If there ever was a video to capture the mood of Russian football at the moment, the widely shared reaction of national team boss Leonid Slutsky last week fits the bill perfectly. At the beginning of the month I wrote a rather pessimistic preview of Sbornaya’s forthcoming Euro 2016 campaign, but little did I expect the uphill task that I had predicted to become ever more vertical with every minute played in France. Less than two weeks since the tournament kicked off, Russia are heading home, with 1 point to show for their efforts, or lack of after a humiliating 3-0 reverse by Wales.
The reasons for such a dramatic failure are countless, ranging from pure misfortune, right through to fault being left at the door of pretty much every stakeholder within the national game, including national team coach, players and RFU alike. With only two years to go until their hosting of the World Cup, Russia are left with only friendlies to prepare for the biggest sporting event the country’s ever seen, and they will have to do so with a new manager after Slutsky immediately withdrew any suggestion that he was to extend his stay in charge.
To start with, injuries were a clear factor in the team’s dismal displays. Pre his squad announcement at the end of May, Slutsky knew he was without their most talented midfielder in Alan Dzageov, arguably their best wide man in Denis Cheryshev alongside regular qualification starting left back Yuri Zhirkov. In preparation the situation worsened, with Dzagoev’s expected partner in midfield Igor Denisov withdrawing in the warm up friendlies through injury, while their predicted replacements in the starting line-up Denis Glushakov and Roman Shirokov failed to find total match fitness until the final match.
The final nail in the coffin came late on, with Oleg Shatov pulling out from the must win match against Wales. By this stage, his appearance probably wasn’t going to influence any suggestion of clinching three points, however it almost certainly confirmed Slutsky’s selection for the pivotal encounter, one that hadn’t impressed in their previous two group matches with England and Slovakia.
When it comes to Slutsky’s tactical nous, prior to the tournament you could point to positives or negatives. Positives being his excellent record with CSKA Moscow, an attacking team fresh off the back of clinching the Russian Premier League title, or you could instead look to his cautious, often timid approach in Europe, where CSKA despite their dominance domestically have looked a pale imitation of themselves in the Champions League, while the likes of rivals Zenit have proved more than capable on the same stage.
When it came to Euros duty, Slutsky reverted to the latter; failing to play to his team’s strengths, selecting players out of position, and clearly demonstrating he hadn’t planned his tactics through enough before his final squad selection. Each of the three games Slutsky started all three of his squad’s forwards, nonsensical tactically, as all three lacked width to fully utilise their potential, but at the very least nullifying any attacking changes from the bench.
Slutsky can initially point to critical injuries in centre midfield, and while their replacements didn’t live up to the billing fully, the attacking department was full of riches to be plundered. Slutsky had two ready-made wide men at his disposal, two players that would have played into the hands of first choice striker Artem Dzyuba, in the aforementioned Shatov and Aleksandr Samedov. The former was painfully utilised centrally instead, other than a short last 20 minute stint against Slovakia out wide (which led to Russia’s late goal), while the latter didn’t even make it on the field.
Much was made of the ageing backline duo of Vasili Berezutski and Sergei Ignashevich, but the pair looked solid against the strongest team in the group in England. Predictably however, when Russia started chasing the game against Slovakia and Wales, the defensive frailties were exposed. All five goals conceded in these games were avoidable, and while Igor Smolnikov may have impressed some outside viewers with his willing attacking play, he was the man caught out on more than one occasion.
In an attacking sense it’s hard to pick out which players were at fault, due to the questionable tactical decisions put in place. 20 year old attacking midfielder Aleksandr Golovin, tipped as the breakthrough name in the Russian squad, was unusually pushed back into a holding role, a position he neither looked comfortable in, nor was expected to excel in. Further up the pitch there were some nice interplays between the attacking trio, however a miserable tally of 2 goals across two games (both via defensive routes) tells its own story.
The immediate outcry to the humbling by Wales, was to focus on the domestic game, which despite the hope brought by an influx of money over the last decade has broadly petered out. The debate ignited around Russia’s plans to further restrict the use of overseas nationals playing in the league, which in the 2014/15 season was 7, going down to 6 the following year, but some were even questioning whether this was low enough.
Going against the grain of the RFU, national team players Vasili Berezutski and Roman Shirokov were quick to deride the restrictions, the former stating "It's clear that the limit on foreign players doesn't work. Russian players need to move to Europe." The very fact that within a squad of 23, only one player played outside of the country underlines the willingness to move abroad. Even then days after the tournament it looks like that one player, being recently nationalised Roman Neustadter is set to join the RPL also with CSKA.
Further restrictions to overseas player registration is going to intensify the country’s top talent in fewer clubs. Already CSKA and Zenit feel this, contributing 13 of the 23 members to the squad, some of whom aren’t even regular first-teamers. The criticism of this way of hoarding talent, is that player’s relax on high wages, much higher than what they would get elsewhere in Europe and become lazy in their career development. Russia’s home based members, are only bettered by one nation illustrates their urgency to move forward, even the likes of Spain, Italy and Germany are seeing more of their players move abroad.
The only comparable example is England, where all 23 of their members still play domestically. While it’s easy to suggest players are unwilling to test themselves abroad, the lack of foreign player restrictions alongside being in arguably the best league in the world for talent is still leading to a competitive national team squad that could compete for titles.
Looking forward the RFU may concentrate on this as a priority to make the national team more competitive by 2018, given every man in the squad bar one will be 27 or over by the World Cup. The over reliance on the defensive duo stated before of Berezutski and Ignashevich continues to look the most severe cause for concern. Given neither has any worthy competition so far, you could well see a combined age of 73 trotting out at centre-back come the World Cup.
In the dugout is another question. With Slutsky handing over the reins, immense pressure not only on a footballing level but also on a nationalistic one will be expected of whoever comes in. Whether it be Stanislav Cherchesov, Yuri Semen, Kurban Berdyev or A.N. Other, the task at hand will be not for the feint hearted. As we gaze back at the youngest coach at the Euros' furious, stressed and crumpled demeanour, many will ask, why would you want to put yourself in his shoes?
