Translated material
Spring signs
Not all the giants have managed to find their game yet
The central match of the seventh round was destined to be a meeting between two Spartaks. Team-mate games are always an interesting competition, and then the southern “Spartak” came to Moscow as a leader. True, at the start of the Spartak derby, the Nal residents were not the sole leaders - CSKA caught up with them. The army team dealt with the local Sibir in Novosibirsk on Saturday - 4:1. The finalist of the Russian Cup could not oppose anything to the quarterfinalists of the Champions League. The Siberians have one point left, firmly keeping the Premier League newcomers in last place.Among Saturday's matches, it is worth noting Lokomotiv's victory over Tom - 2:1. The winning goal, already the sixth in this championship, was scored by Alexander Aliyev. The disqualified Yuri Semin held a meeting on the podium, from where he sometimes called his assistant Vladimir Maminov to the bench. It turned out well. After the match, Yuri Pavlovich, either jokingly or seriously, stated that he was ready to continue watching matches from the sector, as Konstantin Ivanovich Beskov once did.
Dynamo, whose play caused a lot of criticism, played with Saturn, which had an ugly start in the current championship. The Moscow region team is still far from the melancholy days of Jürgen Reber, but the Moscow region club is completely different from last year’s Gordeevsky “Saturn”. Therefore, soon there will probably be questions for Andrei Gordeev. And for his Dynamo colleague and namesake Andrei Kobelev, they have already begun to accumulate. Dynamo's victory with a score of 1:0 (the goal was scored by Alexander Epureanu) will somewhat reduce the relevance of the possible resignation of the blue and white coach, but the quality of play of the 11-time USSR champions is still far from ideal.
The 21-time national champions, Moscow Spartak, look just as unimportant. So in the match with Nalchik teammates, “Spartak” did not bring joy to its fans. Valery Karpin made changes in the lineup. Ivan Saenko and Zhano Ananidze came on from the first minutes, but the changes did not bring the desired changes, although both players were perhaps the best in the hosts' lineup. The Muscovites played too slowly, which only benefited the Nalchik players.
The turning point could have been the 25th minute, when the capital's Spartak almost failed in its counterattack. Roman Kontsedalov, at the cost of being sent off, eliminated Welliton's one-on-one situation with Otto Fredriksson. But Valery Karpin’s team did not derive any dividends from their numerical advantage. Neither in the first half, nor in the second.
Before the break, the only things that were remembered were the inconsistency in the play of Nal's Fredriksson and Dzhudovich, for which Welliton almost punished them, and Ananidze's free-kick, parried by the goalkeeper of the southern Spartak. After the break, Karpin replaced Ibson with Ari, but the appearance of the second forward did not escalate the game. On the contrary, the departure of Ibson, perhaps the most nimble of the Spartac players, had a negative impact on the actions of the hosts. The game has leveled off.
In the middle of the second half, David Siradze had two excellent opportunities to score. After a corner kick, he hit twice from an advantageous position. The first blow was saved by Soslan Dzhanaev, the second by Renat Sabitov. After such a fire at the gate, Muscovites woke up. They started moving a lot and pressed the guests against the goal. But the only scoring chances can be attributed to Ananidze’s hit to the crossbar. Nalchik Spartak survived, extended its unbeaten streak and temporarily returned to the top of the table. Spartak had to settle for a goalless draw in the second match in a row. And after the final whistle, Alex asked the referee for a red card, and in Perm he is no help to Spartak.
Karpin's team is perhaps the main disappointment of the opening rounds. “Spartak” plays hard, predictably, strained. And it’s completely different from how Spartak looked last year under the leadership of Valery Karpin. Something very painfully similar to the spring “Spartak” by Laudrup (Cherchesov, Fedotov, Starkov). Every year the “red-whites” start weakly, don’t play, but suffer and lose points. Revitalization and transformation come only after changing coaches. And so every year. So far, there is no talk of Karpin’s resignation, especially since the head coach can be fired by the general director. And his name is Valery Georgievich Karpin. But for now, Spartak’s “Groundhog Day” is emerging more and more clearly.
Zenit was content with a goalless draw at home. The St. Petersburg team failed to cope with the Grozny Terek. At the beginning of the meeting, St. Petersburg leader Danny missed a penalty kick - goalkeeper Andrei Dikan is simply magnificent this season. Gradually, Zenit's activity faded away, and Anatoly Baydachny's team returned from a difficult trip with a point in their pocket. And it won’t be superfluous.
Results. 7th round. "Dynamo" - "Saturn" - 1:0 (Epureanu 72), "Sibir" - CSKA - 1:4 (Cizek 74 - Ignashevich 12, Guilherme 45, Necid 54, Dzagoev 73), "Lokomotiv" -- "Tom" -- 2:1 (Glushakov 33, Aliev 44 -- Kornilenko 83), "Spartak" M -- "Spartak-Nalchik" -- 0:0, "Zenit" -- "Terek" -- 0 :0, "Rubin" - "Anji" - 0:0. The match "Rostov" - "Alania" ended late yesterday evening. The match "Krylya Sovetov" - "Amkar" will take place today.
Premier League
| 1. “Spartak-Nalchik” | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 11--4 | 15 |
| 2. CSKA | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 11--4 | 14 |
| 3. "Ruby" | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5--1 | 13 |
| 4. Zenit | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5--2 | 12 |
| 5. "Lokomotiv" | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10--9 | 10 |
| 6. "Rostov" | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8--10 | 10 |
| 7. Spartak M | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7--6 | 10 |
| 8. "Terek" | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7--4 | 10 |
| 9. "Tom" | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8--7 | 9 |
| 10. Dynamo | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6--6 | 9 |
| 11. "Anji" | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8--7 | 8 |
| 12. "Amkar" | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5--5 | 7 |
| 13. "Alania" | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5--9 | 5 |
| 14. "Saturn" | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3--6 | 4 |
| 15. “Wings of the Soviets” | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4--11 | 3 |
| 16. "Siberia" | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 6--18 | 1 |