature match reports outside of extraordinary circumstances.

In addition to these weekly articles, I plan to write less regular articles from time to time, highlighting players, pointing out managerial mishaps or addressing issues within the leagues and football associations of each of the countries. These will likely begin over the summer (if I can decide what to write about) and should continue during next season.

Sorry for the lack of a match report this week, but there will be one next weekend and I look forward to writing these articles on a weekly basis. Thank you all for reading From Beyond the Iron Curtain, a site I thoroughly enjoy writing for all of you.