Monday, April 14, 2014

Volga 0-5 Dynamo: Dynamo bounce back from Anzhi defeat by steamrolling Volga

Dynamo put on a magnificent second half performance to continue Volga's losing streak and bounce back from a disappointing defeat to Anzhi last weekend.

Neither side lined up particularly oddly, with the most interesting decision being the continued inclusion of Georgi Gabulov in Dynamo's goal over Anton Shunin and Roman Berezovskiy. Dynamo also continued to field Aleksei Ionov on the left to account for Yuri Zhirkov's injury.

football formationsVolga started incredibly well, controlling possession and pushing well up the pitch for the first seven minutes or so, before Dynamo finally fired themselves up and got into the game. The middle stretch of the half was dominated by the visitors, and Kuranyi had a decent penalty shout turned down in the 19th minute. Ionov came close with a low shot shortly after that, but Volga worked their way back into contention with the half winding down, managing to limit their opposition's time on the ball and forcing several errors in Dynamo's back four. Dynamo did get one final chance when the ball fell for Aleksei Kozlov on the edge of the Volga box, but he fired high and wide. It was the last major chance of the half and both sides went into the interval scoreless.

The second half started much the same way that the first had, with Volga playing well in the opening minutes, but the wind was taken out of their sails when Aleksandr Kokorin scored Dynamo's first in the 53rd minute. He played Balazs Dzsudzsak through, allowing the Hungarian to send a cross back in and Kokorin headed home from the edge of the six yard box. Volga did manage to hold on for a short while longer before Dynamo scored a flurry of late goals to turn a narrow win into an utter demolition. Artur Nigmatullin saved a Vladimir Granat free kick, but the ball fell to substitute Artur Yusupov, who fired home to double Dynamo's lead. Just two minutes later, Aleksei Ionov sent a cross in for Alan Kasaev, who finished coolly. Christopher Samba made it 4-0 with a clone of Yusupov's goal before Christian Noboa cut the ball back to Alan Kasaev for his second of the match. Ultimately the scoreline doesn't really represent how even the first 50 minutes of the game were, but Dynamo will be happy to have bounced back with such a result.

Man of the Match: Alan Kasaev
Kasaev came off the bench and scored Dynamo's third and fifth goals. That's really all that needs to be said about his performance.

Honourable Mentions:
Aleksandr Kokorin - The 22 year old was dangerous all match and kicked off the scoring with a solid header before being substituted.
Vladimir Granat - Both of the set piece goals came from Granat free kicks being deflected into the path of an onrushing player, so the left back was a crucial part in inflating the scoreline.

Notes:
- This game was pretty back and forth up until Kokorin's goal, and Volga even managed to keep in it for a while afterwards, but they were torn apart by Dynamo's second and third goals and it was pretty clear to see that they gave up after that.
- Aleksandr Kokorin seems to take a huge beating every single match. I can't really explain it.
- Artur Nigmatullin's handling really desperately needs some work. He was directly at fault for both set piece goals.

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