Bakaev raised Spartak to the first place. After the coronavirus, he plays in the style of Firmino

Zelimkhan Bakayev’s game is the main progress of this summer in Russian football. The Spartak footballer was caught with an infection on May 22, Bakaev compared the disappointment with this news to falling into a pit. On June 7, Zelimkhan already worked hard in Tarasovka, but the rest of the season he skated nondescriptly, with 2 goals and 2 assists in 8 games.

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Two months later, the situation turned upside down. After the August derby with Lokomotiv, Tedesco stated: “Bakaev played a wonderful match, we relied on his strengths. It is not easy for Lokomotiv to defend against such players. “

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Russian championship

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YESTERDAY AT 15:46

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Zelimkhan is “Spartak” in miniature, Bakaev’s progress coincided with the progress of the whole team. In the July six-match marathon, Spartak won only twice, and in the new season they have never lost. The team for the first time since the championship season climbed to the first place – and this despite the football scandals.

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Spartak players in the match against Arsenal

Фото: Getty Images

The transformation is associated with a new gaming system. Tedesco outlined its pluses as follows: “Initially, it was not easy to start attacks because our defensive player was under the pressure of the opponent’s eights. Now we are playing with two sixes, and this scheme is bearing fruit. “

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Domenico is right: the renovation in the center has cheered up Spartak’s attack. Kral and Umyarov play floating midfielders – one of them plays in the wide zone, the other in the center. This is how the red and white stretches the defense, while Alex and Nail show the best qualities. Against Loko and Rotor, both of them entered the top 5 of Spartak by xGChain and xGBuildup – these are numbers that reflect the players’ contribution to the creation of chances, only xGBuildup does not count shots and assists.

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Spartak’s new attacking scheme. Umyarov and Kral are two midfielders. Kral opens wider to extend protection

Фото: Other Agency

But it wasn’t just sixes that flourished in Tedesco’s new system. Domenico wrote a fresh role for Bakaev – Zelimkhan made no less contribution to the latest results of Spartak. Previously, Bakaev played eight. Now he took the role by the number on the back – that is, he rolls back the top ten. Bakaev can even be called a false nine: nominally, he comes out in the front three, but on the ball he is pulled closer to the middle line.

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All this is for the sake of moving the ball into the final third. The new Bakaev descends into the zone in front of the penalty area and pulls the opponents onto himself. This gives Larsson, Ponce and Sobolev – whichever configuration they play side by side – more space. At the same time, Bakaev takes the ball, dribbles one or two opponents and puts the pass to his partner – this is how he manages to squeeze the ball into the penalty area. Against Rotor and Loko, he scored 14 assists each to advance to the final third, which is 34% and 40% of all his passes. That is, with every third pass, Zelimkhan is looking for progress and movement to someone else’s goal. And against Arsenal, he gave the goal in this way.

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In a broad sense, Bakaev became his Firmino for Spartak. Bobby’s role at Liverpool is to move so that Salah and Mane have more freedom in the box and on the semi-flanks. It was in the style of the Brazilian that Bakaev entered the top 2 teams in terms of xGChain (the total number of expected goals in possession of the ball, in which the player was involved) against Rotor and Loko. And with Arsenal I got into the top 5. In addition, Bakaev makes a strong contribution on the transmissions. Against Rotor Bakaev became the best in Spartak in assists, against Loko and Arsenal he was second.

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Zelimkhan’s activity indirectly resulted in 46 red-and-white shots in three games. Against Loko, Spartak struck 17 shots, 10 of them came from the game. Against Rotor – 22 and 14. Statistics slipped only against Arsenal’s tenacious personal defense – Spartak have 7 shots and 3 from the field there. The rest came from set pieces, but Tedesco saw an echo of positional play in this too: “In the last matches we started to score from standards, which are earned largely thanks to positional attacks.”

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Spartak coach Domenico Tedesco

Фото: Getty Images

All this is thanks to the new system with Bakaev in the leading role. She opened the way for Spartak to an effective positional attack. Tedesco also sees progress: “I am glad that Spartak has become better in possession of the ball. It’s great, and the players themselves like it. The team sees that the game task brings results. They play pass, they own the game. “

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Bakaev’s key role can only be entrusted to a strong player who will not lose the ball under pressure and will cut through even the tightest defenses. Bakaev fell under these requirements, and Spartak ran into the table ceiling. Tedesco is definitely angry about the break for the national teams – although this is unlikely to stop the protagonist of his attack, who has only become fresh after the coronapause.