Fate is on the line: what to watch out for in the 15th round of the RPL

The next round of the RPL starts on the weekend, which will be the final one before the break for the national team games. We are announcing the most interesting matches of the weekend: Zenit will try to rehabilitate itself after the cup defeat against Dynamo, Stanislav Cherchesov will be opposed by his former team, Lokomotiv has a chance to regain its lost positions in the match against Orenburg. We will also see an interesting sniper duel in the Dynamo —Akron game, and Dynamo Mx will try to defeat CSKA for the second time in a week. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Krylia Sovetov — Zenit

Krylia has been unable to win in the RPL for almost two months, with five defeats in the last six rounds. The Samaritans are frankly "floating," and the fiasco with Dynamo Makhachkala last week only underscores the severity of the problems. There are already rumors about the possible resignation of Magomed Adiev, but the governor of the Samara region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev redirects all questions about the change of head coach to the club's management.

The situation is becoming critical, the wings are already in the play-off zone, and it is absolutely unclear how to fix the situation. The team clearly does not have enough internal resources, and the counterattacking strategy does not work due to major defensive problems (in terms of goals conceded and chances allowed, the Samaritans are the worst in the league after Sochi). Therefore, Zenit is unlikely to experience serious difficulties. The St. Petersburg team is especially energized right now — an insulting defeat against Dynamo and a chance to reach the first place should provoke and even anger Semak's team as much as possible. Moreover, Pedro has gained fantastic shape, the new center of gravity for the blue-white-blue attacks. With Wings, he will definitely have room to prove himself.

"Lost points where it shouldn't be done"

Lokomotiv football player Artyom Karpukas — about the offensive misfires in the Russian championship, the first defeat in the tournament and the attempted kidnapping of Zenit player Andrei Mostovoy

Akhmat — Spartak

Cherchesov versus Spartak is already intriguing. Stanislav Salamovich has been predicted to return to the club more than once in recent years, but so far this has not happened, and everyone is going their own way. The former coach of the Russian national team got off to a great start at Akhmat, but the initial effect quickly evaporated. The Grozny team is attacking well and scoring enough, but the defense is clearly lacking a couple of better players. 10 goals conceded in the last four rounds is a lot, and Akhmat conceded at least two in each of the games.

But for Spartak, this is definitely not a guarantee of success. First of all, the Muscovites are definitely not much better at playing defense — Jiku and Wu are not pulling into the role of leaders, Litvinov is not impressive, Babich is injured. So the imbalance in the Stankovich system can be explained. On the other hand, it's not very noticeable that the coach is making enough effort to get out of an unpleasant situation. Spartak continues to lose points regularly, is not progressing in the game plan and is unlikely to expect anything serious this season. So far, Deyan's task is to hold out at least until the winter break.

Lokomotiv — Orenburg

Loko suffered their first defeat of the season in the last round, but they hardly deserve criticism for this. The Railwaymen played on equal terms with Zenit and lost rather in the final segment, when the St. Petersburg team managed to realize the advantage as a bench. Before that, there was a draw with Akron, when the red-greens also looked good on the whole, but played poorly in the first half. Now the Locomotive is no longer the first, but the fifth. However, the gap from the first place is only five points, so you just need to score points.

It is especially important to do this now, since in the 16th round we will have to play with the champion Krasnodar. Orenburg, on the other hand, is an opponent who must beat Loko at home. Sometimes Galaktionov's team has problems with opponents who use the lowest possible block, but the Orenburg team, under the leadership of new coach Ildar Akhmetzyanov, began to play a little more actively on the attack. So the defenders of the "railwaymen" definitely shouldn't yawn.

Taste from the Cup: Karpin vs Semak and the Moscow Derby

The main intrigues of the 1/4 finals of the RPL Path

Dynamo — Akron

It's time for Dynamo to really improve. The victory over Zenit in St. Petersburg, even within the framework of the Cup, is a serious achievement. In some ways, it's even binding. It was not for nothing that Valery Karpin thanked the fans after that meeting and asked for more support in the match against Akron. The team especially needs her, as Dynamo has not won four consecutive matches in the RPL.

But Akron, on the contrary, has not lost in the last four meetings. Zenit and Lokomotiv were also stopped, so it is definitely impossible to underestimate the opponent of the blue and white. Zaur Tedeev's team is very good at moving quickly into the attack, and this can be a special problem for Dynamo, which plays with a high line and at the same time constantly makes failures at its gates.

But Tyukavin gets fired up, and, of course, there is a special stake on his qualities. Konstantin scored a goal plus a pass with Zenit, and the goal scored was especially cool. The striker himself says that this is not his best form yet, it will be difficult to come to it this year. But it's nice to see one of the best forwards in the country getting fit.

Dynamo Moscow — CSKA

The calendar gave us an interesting story: on November 5, Dynamo Makhachkala and CSKA met in Kaspiysk as part of the Cup quarterfinals, and on November 8 they will play right there in the Russian championship. It's tempting to start drawing parallels with the cup match, in which Hasanbi Bijiyev's team won 1-0 thanks to a penalty goal, but something tells me that the game will be completely different this weekend.

First of all, because all the strongest players will have to play. In the suboptimal composition, CSKA looked frankly weak in the middle of the week, obviously, the team is very dependent on the freshness of Kislyak, Glebov and Oblyakov.

In recent weeks, the Army team has been gaining points, but they are not making such a vivid impression as they did at the start of the season. Fortunately, the calendar now allows for fewer meetings with top rivals, which means that CSKA needs to continue to systematically realize its advantage in the class. Well, the first place is just around the corner, especially since the leader in the upcoming round may well misfire.

Fight with the Bulls: Krasnodar beat Spartak with two disposals

The Southern club retained its leadership in the RPL, Loko lost the first match in the current championship.

Baltika — Krasnodar

Murad Musaev was recognized as the best coach of the RPL in October, and it is absolutely deserved. After losing to Zenit and Rostov, Krasnodar scored five consecutive victories, in which they conceded only twice (including making a serious bid to reach the Cup semifinals, beating Orenburg 3-1). The fly in the ointment is the removal of John Cordoba and Douglas Augusto, as well as the "extra" cards of Diego Costa and Krivtsov in the match against Spartak, so we will have to make adjustments to the squad.

Nobody just happens to be in Kaliningrad. Baltika suddenly shared points with Paris NN in the round before last, but then confidently dealt with Akhmat, so it's obvious that Talalaev continues to control all processes in the team. But in the match against Krasnodar, Baltika will still be a clear underdog, especially after losing key central midfielder Maxim Petrov. In any case, this is a meeting where a sensation can easily happen. Krasnodar will have to fight to keep the top spot.