Locomotive shutdown: Railwaymen have lost their leadership in the RPL

Following the results of the 6th round of the Russian Football Championship, Spartak Moscow got out of the transition zone, beating Rubin Kazan with a score of 2.:0. And the capital's Lokomotiv missed the victory over Rostov at home (3:3) and lost the lead in the RPL, passing Krasnodar ahead, who defeated the Samara Wings of the Soviets (6:0) on the road, and CSKA Moscow, who prevailed over Tolyatti Akron (3:1). The main events of the last tour are described in the Izvestia article.

Rubin – Spartak

Having failed the first five rounds of the championship, Spartak made the worst start to the championship since the spring of 2011, when, under the leadership of Valery Karpin, it ended up in last place. This time, under the leadership of Dejan Stankovic, the red-whites dropped to 13th place - in the zone of transitional matches. But the 2-2 draw with Zenit gave reason for optimism due to the quality of the team's play in the first half and a half. After being eliminated from the opponent with the score 2:1, the Spartak players "switched off" and allowed the Petersburgers to equalize. But it was their best match of the season.

To talk about the club's recovery from the crisis, it was necessary to have a good trip to the unyielding Rubin, who successfully started the season and got into the leading group. In the first half, Spartak had a total advantage in possession of the ball, but Kazan could not do anything against the dense defense. But after the break, goals from Pablo Solari and Christopher Martins brought the visitors victory, which allowed them to rise to the middle of the table in eighth place, seven points behind the first place.

— Spartak had a great match, beating Rubin absolutely to the point and by one wicket, — Andrey Chervichenko, the former owner of the red and white, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — We managed to transfer to Kazan the game that was shown against Zenit before the relegation. They put a lot of pressure on the opponent, didn't let him do anything, pressed him, forced him to make mistakes. Rubin couldn't even make two or three accurate passes in a row for almost the entire game. A clean victory for Spartak.

Lokomotiv – Rostov

A round earlier, the Railwaymen narrowly avoided an away defeat from the well-started Kaliningrad Baltic (1:1), losing points for the first time in the championship. It seemed that Loko would have fewer problems with Rostov's failed start (one win and four losses in the first five rounds). That's how it was at first. After the first 20 minutes of the meeting, the Railwaymen led 2-0 thanks to goals from Alexei Batrakov and Dmitry Vorobyov.

And we looked better in the first half. But after the break, the red-green ones seemed to be replaced. Rostov seized the territorial advantage and scored two goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half — Mohammad Mohebi scored from the penalty spot and Timur Suleymanov scored from the game. The Donskoy club continued to dominate the field.

Sudden drop: how three top RPL clubs failed the start of the championship

Spartak, Zenit and Dynamo Moscow ended up in the second half of the table after five rounds.

Loko almost took the next three points in the class. In the 82nd minute, Alexander Silyanov put the hosts ahead. But in stoppage time, they didn't have enough seconds to hold on to victory — Ronaldo equalized just before the final whistle. This allowed the Rostov team to get out of the direct relegation zone, but they are still in 14th place in the transition zone.

—Lokomotiv actually missed the game — in the second half, Rostov played for a draw and was even closer to victory," Nikolai Naumov, former president of the Railwaymen, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — Yes, after the third goal, Galaktionov's team could and should have held on to victory, but that would have been as miraculous as a draw in Kaliningrad. Loko doesn't have a safety margin right now. Playing problems with teams of a lower class were also felt in the winning matches against Sochi (3:0) and Paris NN (3:2). The fact is that they choose the wrong tactics for these meetings — with the expectation of counterattacks and retreating to their penalty area. They started playing to hold the score against Rostov, gave him the freedom to shoot into his own penalty area, and this usually leads to mistakes. This tactic brought victories over Krasnodar (2:1) and Spartak (4:2). But against teams of Rostov's level, who play easier, you have to act under pressure. If Loko does not correct its tactics, it will make many more misfires.

Krylia Sovetov – Krasnodar

At the beginning of the season, Krylia Sovetov defeated Krasnodar away in the Russian Cup match (2:1). They got off to a good start in the championship, having suffered their first defeat in the previous fifth round — 1-3 away from Akhmat Grozny. Therefore, it was expected that the Volga residents would resist the reigning champion, who lost in the RPL only to Loko and showed that he was ready to defend the trophy.

He also confirmed his ambitions in Samara. Gaetan Perrin opened the scoring in the third minute, and 10 minutes later Eduard Spertsyan doubled Krasnodar's advantage from the penalty spot. For most of the first half, Krylia exerted pressure and tried to turn the tide of the meeting. But shortly before the break, John Cordoba killed the intrigue by scoring the third goal.

And at the end of the second half of the meeting, the Samaritans completely collapsed — Joao Batchi, the same Cordoba and Nikita Krivtsov brought the matter to a very tough defeat.:0. As a result, they came out on top, and Krylia dropped back to ninth place.

CSKA Moscow – Akron

The Army team, which gained momentum, hosted Akron at home, which, after an offensive home defeat from Orenburg (1:2), was not far from the transition zone. However, after leaving for Moscow, the situation of Tolyatti residents did not improve. By the 20th minute, CSKA was leading 2-0 thanks to Kirill Glebov, who first gave an assist to Mateus Alves, and then scored on his own. Pretty quickly, the guests won back one goal — Artem Dzyuba scored. But in the second half, at the end of the first hour of the game, Ivan Oblyakov doubled the advantage of the red and blue from the penalty spot, who calmly brought the meeting to victory and came in second place, losing to the leading Krasnodar only in additional indicators. The Army team will play the champion at home in the next RPL match.

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Four more meetings were also held in the last 6th round. Orenburg missed a 2-0 victory over Akhmat Grozny at home. Moreover, the Chechen club won back, being outnumbered in the 10th minute after Egash Kasintura was removed. And in the 64th minute, Lechi Sadulaev received another red card. But Stanislav Cherchesov's team held on to a draw, and more than half an hour of the game was played by two less players.

Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Dynamo Makhachkala (4:0). Dynamo Moscow beat Pari Nizhny Novgorod big at home (3:0), and Sochi lost to Kaliningrad Baltic at home (0:2).