Saturday, March 29, 2014

Ural 2-1 Anzhi: Hosts dominate but allow late chances

Ural dominated Anzhi for the majority of the 90 minutes and went two goals up, but allowed Anzhi several chances late on, one of which allowed the visitors a consolation goal from a corner.

Neither side lined up particularly strangely, with Ural using a very attacking 4-1-4-1 with Gerson Acevedo and Aleksandr Erokhin sitting just behind Spartak Gogniev. Meanwhile, Anzhi set up with their standard 4-2-3-1, playing Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Oleksandr Aliev on the wings, yet the two constantly interchanged to try to find a way through.

football formations
Ural started the match firmly in control of the ball and looked dominant early on, coming close through Chisamba Lungu in the opening four minutes. Unfortunately, the match was marred by an early injury, as Ural's Vladimir Koman went down early on and had to be replaced by Aleksandr Stavpets. Mere moments later, Ural went ahead as Acevedo played an excellent through ball which was seemingly destined for Erokhin, however he left it and drew Alexandru Epureanu out of position. The ball then found Gogniev who slotted coolly past Anzhi keeper Mikhail Kerzhakov. It was Lungu that had the next chance, but he sent the ball high and wide despite shooting from just outside of the six-yard box. Anzhi finally managed to get some possession after this chance and created one of their own seven minutes later as Fyodor Smolov was sent through on goal, but Ural's Nikolai Zabolotny was equal to his effort and sent the ball for a corner. The middle of the half slowed considerably, with Ilya Maksimov coming closest but never really threatening the goal, and it looked like Ural would go into the half with just a one goal lead. However, this was not to be the case as, five minutes from half time, Acevedo chipped a pass over Anzhi's defence and the onrushing Erokhin volleyed it past Kerzhakov to make it 2-0.

The second half was significantly less exciting as neither side really pushed forward much and, as a result, chances were few and far between. Khozin came close with a header from a free kick ten minutes after the interval, but Kerzhakov was able to make the save easily. It wasn't for another twenty minutes that a chance came around, when Erokhin headed wide from a Dantsev cross. The match looked set to wind down, but it turned out that the excitement would only ramp up, as Zabolotny was forced to save a Gadzhibekov header at full stretch. At the resulting corner, Serder Serderov connected with a header that hit the crossbar, falling to Agalarov who headed it back across goal before Epureanu connected with a third header just over Zabolotny to bring it back to 2-1. Ural had one chance to finish the game off after Anzhi's goal, but Aleksandr Novikov sent the ball high and wide, so the hosts had to settle for a somewhat nervy finish.

Man of the Match: Gerson Acevedo
Acevedo was excellent on the ball all match long, setting up both Ural goals with fantastic passes. He was a little weak defensively, as per usual, but given his role for the team it's somewhat understandable.

Honourable Mentions:
Aleksandr Erokhin - The most dangerous threat on either side for most of the match, Erokhin was very unlucky not to add a second to his tally.
Alexandru Epureanu - Got Anzhi's consolation goal and continued a good run of form.

Notes:
- Ural were by far the better side for most of this match. They rolled over Anzhi in the first half and even when they weren't creating chances, they maintained the majority of possession. Anzhi were only really let into the match in the final ten minutes.
- It's got to be a really tough decision over whether to pick Spartak Gogniev or Edgar Manucharyan to start at striker for Ural.
- I remember when both Zabolotny and Kerzhakov were seen as promising keepers and no one had ever heard of Yuri Lodygin. Those were dark days.

Monday, March 24, 2014

2013-14 Matchweek 22 Recap: Goals. Goals everywhere

Goals abounded this week as the chase for the European places tightened significantly, although there was really only one upset. Also, circumstances prevented me from writing a match report this week, but there should be one next week as per usual.

Rostov 3-3 Amkar
Rostov suffered early on, going 3-1 down within 50 minutes, but were handed a lifeline by the dismissal of Amkar's Jakub Wawrzyniak 20 minutes from full time. Rostov managed to capitalise, scoring two times in as many minutes to draw level and steal a point at home.

Volga 0-1 Tomsk
Volga and Tomsk were even for almost all of the match, with Tomsk probably edging it on quality of chances. It was Jan Holenda who got the winner for them in stoppage time to take three points and pull his side out of the relegation places.

Lokomotiv 3-0 Ural
Ural's Aleksandr Belozerov had a terrible time against Loko, scoring an own goal to provide the hosts' first before being sent off after Dame N'Doye and Sergei Tkachev had made it 3-0. Truth be told, Ural never even looked like getting into the match and this was a deserved result for Loko.

