Tag Archives: Russia

Euro 2012 A3 – Greece 1-0 Russia – Match Analysis

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Lineups

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Match Analysis

Greece adjust to secure the left side: In the game against Poland Holebas was given little protection by Samaras and was regularly exposed by Blaszczykowski, so in the second group game against Czech Republic Santos shuffled his front line to try to give the left back some more protection – an effort which was instantly proven worthless as the Czechs carved open Greece’s left side at will to take an early 2-0 lead. So for this match Santos replaced the attack-minded Holebas with Tzavellas in the hope of negating Dzagoev.

A clean sheet against a side that had beaten the eventual group winners 4-1 in the opening match suggests that this change was instrumental in the new-found defensive solidarity. In truth, Russia still dominated the Greek left, and Dzagoev still got into good scoring positions – the change of left back was decorative more than decisive.

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Despite the Greek reshuffle, Russia still favour the right wing and Dzagoev still causes problems moving out-to-in

Woeful Russian finishing: Both sides managed only two shots on target, but Russia achieved this from 31 attempts at goal. 9 Russian players took at least two shots, and 3 had at least five attempts, showing that the threat on the Greek goal was coming from all over the pitch. The chalkboard below backs this up, showing that these shots were coming in from left and right, near and far; the only thing most of them had in common was that Sifakis could wave at them as they sailed past his goal into the stand behind. After a shocking display from Chalkias in previous games, you’d have thought Russia would want to ensure they tested his emergency understudy.

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Russia couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a barn door while playing a banjo

Greek set piece threat: Greece struggled to create anything of note in this game, as Russia completely dominated. Their 161 total passes accounted for only 31% of possession, and the 31 of those passes which took place in the attacking third only led to one successful cross. However, Greece were a constant threat from corners, connecting with four of their five – particularly from the right which is where most of their shots came from. Russia couldn’t deal with the set piece routines Greece were running at the near post, and paid the price.

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Greece connect with 4/5 corners, accounting for all but one of their goalscoring chances created in the 90 minutes

Conclusions

Russia were widely tipped to walk this match and win group A (including by a website not a million miles away from here). In truth (and not just because it makes this website feel a little bit better about itself) Russia were dominant and could have easily scored a hatful if they hadn’t been so wasteful. However, if you can’t score against Greece then you don’t really deserve to make the quarter finals.

Greece have qualified, but due to a nervous collapse by Poland and the aforementioned gift by Russia. They haven’t really impressed at all so far in this tournament, but fortune seems to be on their side. Surely they can’t keep this up for another three matches and repeat their Euro 2004 success… can they?!

Euro 2012 A2 – Poland 1-1 Russia – Match Analysis

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Lineups

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Match Analysis

Poland add security: Smuda made a slight change to his lineup from the match against Greece; wary of Russia’s propensity to try to play through teams, he selected Dudka as a protective midfielder, allowed Polanski and Murawski more freedom to push forward, and shifted Obraniak from his position behind Lewandowski against Greece to the left side role that Rybus assumed in that game.

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Obraniak was notionally the left sided player, but drifted infield much more frequently than Rybus in the Greece game

With Dudka behind him, Murawski was given greater licence to roam against Russia than against Greece, where his play was concentrated around the left side of the centre circle. Simultaneously his impact on the game waned (he attempted and completed fewer than half as many passes against Russia as he did against Greece), perhaps because of the slight change in approach or perhaps simply because Russia are a better team than Greece and Poland had much less possession overall. Make no mistake, this was a good move for Smuda, as even if Murawski’s influence was reduced, the team was much better set up to combat Russia in this configuration.

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Murawski allowed to roam more against Russia, but on the periphery of the game

Russia unable to make possssion pay: Russia registered 60% of possession, but almost by stealth as they didn’t seem to dominate the ball and Poland looked the more likely to score. Russia did take the lead from a set piece, as Dzagoev was abandoned by Piszczek to glance in a header uncontested, but Tyton had very little else to be concerned with. Poland managed six shots on target, three in each half, as they were much more creative with the possession they did have. They had a goal ruled out for offside after a beautiful passing move which would have been a clear contender for goal of the tournament due to the slick one-touch passing and they way it tore the Russian defence open.

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The best passing move of the game, leading to the offside pass which was tucked away

Blaszczykowski eventually did equalise from open play, with a clever run around Zhirkov and an excellent curling finish in at the far post. Unfortunately he then wasted possession on several occasions by trying to shoot from all angles and distances, with one such attempt even going out for a throw. Arshavin was taking notes, as he managed to get one of his own shots out for a throw too. It’s not often that happens twice in one game…

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Anything you can do, I can do better

Conclusions

Russia only have Greece to play and will take their place in the quarter finals, where they will need to improve their creativity from this showing in order to progress further. Poland on the other hand have an intriguing match against the Czech Republic to come, where the Czechs have the benefit of a win over Greece, but Poland look threatening and it could be a very exciting game to watch between two creative teams.

