Under the aegis of Ivic, the “Citizens” had a stellar performance.

Serbian clash

In the nineteenth round of the Russian Championship, the “bulls” hosted the capital’s “Dynamo”. This meeting was a confrontation between two Serbian coaches who made their debuts this season in the national top division.

Even before the match, Dynamo coach Slavis Jokanovic had personal difficulties. He couldn’t rely on Arsen Zakharyan and Fedor Smolov. The club’s doctors estimated that the midfielder and striker must miss this tour. Vladimir Ivich had no personnel problems.

This match attracted many more spectators. If a little less than eight thousand spectators came to the last game with Torpedo, which became the first game in Krasnodar, for which it was necessary to issue a Fan ID, then a little more than fourteen thousand people visited the Dynamo stadium.

“Krasnodar” from the first minutes began to attack the doors of “Dynamo”. Already in the fifth minute, John Cordoba sent the ball into the net, but the young referee Artem Lyubimov recorded an offside before that. In general, the Colombian showed himself well in this game. Cordoba obviously wanted to score, he acted actively, but, apart from dangerous moments and a goal that didn’t count, he didn’t create anything.

The Bulls continued to attack, but in the nineteenth minute they made a mistake and conceded because of it. At first, Christian Ramirez could not block Mumi Ngamalyo’s supply. The Cameroonian midfielder on the right, from the corner of the pitch, spun the ball low into the central part of the penalty area, where Konstantin Tyukavin broke away from Kaio, jumped from behind Kevin Lenini and brought the ball in in the net with his head to fall. Dynamo’s young forward showed himself well throughout the match, successfully replacing Smolov. In the 34th minute, he gave a classy pass to Dmitry Skopintsev, putting him in a deadly position. The former Krasnodar defender sent the ball over the goal. In the last minute of the first half, Tyukavin was able to score a brace, handled the ball in the penalty box, shot sharply from ten yards, but missed the target.

Krasnodar after a missed goal did not lose his head. In general, the opponent showed open football, allowing the hosts to create dangerous moments. The “Bulls” played with throws, stepping on the throat of their own song on the “short pass”. The game lacked good speeds. Nevertheless, the public saw the goals. In the 24th minute, Ramirez crossed from the left to the end of the goalkeeper’s box, where Kadi Borges hit his head on goal. Anton Shunin could well have repelled this shot, but did not miss the most difficult ball.

The second half turned out to be brighter and more eventful. Already in the 54th minute, Tyukavin hit the post. Before that, the striker made a tackle from Junior Alonso, edging out Matvey Safonov. Kayo tried to get that ball but couldn’t. Three minutes later, the Brazilian header sent a projectile into the left corner of the goal, behind Shunin’s pass, but at the same time he was offside.

The decisive moment of the game came in the 59th minute. Ngamalyo tripped, fell, then jumped up and kicked Eduard Spertsyan in the leg. Lyubimov showed the Cameroonian a red card. Left in the minority, Dynamo has of course tempered its offensive enthusiasm. It would be stupid if the “bulls” did not take advantage of it.

In the 68th minute of the match, Borges, having received the ball, moved from the right to the center, took out Vyacheslav Grulev on his way, sent a projectile from the arc of the free kick into the left corner of a violent blow. Ricochet off the bar, he flew into the net. For the newcomer from Krasnodar, this was a highlight.

As they advanced, the “citizens” as a whole slowed the already slow pace. Dynamo, who remained in the minority, had little to answer. Tukavin is clearly tired. The substitutions made by Jokanovic didn’t strengthen the game. It seems to be a chance for the ‘citizens’ to show that attacking football, which they so often declare. But that didn’t happen. Ten minutes before the end of regular game time, Safonov started playing for time.

Already in the extra time of the match, Spertsyan first took a dangerous shot. The Armenian national team midfielder hit the post next to the post. In the last minutes, Nikita Kryvtsov, who came on as a substitute and as motivated as possible, after an unsuccessful clearance from Skopintsev, shot sharply from the penalty area into the left corner of the goal – 3: 1. He is at note that before this game, Dynamo didn’t take kicks from outside the penalty area, but here they did twice.

The victory allowed Krasnodar to score 29 points and take seventh place in the standings. So far, it’s the most brilliant match of the “Citizens” under Ivic’s leadership. Yes, the Bulls won with a powerplay, but it was a voluntary win. Maybe it was important for Ivic to beat his compatriot. Both coaches behaved very expressively during the game. None of them wanted to lose.

There’s something to work on

“Sochi” in the nineteenth round hosted “Orenburg”. It seemed that after a convincing victory over CSKA, Kurban Berdyev’s team would succeed again. Moreover, Orenburg was the highest assisting team in the Premier League. For eighteen rounds, Marcel Licka’s pupils took the ball out of their gates forty times. Moreover, the Orenburgers had one of the worst indicators in the away game. But the result was completely unexpected.

Orenburgers have already played open football. At the Fisht stadium, they did not deviate from their tactics. The team was brought onto the pitch as captain by Dmitry Vorobyov. The center-forward played thirteen matches for the “resorts” without scoring a single goal.

Berdyev, as always, played defensively, relying on tackles, interceptions and using free space in the opposing half. It is surprising that the Turkmens did not initially put the author of the double against the “army” – Luka Djordjevic. The Montenegrin came out only in the 60th minute of the game and didn’t score with effective actions.

The whole first half “Sochi” hit on goal, but could not boast of being accurate. In the eighteenth minute, Christian Noboa touched the frame. The goal could have happened if Artur Yusupov had played on the rebound at the same time, the midfielder did not have time to adapt to the ball and shot wide of the target, despite being in front of a empty net.

Before the break, Orenburg only created one scoring chance, but that gave the result. Kirill Kaplenko after Artem Makarchuk’s takedown was first to the rebound and quickly hit from decent distance. Sochi left for the break, losing with a minimum score. The goal, perhaps, did not arise from the logic of the game, but it happened and, perhaps, determined the outcome of the game.

In the second half, the Orenburg team inflicted a mark rout on the hosts. The guests started briskly and already in the fiftieth minute celebrated the second goal. Ivan Bašić first managed to hold on from a corner on the right flank, then Matias Perez jumped over Noboa and sent the ball under the crossbar with his head. Soslan Dzhanaev only hooked the projectile, but did not save the team.

“Sochi”, as they say, fell. And “Orenburg” got the most out of it. Berdyev perfectly appreciated the situation. In the sixtieth minute, the coach made a triple substitution. Only the hosts tried to gain control of the ball, as the guests scored the third goal. In one of the attacks, Bašić left Vanya Drkušić and then hit a classy shot under the right post. Dzhanaev did not even have time to react to this.

Yuri Kovalev ended this match. The midfielder of “Orenburg” and before that “tore” “Sochi” on counterattacks. In the 74th minute, the Belarusian burst into the penalty area without resistance and shot into the corner from a minimum distance – 0: 4.

Sochi could have scored a prestige goal in stoppage time. Noboa shot well from the penalty area, but hit the post again. The hosts were able to successfully play on the rebounds, but the ball got stuck in the Orenburgers’ feet. Worse this season, Sochi only played with Zenit, after conceding seven unanswered goals from the Russian champion.

After this match, the “resorters” with 28 points fall to ninth place in the standings. Berdyev clearly has something to work on with the squad in training.