Krasnodar 4-0 Spartak
Spartak came into the match as favourites but were absolutely obliterated on the counter by Krasnodar, especially former Spartak player Ari. The visitors controlled possession, but lacked incision in the final third, while Krasnodar took their chances well, allowing Ari to score a hat-trick and Wanderson to finish Spartak off.

Dynamo 0-0 Rubin

Dynamo probably deserved to win this match, but Rubin had a solid defence and were able to limit the hosts to ineffective chances from outside the box. As a result, neither side could break the deadlock and Rubin will be satisfied with a point here.

Terek 2-1 Kuban
Terek were surprisingly dominant, even though it took an Ailton penalty to go ahead early on. Kuban looked utterly unable to equalise for much of the first half, and things went from bad to worse as Marcin Komorowski made it 2-0 just before the hour mark. Lorenzo Melgarejo managed to pull one back eight minutes later, but it was the only real chance Kuban had and Terek took a deserved win.

Anzhi 0-3 CSKA
Despite their recent resurgence, Anzhi never looked capable of dealing with CSKA as Seydou Doumbia ran riot, scoring the first two goals and setting up Ahmed Musa's finish for the third. CSKA actually looked like a well-oiled team rather than just a group of individuals for one of the first times this season.

football formationsZenit 2-1 Krylia
Hulk opened the scoring with a penalty within 5 minutes before doubling Zenit's lead after 45 more, however Ibrahim Tsallagov pulled one back 2 minutes later. Krylia were given two penalties, but Yuri Lodygin managed to save both to hold Zenit's lead and give the hosts a win in Andre Villas-Boas' first match as manager.

Table:
1 - Lokomotiv
2 - Zenit
3 - Dynamo
4 - Spartak
5 - CSKA
6 - Krasnodar
7 - Amkar
8 - Rostov
9 - Rubin
10 - Kuban
11 - Krylia
12 - Tomsk
13 - Terek
14 - Ural
15 - Volga
16 - Anzhi

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

2013-14 Matchweek 21 Recap: Draws galore

Half of this week's Russian Premier League matches ended up without winners as draws abounded, the most notable of which were Amkar's goalless draw with Loko and the fascinating 2-2 matchup between Spartak and Anzhi. Also, Arseni Logashov, Alexandru Epureanu and Alan Dzagoev make their second consecutive appearances in my team of the week.

Ural 2-1 Terek
football formationsTerek suffered an early red to Fyodor Kudryashov and looked to be on the back foot for most of the game, but Ural failed to take their chances. With the game closing down, it was substitute Edgar Manucharyan who put Ural up, but the hosts got overconfident and allowed Mauricio to equalise in stoppage time. With Terek looking like they had secured a point, Manucharyan scored his second to steal a win for Ural.

Krylia 0-2 Rostov
Krylia were surprisingly aggressive against the superior Rostov, but were hit twice against the run of play by Guelor Kanga Kaku and Vitali Djakov. The two goal Rostov victory really doesn't show how even this game was, and Krylia came close many times but were wasteful with their chances.

CSKA 1-0 Zenit
The managerless Zenit were completely dominant for most of the match, but were held off by the excellent CSKA defence, particularly Igor Akinfeev, who appears to have gotten over his blip against Dynamo last week. A goal by the oft-forgotten Georgi Milanov in the 32nd minute was enough to take the win and keep Leonid Slutskiy's job safe for now.

Kuban 1-1 Dynamo
Dynamo opened the scoring through Kevin Kuranyi just before half time and, given their recent form, probably expected to go on to win from there, but the fantastic Ivelin Popov equalised with 15 minutes to go and Kuban were able to keep the ball away from Dynamo for the remainder of the match to hold onto the win.

Amkar 0-0 Lokomotiv

Two of the league's best defences went head to head and neither side could get the advantage. Overall, a predictable goalless draw that featured some excellent defending.

Rubin 3-1 Volga
This match was very very even, but Rubin came out victorious due to their much better shooting, while Volga was wasteful with almost all of their chances. It took them until the 81st minute (when Rubin were already three goals up) to get their first shot on target, leading to an Artur Sarkisov consolation goal, but it was a case of too little too late as they suffered an expected defeat.

Tomsk 1-1 Krasnodar
Tomsk were absolutely dominated all over the pitch but were kept in the match by the excellent keeping of Petr Vasek. Krasnodar were ultimately hit on the counter by Kirill Panchenko and threw everything forward, salvaging a point in the final minutes thanks to a Wanderson goal.

