Early days in the new Russian season.

After a bitter setback of Sochi’s defeat against struggling Nizhniy Novgorod, I deliver another take on the league, this time, involving one of the favourites to compete with Zenit for the title - Spartak Moscow.

The Moscow giants had changed manager in summer, replacing Tedesco with former Benfica boss Rui Vitoria. The Portuguese specialist had brought his football vision over to the capital and transformed Spartak from Tedesco’s 3412 to a clear 4231 module with a much greater attacking intent.

The small tactical tweaks in combination with changes to players roles on the pitch had an unexpectedly strong impact - Spartak stormed through July friendlies, demolishing everything in their path: 5-1 vs. Khimki, 4-0 vs. Rubin, 4-0 vs Soch.

At the first test in a genuine official match they failed to gain points or even to score (0-1 vs. Rubin), but the final scoreline was totally unfair and did not reflect what went had happened on the pitch.

Krylya Sovetov is an “elevator” club, best known for their constant relegations and instant promotions from/to the Premier League. This time around the ambitions and hopes are high as ever - Samara club rocked the 2nd Division, won promotion while scoring nearly 100 goals and helping their striker set a new record for the number of goals scored in the division.

However, over the summer Krylya have not brought anyone in. I mean, they have made signings, but none of them are of higher quality than the players they already have got on the roster. Ivanisenya from Zorya Lugansk, Lipovoy from the deep corners of Dinamo Moscow bench, Onugkha from Danish 2nd division side Vejle. Bottom line, Krylya are planning to stay in the league without any proper attempts to improve the squad.

This strategy has already backfired with a 1-2 defeat in the opening game against Akhmat.

Now the test is going to be even greater.

The key moment here is the attendance restriction due to ongoing C-19 troubles - Krylya will not be able to count on their loud support and may only see up to 1000 fans inside a 45 000 stadium. This is basically an empty venue.

I expect Spartak’s vibrant attacking football to flourish in this matchup against an identically fun loving offensive opponent of significantly lower quality, who are also short of home support.

在索契输给下诺夫哥罗德后，我给出了对联赛的另一种看法，这一次，我谈到了与泽尼特争夺冠军的热门球队之一——莫斯科斯巴达克。

莫斯科豪门在夏天更换了主教练，用前本菲卡主教练维多利亚代替了特德斯科。这位葡萄牙专家把他的足球视野带到了首都，把斯巴达克从特德斯科的3412型变成了清晰的4231型，进攻意图更强。

小小的战术调整加上球员角色的改变产生了意想不到的巨大影响——斯巴达克在7月的友谊赛中横扫一切:5-1对希姆基，4-0对喀山，4-0对索赫。

在一场正式比赛的第一次测试中，他们没有得分，甚至没有得分(0-1对喀山)，但最后的比分完全不公平，没有反映出球场上发生的事情。

苏维埃翼是一家“电梯”俱乐部，以他们从俄超联赛不断降级和立即升级而闻名。这一次，他们的雄心和希望一如既往地高——苏维埃翼在乙级联赛中取得了惊人的成绩，在进球数接近100的情况下获得了晋升，帮助他们的前锋创造了乙级联赛进球数的新纪录。

然而，整个夏天苏维埃翼都没有引进任何人。我的意思是，他们已经签下了一些球员，但没有一个球员的素质比他们已经签下的球员高。卢甘斯克的伊万尼桑娅，莫斯科迪纳摩板凳席上的利波沃伊，丹麦乙级球队维耶的奥努卡。底线是，克里亚计划留在联盟，没有任何适当的尝试来改善阵容。

这一策略已经适得其反，在揭幕战中以1比2的比分输给了阿赫马特队。

现在考验将会更大。

这里的关键时刻是由于持续的疫情导致比赛观赛人数的限制——苏维埃翼将不能依靠他们的大力支持，在一个能容纳45000人的球场中只能看到1000名球迷。这基本上是一个空的场地。

我希望斯巴达克充满活力的进攻足球能在这场比赛中蓬勃发展，对阵的对手是一个同样热爱进攻，但质量明显较低的对手，他们也缺少主场支持。