Football. ua analyzes how the miners' game changed in the absence of the leading central defender.

More than half a month ago in the cup fight-thriller with Zarei (3: 4), the leader of the defense of miners Yaroslav Rakitsky got an unpleasant injury. The consequences of this damage were more serious than it seemed at first, and now the team of Paulo Fonseca remained, in fact, with only two central defenders in the cage. Sergei Krivtsov has been in the infirmary for so long that his fans have already managed to get used to the lack of support of the Miner and the national team of Ukraine, and now only 25-year-old Ivan Ordets is available to the coaching staff and for the year younger David Khocholava.

A very unexpected staffing hole was formed at the most inopportune moment. Judge for yourself, the Donetsk team has to spend two duels of the group tournament of the Champions League, and the game with Feyenoord they had to play already without Rakitsky. It turned out pretty good, but do not forget that it was from the center of the center of the strikers, the forward of the Dutch Jorgensen opened an account in the Kharkov duel. Yes, of course, do not blame all the sins only on Ordets and Khocholava, because the same left-hand bek Ismaili unhindered to give the opponent a comfortable canopy, but still the decisive shot was made precisely from the most painful point at the moment ... It was not quite smooth in the absence of Yaroslav and in the matches of the national championship. Apogee of failure was a home match with Steel, in which the miners had traditionally total superiority over the outsider, but managed to miss the victory (1: 1). This time, Obradovic scored, to a greater extent, from the zone of the Donchans. At the same time, Hocholava and Ordiz were wrong in some other situations, even if they did not lead to missed goals.

He forced Rakitsky to remember himself in Mariupol, where Shakhtar, although he won a confident victory (1: 3), but his game on the defensive often made the coach staff and their admirers. Let us analyze only the most significant errors of a pair of centrebanks. To begin with, in the debut of the match, the Ordo, apparently not having had time to warm up properly yet, loses Ruslan Fomin unintentionally when filing a corner at his gate, and only thanks to the brilliant reaction of Andrey Pyatov, the Azovites did not score a strategically important fast goal. But at the start of the second half the forward of Mariupol used his chance fully, only this time he did not have time for him already Khocholava. So the score was 1: 2. The hosts could once again upset the acting champions when the same Fomin beat the Ordetus again, and if it were not for the crossbar, who knows with what kind of baggage the Donchans returned home ... Of course, these are only game episodes, but they sometimes become decisive. Despite the traditionally strong Latin American fist, fostered by the cunning Mircea Lucescu, the miners never reminded the Brazilian national team in the light of the aphorism attributed to it: "You will score as much as you can, we will - as long as we want". In Shakhtar's defense in recent years, with small exceptions, there has always been a relative order, the basis of which was precisely the stability of the bundle of centerbacks. It is significant that this is the very stability at the beginning of his cadence tried, it was to break Paulo Fonseca, but the departure from the Champions League qualification a year ago from the already bored Swiss boyfriend of the Swiss Young Boys quickly made the Portuguese return to the Lucesque pair Rakitsky-Kucher.

Well-known, the football age is pretty short, and in the spring the miners began to look for a replacement for the almost 35-year-old Alexander Kucher, for which David Khocholava was invited from Chernomorets. Perfectly acting on the second floor and on the player, the football player of the Georgian national team only in the autumn became a regular player of the base. At the beginning of the championship Fonseca persistently and patiently preferred the pair Rakitsky - Krivtsov, and the last confidence of the coach justified a hundredfold, except, perhaps, the least lost match to the eternal internal competitor. Soon, Sergei was injured, from the consequences of which is being restored to this day, and a dilemma arose before the coaching staff, what will happen in the event of a possible force majeure ... In fact, to replace Ordets and Khocholava at the moment, with some reservations, only a nominal oporn Taras Stepanenko , having experience playing at the position of the central defender. Fonseca counts on doubles only while in the training process, although it is possible that the 20-year-old grenadier Sergei Chobotenko could be tried in the case. In addition to the beautiful anthropometry, the former Dynamo already knocking at the door of the first team, and, not even an hour, waiting for a debut at a high level.

It is clearly evident that without the Rakytsky Miner lost a quality long first pass. It is this quality that the 28-year-old defender has long known, being in this aspect almost the best in the country. Do not forget about the well-stabbed blow of the 44th issue of Donetsk, more than once forced to surrender the opponents' goalkeepers. However, based on the results, Yaroslav's shifts are still coping with the duties assigned to them. Be that as it may, despite the mistakes, the main criterion for the effectiveness of the player of any role is the results of his team's performances, and in this aspect, Shakhtar's affairs are very good.