Spartak 2-2 Anzhi
Spartak lined up a bit unusually but it appeared to pay off, giving the hosts a two goal lead after just 23 minutes. However, Anzhi experienced a late resurgence while Spartak collapsed, as Alexandru Epureanu pulled one back just after the break and substitute Serder Serderov equalised in stoppage time to secure a draw, a result which ultimately cost Valery Karpin his job at Spartak.

Table:
1 - Lokomotiv
2 - Zenit
3 - Spartak
4 - Dynamo
5 - CSKA
6 - Amkar
7 - Krasnodar
8 - Rostov
9 - Rubin
10 - Kuban
11 - Krylia
12 - Ural
13 - Volga
14 - Tomsk
15 - Terek
16 - Anzhi

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Amkar 0-0 Lokomotiv: Two of Russia's best defences draw predictably

Amkar and Lokomotiv played out something of a predictable draw given the high quality of their defences, yet Amkar should still be happy with holding the league leaders to a draw.

football formationsBoth managers made somewhat baffling selections in this match. Amkar's manager, Stanislav Cherchesov, continued his bizarre selection of Alexei Nikitin over Thomas Phibel in the centre of defence, and I really can't justify him playing Jakub Wawrzyniak over Dzhamaldin Kodzhaniyazov at left back either. Meanwhile, Lokomotiv's Mbark Boussoufa was dropped in favour of Magomed Ozdoev, presumably because the latter scored a decent goal against Krylia last weekend.

As was expected due to the excellent defences of these two teams, the match started slowly with neither side giving up any major chances. It was Amkar who had the first opportunity of the night as Wawrzyniak cleverly flicked on a Georgi Peev free kick and hit the post, but it wasn't long before Dame N'Doye went up the other end, hitting a shot on goal that was deflected off Dmitri Belorukov and saved easily by Sergei Narubin. The half continued without many chances until the 36th minute, when N'Doye was dragged down in the box by Nikitin, yet inexplicably no penalty was given. Amkar did end up having the final chance of the half however, as Maksim Kannunikov gathered up a long ball in the box, but was put off by pressure from Jan Durica and skied his shot in the final seconds of stoppage time.

The interval saw no changes for either side, but Amkar certainly came out of the gates with a renewed vigour and looked more likely to score. In the opening minutes of the second period, Aleksandr Kolomeitsev put a shot low across the face of goal, before N'Doye also came close just moments later. However, Amkar soon slowed down and the match returned to one of few chances, primarily given away by set pieces. Substitute Boussoufa came close with one such set piece, a free kick, while Lass Diarra flicked on a corner late on, but was unable to get it on target. Both managers attempted to change the game with substitutes as Loko brought on Roman Pavlyuchenko and Sergei Tkachev late on, while Amkar introduced Martin Jakubko and Patrick Twumasi, yet none of the four were able to make an impact on the match. Lokomotiv had one final chance late on when Amkar captain Belorukov gave away a free kick on the edge of the box in the final seconds of stoppage time, but the resulting effort from Aleksandr Samedov was disappointing and the match finished at 0-0.

Man of the Match: Vedran Corluka
As per usual, Corluka was on fine form and kept the opposing forwards quiet. His distribution from the back was excellent and he was absolutely dominant in the air. Surprisingly, he also had a few good runs forward, including one that won a free kick that Boussoufa came close from.

Honourable Mentions:
Roman Shishkin - Despite getting quite fired up over the course of the match, Shishkin was fantastic defensively and very good going forward. A solid match from the Loko captain.
Dmitri Belorukov - The Amkar captain was fantastic in defence as always and, despite his late foul, was well composed all match.
Janusz Gol - Solid in defence all match and controlled the little possession that Amkar had. The Polish midfielder's form has been good since the winter break after a disappointing first half of the season.

Notes:
- I'm impressed with Amkar's ability to keep this match level, but Lokomotiv's attack was completely toothless today. Dame N'Doye is far too inconsistent to be a top class forward (yes, he's even worse than Roman Pavlyuchenko in that respect).
- I really can't justify the selection of Alexei Nikitin over Thomas Phibel. Nikitin should've been sent off for that challenge on N'Doye and constantly failed to deal with crosses.
- Another selection that I'm not sure was right was Leonid Kuchuk selecting Magomed Ozdoev over Mbark Boussoufa. Ozdoev may have scored last week, but he's a selection for matches in which Loko is going to face a possession battle and want to keep the ball away from their opponents. For matches such as this, in which Amkar were never going to try and control possession, Boussoufa's a much better choice thanks to his great final ball and creativity.
- Maksim Kannunikov did seem rather isolated up front, and this wasn't really helped by his reluctance to drop deep. Peev, Ogude and Kolomeitsev usually have better service, but they were all kept relatively quiet by Loko's back line.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

