“Locomotive” rushes downhill

Before the railroad workers and their fans had time to enjoy two bright matches, the German tandem of Loko coaches was again one step away from the abyss.

Russian championship. Round 8 Cherkizovo. Lokomotiv 1:2 Akhmat (Grozny). Goals: Miranchuk, 42 ​​(pen.) – Konate, 3, Sadulaev, 62

Of course, the wins over Khimki and Orenburg are the same three-pointers as over other opponents. But that’s just the “other” railroad did not win. The joy from previous victories was immediately blurred, despite Ivan Ignatiev’s hat-trick against the Urals and six million euros for the transfer of Alexis Beck-Beck from Nice. The first “pill” was in Nizhny Novgorod in the Cup match, and the second “flew” in the RPL home game.

The match with Akhmat literally swept away all the emerging prosperity, derailing both Loko and the hopes of the fans. The hosts played powerplay for almost an hour after Mohamed Konate was sent off in the 28th minute. The Burkinian got two warnings in a few minutes: an elbow strike and a step on the opponent’s foot in the center of the field. True, before that he managed to distinguish himself from the positive side. It was his shot that became an assist literally in the third minute of the mast, the leather sphere had nowhere to go, only at the gate of Khudyakov.

The referee of the meeting Evgeny Turbin also “participated” in the final result. Toward the end of the first half, the penalty he awarded raises questions. Anton Miranchuk in this episode, of course, did everything beautifully. The ability to provoke a defender to a foul and the ability to convincingly “present” this foul to the referee also needs to be tried, although this is contrary to the spirit of the game. Thus, the teams went to the break with an equal score.

And after the tea party, playing in the majority, Lokomotiv not only didn’t score, it also conceded, thus losing the match. Goalkeeper Georgiy Shelia worked hard for the guests, making several saves. The guests looked no worse, and they managed to turn the negative from the removal of Konate and the controversial penalty into a full-fledged three points.

Dmitry Barinov, again did not answer for his words (as in the match with Zenit) – he failed to restrain Lechi Sadulaev. The Akhmat striker left the captain of Loko as if he was standing up, and sent a football projectile along the billiard room along a manned trajectory into the corner.

Completely dropped out of the game Marco Rakognats, who came out for the second half. Yes, and Ignatiev let us down this time – the forward tried, sharpened, struck three blows and could even score, but the moment was mediocrely screwed up. The “revival” of the railway workers announced by the management is being postponed, and it’s time for him (the management) to think about the legitimacy of the stay of the duet (Martin Marvil and Josef Zinnbauer) of German coaches.

“We dominated, the game was under our control, but the outcome of the match is decided by goals scored … Yes, when the opponent was in the minority, maybe we released less attacking players on the field, but we had chances,” one of them justified on press conferences.

“The guys are great, they showed character. It’s just hard to play the second match in a row in the championship with ten men. I am satisfied with the performance of my team. In the first half, I didn’t see Lokomotiv’s chances,’ Andrey Talalaev, Grozny coach, summed up the match won.

Vladimir Sabadash.

Photo – Sergey Vinogradov.