Rubin Kazan - What Does Javi Gracia Have To Work With?

Rubin Kazan are coming off the back of their lowest league position in nine years, finishing in 10^th position, however the coming summer and season promise to be one of the most exciting for in recent times, following the appointment of esteemed Spanish manager Javi Gracia from Malaga, but he will have a tough job on his hands.

Following a highly impressive 2014/15 season which saw Rubin’s young, predominantly Russian squad finish in 5^th, a largely unchanged side struggled for form during the 2015/16 season, and in the early stages, the busy schedule of juggling the European and domestic football took its toll. With qualification for the Europa League group stage weighing on the clubs mind, Rubin managed one win and six losses in the opening seven games of the Premier League season, scoring only three goals in the process, applying pressure to manager Rinat Bilyaletdinov.

The final straw was a 2-1 loss away to lowly Mordovia Saransk, a result which would cost Bilyaletdinov his job. After a stunning first season with the club, which saw youth players blooded in the first team, and players who had drifted out of favour at larger clubs rejuvenated, the squad did not have that same spark which had provided great results previously and he was therefore sacked.

His successor would be Valeriy Chaly, Bilyaletdinov’s assistant, with no prior senior managerial experience. While the form wasn’t magically turned around, the team was given some stability, and did begin to pick up some points in the run up to the winter break. This form coincided with the reintroduction of Ukrainian striker Marko Devic to the first team after he had fallen out with Bilyaletdinov, and Rubin even managed a four game unbeaten streak in November.

Alongside the turn up in league form, Rubin were afforded some glamour ties in Europe, with games against Bordeaux, FC Sion and Liverpool. The most notable fixture of these was a visit to Anfield in October. Due to the fact that this would be Jurgen Klopp’s first match in charge of Liverpool, the game attracted huge media attention, and Rubin were expected to be trounced, with some pundits predicting 4-5 goal wins for the home side. However, Rubin produced a magnificent smash and grab display, and despite going down to 10 men in the first half, managed a fantastic 1-1 draw, courtesy of an early goal from the aforementioned Devic, and some world class defending from Solomon Kverkvelia and Ruslan Kambolov.

The winter transfer window saw the reaped rewards of a successful European campaign in action, as the club had funds to use in the transfer market for the first time in two years. With a new president (Kazan mayor Ilsur Metshin) and CEO (Ilgiz Fakhriev, the man who appointed legendary manager Kurban Berdyev in 2001) at the club, a new directive was established, and primarily young talent from Europe was targeted to be brought in to the club. In total, Rubin spent around €4m on four players, Denis Tkachuk (26) from Zenit St Petersburg, Andriy Pylyavskyi (27) from Zorya, Emil Bergström (23) from Djurgården and Mijo Caktaš (23) from Hajduk Split. The general reception was positive. The club had lost experienced midfielders Carlos Eduardo and Blagoy Georgiev, and both were replaced, while with Pylyavskyi and Bergström, the club were addressing a position in which they were severely lacking depth.

However, the spring stage of the season was inconsistent yet again, and goalscoring was once more an issue, as Rubin were only able to score more than one goal on just two occasions, a 4-2 loss to Zenit, and a 4-1 win over Dinamo. Previously prolific striker Igor Portnyagin had shown nothing like the form which earned him a call up to the Russian national team in 2015, and the lack of creativity from a tactically restricted midfield meant that chances were a premium for him or Devic up front.

So how did this team under-perform so much compared to the previous seaosn, and what were its shortcomings? By taking a peek at data collected by InStat, a number of key areas can be highlighted for improvement. Firstly the goal scoring aspect which clearly was an issue. Rubin only managed to score 3 goals from set plays all season - excluding penalties – (Fig 1), the joint lowest with Krylya Sovetov, the league’s lowest scorers overall.