2013-14 Matchweek 20 Recap: Russian Premier League resumes with action aplenty

The Russian Premier League season resumed this past weekend with a plethora of action. Lokomotiv took a clear lead in the title chase while CSKA appear to have fallen completely out of contention. At the other end of the ladder, Anzhi finally picked up their first win of the season as they make a bid to stay out of the relegation places. Finally, Luciano Spalletti was fired from Zenit after a disappointing home draw with Tom Tomsk.

The formation plotting website I use is also acting up again, so my team of the week is as follows:
Lodygin; Logashov, Epureanu, Dealbert, Kudryashov; Georgiev, Dragun; Ogude, Dzagoev, Zhirkov; Doumbia

Krasnodar 0-1 Ural
Ural went ahead thanks to Gerson Acevedo's effort in the 19th minute (their only shot on target all game) and played excellent defence for the remainder of the match, but were let off the hook by Krasnodar's hopeless finishing as Joaozinho, Ari and Wanderson struggled for form.

Terek 1-0 Spartak
Terek took the lead in only the first minute thanks to Mauricio, and were able to park the bus for the remaining 90 minutes. Spartak looked likely to score throughout, but struggled to put shots on target and ultimately fell to the relegation battlers.

Dynamo 4-2 CSKA
CSKA took an early two goal lead through the brilliant play of Alan Dzagoev and Seydou Doumbia, but a collapse prompted by the excellent Yuri Zhirkov and a plethora of defensive mistakes allowed Dynamo to turn around the game and take the win in front of their home fans.

Anzhi 1-0 Rubin
Anzhi were on the back foot for almost the entire match and looked set to continue their season-long winless streak, however loanee Aleksandr Bukharov managed to score the winner less than 10 minutes from full time. Rubin sustained pressure on the hosts late on, but it wasn't enough to equalise and Anzhi finally picked up their first win of the season.

Zenit 0-0 Tom

Tom Tomsk impressively went toe to toe with the much bigger Zenit and had several good chances to score, but couldn't force an upset. Regardless, Zenit were also unable to score, and the disappointing result saw manager Luciano Spalletti lose his job with the St. Petersburg club.

Amkar 5-1 Volga
Amkar opened the scoring through Fedor Ogude and things declined quickly for Volga, losing two players to injury before the half hour mark. They did manage to equalise minutes later thanks to Luton Shelton, but the situation went significantly downhill from there. Georgi Peev scored a penalty for the hosts before Ogude scored his second, Maksim Kannunikov piled on the misery and a Marcin Kowalczyk own goal completed the rout, all in the closing minutes.

Lokomotiv 2-1 Krylia
Lokomotiv showed a ridiculous amount of dominance over Krylia and went ahead via Dame N'Doye early on, before substitute Magomed Ozdoev doubled their lead 15 minutes from time. It was only on a rare venture forward that Krylia scored, pulling one back through Stanislav Dragun right before the end of regulation time.

Rostov 0-0 Kuban
Rostov had control over the match for much of the 90 minutes but failed to have any real chances thanks to Kuban's solid defence. Meanwhile, the visitors attempted to hit on the counter, but they too failed to make an impact. Ultimately, Kuban's Lorenzo Melgarejo was sent off in stoppage time, but his side was able to wind down the last few minutes without conceding.

Table:
1 - Lokomotiv
2 - Zenit
3 - Spartak
4 - Dynamo
5 - CSKA
6 - Amkar
7 - Krasnodar
8 - Kuban
9 - Rostov
10 - Rubin
11 - Krylia
12 - Volga
13 - Terek
14 - Tom
15 - Ural
16 - Anzhi

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Dynamo 4-2 CSKA: Embarrassing capitulation rules CSKA out of title defence

CSKA have given up a two goal lead to lose 4-2 to Dynamo in the latest Moscow derby of the 2013-14 RPL season.

Both sides set up with their first choice lineups (see diagram), so there isn't really much to say about surprise inclusions or players missing due to injury/suspension. The only thing of note is that Alexei Kozlov made his Dynamo debut after joining from Kuban Krasnodar over the winter break, but I'll get to him a little later.

