“Krasnodar is increasingly being called a real contender for the championship”

The 10th round of the Russian Premier League brought several surprises to football fans. The current national champion Zenit lost away to Orenburg (1:3), and Spartak lost heavily in Samara to the Krylya Sovetov club (0:4). Dynamo lost points in Grozny, drawing with Akhmat (1:1). Krasnodar is still in the lead in the championship standings. Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov followed the developments in the matches of the 10th round.

Football experts, when making their forecasts, very often say that gold is usually won by those clubs that consistently take points in matches with teams of a lower class. In the current RPL season, only Krasnodar is doing this so far. A third of the championship is over, and the southerners have never lost, conceding only three goals and scoring 16. This time they beat Rubin on the road – 2:0. And Krasnodar is increasingly being called a real contender for the championship.

True, a lot can change during the long winter break. In the meantime, the competitors of Vladimir Ivich’s team are making mistakes – Zenit lost in Orenburg (1:3). After the match, former blue-white-blue player Andrei Arshavin was even glad that this happened:

“In any case, Zenit’s ill-wishers would be happy if he beat Orenburg, saying that this team never fights. If we approach it from this angle, then maybe it’s not bad that Orenburg beat Zenit for the first time, in my opinion, in history.”

The fact is that on the sidelines, Orenburg was often called Zenit’s farm club, since both teams are financed by Gazprom. Not to mention the “strange” transfers between clubs. So Zenit’s loss of points is definitely a surprise, but this most likely will not reduce the talk about the team’s relationship. Perhaps even the opposite. After all, it is difficult to completely get rid of the trail of stories when a player worth €2-€3 million is acquired by Zenit for several tens of thousands of rubles.

But these are things of the past, and this time they will still talk about Zenit’s gaming problems, although the defeat of the current champion will definitely remain in the shadow of what happened with Spartak in Samara. The red-whites were on fire (0:2) already by the 26th minute. It seemed that after such a start the guests should wake up, but no. Towards the end of the meeting, the score became simply indecent.

It seems that now talk about the resignation of Spartak head coach Guillermo Abascal will flare up with renewed vigor. Former red-and-white player Eduard More tried to understand what happened to the people’s team in Samara:

“The Wings were light, they ran, they were motivated. “Spartak” seemed a bit tired to me. Here the whole team played clearly below their capabilities, and primarily in movement, in aggression, maybe even in desire.”

“Krylya Sovetov” has soared high and is now firmly in second place in the standings, only three points behind the leader, “Krasnodar”. The team’s performance can impress anyone – 25 goals in 10 matches. But after the final whistle, the experienced coach of the Samara club, Igor Osinkin, spoke about the need to keep the players from euphoria:

“It is now very important for the coaching staff and I to find some words so that the players stay on the ground. Everything is ahead. We need to improve, we have something to add. Even on such a joyful day, one must look forward correctly.”

Samara looks forward with hope and is ahead of Lokomotiv, Zenit, Spartak, CSKA and Dynamo in the standings, absolutely for the case. But, despite the misfires of the favorites, everything is still very tight at the top of the standings, and any mistake can change a lot. In addition, this week the RPL teams will have to play in the Russian Cup, and the 11th round matches will begin next weekend, where fans will have a loud confrontation between Spartak and CSKA.

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