Vladimir Osipov – about developments in the RPL

In the 22nd round of the Russian Football Championship, all the leaders lost points. Zenit, despite the draw in Samara with Krylya Sovetov (1:1), leads the standings. In second position is still Krasnodar, which is one point behind the leader. The southerners missed the chance to become the first in Moscow, drawing with Lokomotiv – 1:1. Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov followed the developments in the matches of the tour.

There were many draws in the 22nd round. In five out of eight meetings, the teams ended peacefully. Therefore, Dynamo’s unexpected major defeat from Rostov with a score of 1:4 had virtually no effect on the position of the blue and whites.

Marcel Lička’s team is only three points behind Zenit and two points behind Krasnodar. So the top three are still tight. CSKA and Lokomotiv, despite losing points, are not far from the top spot – only five points. “Spartak” – at six. And football expert Dmitry Bulykin believes that in the remaining nine rounds everything can change dramatically:

“I think Moscow clubs can easily change places with Krasnodar and even Dynamo, so we’ll see. The next two rounds will show who is capable of what.”

Now it is possible to explain the mistakes of the favorites, for example, by a pause for national team matches, but it is becoming more difficult to predict what will happen on the field in a given match. A striking example: the game “Lokomotiv” – “Krasnodar”, where until the last second it was not clear how it would end. In the first half, Loko looked more interesting, and the visitors led (1:0). And after the break, when it seemed that the railwaymen were exhausted, the score became equal.

The ending of the meeting was absolutely incredible. Both had real moments. And in the end it was a draw (1:1). Unfortunately, in addition to the brilliant football, after the end of the tour the refereeing was discussed again. The most resonant episode was in the match “Spartak” – “Ural”, where the referee did not give a 100% penalty to the guests’ goal. Even Vladislav Radimov, who played for Zenit, demanded that the RFU publish the negotiations of the judges – the miscalculation was too obvious.

As a result, the refereeing topic became one of the main ones. Social networks are actively discussing why the same referees are appointed to matches of the same clubs. Why do judges give different verdicts in similar episodes? And how did it happen that such a widely announced experiment with comments on refereeing decisions for the entire stadium suddenly stopped working?

But most importantly: why is no one responsible for all this bacchanalia? It’s curious, but even referees who make indecently gross mistakes are supported by the football management. All this has become a serious problem for our football, refereeing expert Leonid Kaloshin told Kommersant FM:

“The time has come when there should be no secrets at all in refereeing. Who will feel bad if you tell it like it is? On the contrary, this will make you more credible as an arbitrator. They forgot that there are two terms – the correct decision of the judge and the wrong decision of the judge. If you look at the RFU website, when they post the commission’s decision, there are always headlines “ESC supported so-and-so.”

There is no need to support them, they just need to be told the right decision or the wrong decision. Then there will be less anger from the football community.”

But apparently, the current leadership of the RFU is not going to change anything. Officials only occasionally invite a new head of the judiciary from abroad, but the system remains unchanged. We can’t do anything about it. So all that remains is to enjoy football, which, fortunately, can sometimes be exciting. But those who are going to follow the championship race need to keep in mind the fact that refereeing errors can also seriously affect the final results.

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