Dnipro Lose… I talk tactics

By: Darcy | November 26th, 2008

So the honeymoon is officially over. Although it took many weeks Dnipro have finally managed to lose a game with me as a blogger. I know it had to happen eventually, but that doesn’t make it taste any sweeter to write about the loss.

Dnipro played decently but got nothing to show for it. Vorobey had a goal in the first half correctly called back for offside, and right before the half Nazarenko hit a curling free kick from right outside the box into the post. IMO if the free kick had been struck in exactly the same way, but a few feet further from the net, Naza would have scored, but alas he didn’t. There were also a couple of questionable no calls against Tavria in their own box. So yeah, we definately could have gotten a better result. (Also, Alsides had one decent chance, and he deserves a medal for how badly he missed it. Despite striking the ball with the correct side of his foot on a half-volley for inside the 9-yard box, he managed to knock it out of bounds about 25 yards from the endline.

Tavria on the other hand had a strategy of:
1. Kick the ball upfield
2. Hope Homenyuk can do something
3. Rinse
4. Lather
5. Repeat
6. Have Hajduczek hit a free kick from ridiculously far out into the net:

Admitedly said free kick did go past the young Anton Kanibolitsky, who was making his first first team start, but still, it was pretty sweet.
As far as how Kanibolitsky did, I would say fairly shabby at best. The goal definately could have been saved by simply being better prepared and positioned for it, and he bobbled a few balls that although they did not lead to any serious Tavria chances, needn’t have been bobbled.

Lets talk about Bessonov for a bit. I seem to be developing a bit of a love-hate thing with the guy. On the one hand I like that he’s an arrogant douche. On the other hand he’s well… an arrogant douche. I like that he’s willing to send guys like Shelaev, Shershun, and Mazilu down to the reserves, and I like that he’s giving a shot to young guys like Kaverin, Konoplyanka, Karnoza and Kanobolitsky (Random thought, what the hell is with all the K names). On the other hand I think he’s going too far, and that although youth is good, and the games these kids are getting now will probably help us
enormously beyond this season, it’s detrimental to the current team to have Karnoza starting in the place of Shelaev, who still has much to offer the club, and simply should not be permanently dropped by Bessonov.

I like that he’s an arrogant douch to the media, and calls the players out on their mistakes, on the other hand he’s… well… an arrogant douche, and probably not the funnest person to be around.

Tactically however, there is no love. I originally liked the 4-1-4-1 we’ve been playing, but now it seems that it is only good on paper. I understand that via injuries to Belik and Samodin + the sale of Kornilenko + his refusal to play Mazilu, Bessonov has very limited options at striker, and so for that reason, one striker up front seems to make sense. Only it’s not working, and I can think of a couple of reasons why we would do better with Vorobey and Konoplyanka up front. Firstly, Konoplyanka has shown that despite failing to mark his first UPL goal, he can play well at this level and find chances to score. That being said, I think he would play much better if he were paired up with Vorobey, and had a veteran partner up front to play off of, rather than having to do it all on his own as an 80th minute sub for Vorobey. The problem of course is where do you go when Evgeny loses his legs late on. Kaverin? Rotan maybe? Change your formation? Problem is of course solved after the winter break when we should have Belik back to 100%, and we can buy another striker from the proceeds of selling Mazilu.

Onto the midfield, Naza need to be in the centre, an Rotan need to be on either wing, but beyond that you have many options, in my opinion, Shelaev’s timeout has lasted long enough and he need’s to be brought back to partner Naza in central midfield, and in a 4-4-2 Shelaev provides the defensive cover to allow Naza to be Naza . Kalinichenko would however be my pick on the right wing , as he seems to be superior to his closest competitor Lyopa, and I believe he would get a boost from playing there rather than in the middle.

In defense, Denisov has been solid in left back, and I would do nothing to remove him from that position. Despite Rusol’s stock having fallen very far with me over the past year or two, he’s still an obvious choice at CB, and I would continue to partner him with Lysitskiy as Bessonov has been doing, although a part of me would like to pair Rusol with Igor Lolo, just to see how that would work. Notwithstanding, in January my first priority would be finding a class CB. At right back we are just ridiculous. For whatever reason, Protasov decided that we had a gap at right back. We didn’t but he thought so, so he bought not one, but two great RB’s; Igor Lolo and Alsides. Based on past succeses, Alsides seems like the best choice at RB, although we haven’t had much of a chance to see him, as he’s suffered a couple of slight injuries since he’s arrived.

Lastly, at keeper Kernozenko is the man, at least when healthy, and although Startsev is not in the same class, he’s the clear number two for me. I like Kanibolitsky and think he does have great potential to one day be the Dnipro, and even Ukraine #1, for now I think he just needs a little more time to develop.

Alright, rant over. Forza Dnipro

Talk to you in a few days for a pre match blog off between me and yevy. Au Revoir