Euro 2012 A1 – Russia 4-1 Czech Republic – Match Analysis

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Lineups

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Match Analysis

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Statistically an evenly matched game, apart from one stat in particular…

Club vs country: The Russian starting 11 featured no fewer than seven players from the title-winning Zenit side, which only lost 4 games in this elongated Russian Premier League season. It is therefore no surprise that Russia’s style and interplay is very reminiscent of Zenit; let’s face it, even if Advocaat wanted them to play in a different way, these players would naturally settle into the style they are used to for their club. The Czech side, in contrast, featured players from 11 different club sides in six different leagues.

Czechs start strongly: Despite the cosmopolitan nature of their lineup, the Czechs started the stronger side. Jirasec and Rosicky were the leading lights of the opening phase, picking up the ball and driving at the Russian defence, while Pilar on the left was also a threat, getting the better of Anyukov at right back on several occasions, and being ably supported by Kadlec pushing forward on the overlap. In the first 10-15 minutes the game was all Czech, with Russia barely able to string a couple of passes together.

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Czechs have more possession, further forward, in the opening phase

Arshavin sparks into life: After weathering this early period of Czech dominance without really being tested at the back, it was Arshavin who dragged Zenit Russia back into the game. Operating on the left, he won a corner which allowed Russia to move up the field and cause their first defensive problem for the Czechs, then released Zhirkov on the overlap with a bit of trickery for their first real shot at goal, which was skewed wide by Kerzhakov. All of a sudden the game looked much more even as Russia had finally established a foothold.

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Arshavin ineffectual in the first 10, but involved much more in the next 15

Czechs absent in midfield: At this point the most obvious tactical deficiency of the Czechs was beginning to be exploited by Russia. With Rosicky and Jiracek notably pushing forward to support Czech attacks, it was left to Plasil to be the more defensively minded of the three. This is a job that he doesn’t have the necessary restraint and commitment for, preferring to venture forward himself when his team are in possession. With Russia the better team and likely to try to play through the Czechs, it seemed odd that Bilek started with this lineup instead of Hubschman who is a more natural protective midfielder. It led to Plasil being caught regularly up the pitch, often giving the ball away himself, and allowed Russia to break at the Czech back line with numbers.

This exposure of the defence was in part responsible for the first goal, as Plasil’s absence drew Kadlec in to midfield to try to break down a Russian attack, where he clashed with the recovering Plasil and took them both out of the game. Russia played the ball to Zyryanov in the vacant left back slot, who crossed for Kerzhakov to head against the post and Dzagoev to follow in as the Czech defenders stood and watched.

Plasil was also at fault for the second goal, allowing Russia to break 4-on-3. Arshavin overhit his pass to Kerzhakov, and as the #11 turned to remonstrate with his captain, Dzagoev stole in to lift the wayward ball over a hesitant Cech.

Despite Plasil’s problems, Jiracek and Pilar in particular were causing problems whenever they received the ball, willing to drive forward and cause Russia problems.

Hubschman changes the Czech fortunes: At half time Bilek removed the ineffectual Resek in favour of Hubschman, adding some form of protection in front of the back four. This pushed Plasil up alongside Rosicky, and moved Jirasek out to the right. Now the Czech Republic had a secure base to allow the forward line to commit to finding a response to being 2-0 down, without as much risk of being caught on the counter as in the first half. This is how they should have started the game, if it wasn’t already clear.

Plasil made the most of his new-found freedom by supplying the assist for the Czech goal. Picking up the ball in acres of space, he had all the time in the world to play in Pilar on an out-to-in run, and Pilar had no trouble rounding Malafeev to make it 2-1. Pilar was having a spectacular game on the left, and deserved this well-taken goal. Similarly, Anyukov was not enjoying Pilar’s challenge, and it was fittingly the right back whose poor attempt at playing offside allowed Pilar in behind.

Kerzhakov has his boots on the wrong feet: The game was now more open as the Czechs began to search for the equaliser, and Rosicky was the only man to get a shot on target in this period of the game. That statistic is mainly due to some woeful finishing from Kerzhakov, who found himself in good positions as Russia began to exploit the Czechs’ necessary hunt for a second goal.

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Kerzhakov sees cows arse, holds banjo, can’t combine the two

Pavlyuchenko finishes it off: Having agitated for a move from the Spurs bench in January to get playing time before the Euros, Pavlyuchenko showed that he was not bluffing by producing a goal and an assist from his 16 second half minutes. The assist was hardly spectacular, taking advantage of a lucky break of the ball to feed in Dzagoev who adopted the hit-and-hope approach to finishing and narrowly missed Cech to make it 3-1. Then Pavlyuchenko himself received the ball of the edge of the box, realised that Hubnik was intent on committing himself to winning the ball, so drew him in, made a yard of space and fired the ball past Cech into the top corner. Cech got fingertips to it, but it was a powerful shot and a difficult save to make.

Conclusions

A surprisingly even game. Russia were the better side and created the best chances, while exploiting Czech tactical naivety in the first half. However, Pilar was the standout player, constantly causing problems, able to take players on and rarely losing the ball. Jiracek too deserves a mention. The two Arsenal mini-maestros performed well, while Dzagoev took the headlines with two goals but was not as spectacular as the post-match hype suggests. Both of these sides should progress from group A on this showing.