The match was very back and forth in the opening ten minutes, with Dynamo having two good chances and CSKA only being stopped by a slightly over-hit Seydou Doumbia pass. It wasn't long before Doumbia made up for his minor error as, in only the 12th minute, he skinned three Dynamo players and fired home a rocket of a shot from the edge of the box to give the visitors an early lead. Dynamo appeared to have the wind taken out of their sails by this, and Georgi Gabulov had to endure a flurry of CSKA chances over the following quarter of an hour, denying Zoran Tosic twice. However, things got even worse for the hosts as their brand new signing, Alexei Kozlov, pulled up short after challenging Ahmed Musa for the ball and had to be replaced. CSKA continued their attack following Kozlov's injury and came close through Alan Dzagoev, but were denied yet again by Gabulov. Gabulov couldn't hold out forever though, and Doumbia managed to get his second in the 43rd minute. Dzagoev beat two Dynamo defenders in the box and then sent the ball to the Ivorian, who finished perfectly with the outside of his boot to double CSKA's lead.

Halftime saw no personnel changes for either side, but Dynamo came out after the break looking significantly less incompetent than they had before the interval and as a result, they pulled one back with the first major chance of the half. The hosts built up play down the left flank and Yuri Zhirkov sent in a cross, which Kevin Kuranyi managed to get to first and head home from the edge of the 6-yard box. It wasn't long before Kuranyi had another header on target, but this time Akinfeev was able to reach it at full stretch to deny the German. For a few brief moments, CSKA looked like they were back on top as Georgi Schennikov stormed into Dynamo's box, beating four opposition players before being stopped by an excellent Christopher Samba tackle. Samba then continued his great performance by getting up the end and scoring the equaliser from a Marko Lomic cross. However, he suffered a head clash with Aleksandr Kokorin in the process of scoring, forcing him to come off and be replaced by Leandro Fernandez. Already staring at an embarrassing result, CSKA decided that conceding two goals wasn't enough, so only four minutes later they conceded a third, this time through Zhirkov, who controlled a Balazs Dzsudzsak cross and slotted it home. However, the goal arguably shouldn't have stood as Kokorin kicked Mario Fernandes in the face as the cross came in; an act which should have been given as a foul. It was only another six minutes before CSKA conceded again, this time thanks to a huge Igor Akinfeev error. The CSKA captain tried to lob the ball to Fernandes, yet failed to get it over Zhirkov who, all too easily, took the ball over Akinfeev and finished coolly for his second of the night.

Neither side really had any major chances for the rest of the match and it ended at 4-2. Dynamo's comeback from two goals down is an absolutely excellent demonstration of their class and attitude, whereas CSKA's utter capitulation is one of the most embarrassing defeats that the club has suffered in years. The champions now face an uphill battle to retain their title, sitting 6 points back from joint leaders Zenit and Lokomotiv, who both have a game in hand.

Notes:
- I really have no words for CSKA's awful collapse. They were dominant for most of the first half, only to fall apart after the interval. A real game of two halves.
- This defeat is unfortunately going to overshadow the excellent performances of Seydou Doumbia and Alan Dzagoev, who ran everything for CSKA in the first half. In particular, their combination on the second goal was beautiful.
- On that note, Doumbia and Dzagoev really deserve better wingers than Tosic and Musa. Tosic is ridiculously inconsistent and Musa appears to have lost a touch of the pace he relies on so much.
- Luke Wilkshire and Leandro Fernandez did surprisingly well after coming in for the injured Alexei Kozlov and Christopher Samba respectively.
- A lot of people are going to disagree with me over this, but I think other than that big error, Igor Akinfeev was on superb form. He had no chance to stop any of the other three goals and made several superb saves earlier in the match.

Man of the Match: Yuri Zhirkov
football formationsZhirkov was a dangerous threat down Dynamo's left all night and ultimately got the best of the out of form Mario Fernandes. Zhirkov scored the final two goals for Dynamo to win and kill off the game, but also provided an assist for Kuranyi's goal with an excellent cross. It was also his cross that produced Kuranyi's second chance that was saved by Akinfeev.

Honourable Mentions:
Seydou Doumbia - Scored two fantastic goals to put CSKA up and continued his performance with some excellent skill throughout the night. His passing was a little astray though, over-hitting several passes for Ahmed Musa.
Alan Dzagoev - Bossed Dynamo's midfield for much of the first half and had an excellent assist for Doumbia's second goal. Dzagoev dropped deeper than usual this game and controlled the tempo of play. On another night, this would've easily been a man of the match performance.
Christopher Samba - Worked hard in defence and did well to get up the other end and score the equaliser. His match was unfortunately ended by that head clash, but he certainly deserves recognition for the time he did spend on the pitch.