Figure 1: Set-piece goals in the 2015/16 Russian Premier League. (Source: InStat)

Considering some of the prominent header’s of the ball that Rubin possess, dominant striker Portnyagin and 6’5 Kverkvelia, this is a hugely disappointing result and something that Gracia will no doubt be looking to improve. This leads into chance conversion. Rubin create the joint most attacks per match in the league (Fig 2) but have real trouble turning these into goals. It highlights Rubin’s strength well, it’s central midfielders. Magomed Ozdoev in the deeper midfield role is a very efficient user of the ball and is a crucial cog in the team, keeping the ball moving and starting attacks from deep. Meanwhile new attacking midfielder Mijo Caktaš has shown excellent spatial awareness since signing and pops up all over the attacking half, providing chances from the left, right and through the middle.

Figure 2: Attacks per match in the 2015/16 Russian Premier Legaue season. (Source: InStat)

Considering the high number of set piece attacks Rubin have as shown in Figure 2, and the fact that only sic goals were scored from these all season, it’s quite embarrassing. Not to mention the large volume of all the other attacks Rubin were able to create. It shows that there is something good in the team if they are able to create the chances, but also that something is not right with small amount being finished. From a fan view point, it’s seems as if many of Rubin’s attacks are hit and hope crosses, particularly from the right flank where Oleg Kuzmin and Maksim Kanunnikov have a good partnership, however with Portnyagin lacking confidence and this style of play not suitable to Devic, it just hasn’t paid off. The huge attacking presence of the full backs means Rubin are susceptible to counter attacks, as shown in Fig 3.

Figure 3: Goals conceded from open play in the 2015/16 Russian Premier League, broken down by zone. (Source: InStat)

With 11 goals conceded from counter attacks, and 15 from wide positions, perhaps the full backs just need to be reined back a little next season to prevent the space they vacate from being exploited as much as it seemingly was this season. It is seemingly no question that the players are good enough, as shown by their 5^th position finish in the 14/15 season, but the inexperienced management of Bilyaletdinov and Chaly led to very basic tactics, which are easily exploited, while also working from time to time as well.

So what exactly does Gracia have to work with? Well, with a whole host of players returning from loans, there will be no less than 38 first team players on the books. A number of these are returning from high profile loans in Western Europe and will be expected to depart on a permanent deal, including Yann M’Vila (Sunderland), Mubarak Wakaso (Las Palmas), Marko Livaja (Empoli) and Chris Mavinga (Stade de Reims). A source close to the club has confirmed to RFN that Rubin are indeed actively trying to sell both Mavinga and M’Vila. There are also domestic loanees, including Taras Burlak (Krylya Sovetov), who will not be joining Krylya permanently due to finances, and will rejoin the first team at Rubin, and Sardar Azmoun, the young Iranian who flourished with high flying Rostov. A lot of speculation revolves around his future, with Benfica being linked to signing him already this summer. Having seemingly burnt bridges at Rubin, Rostov and Kurban Berdyev will be desperate to retain his services, but the €7m price tag will be a stumbling block, and a move away from Rubin seems almost certain, although he has begun training with the squad this summer.

Even without the services of these half a dozen players, the Rubin squad possesses a range of youth and experience, with no less than 16 full internationals. Each department of the Rubin team has one experienced player, with 35 year old goalkeeper Sergey Ryzhikov, captain Oleg Kuzmin (also 35) at right back, 36 year old club legend Gokdeniz Karadeniz on the wing, and 32 year old striker Marko Devic up front. However sprinkled around this experienced back bone are several young talents who have been linked with bigger and brighter things. Left back Elmir Nabiullin (Southampton), Magomed Ozdoev (Liverpool) and Solomon Kverkvelia (Borussia Dortmund) have all been linked to big clubs abroad.

With a number of players only periphery squad members, and Sergey Kislyak already confirmed to be departing to Gaziantepspor after his contract expired, Rubin will be looking to add in most sectors of the pitch. In a recent interview, president Metshin confirmed that the club has already started searching for new players in a number of positions, with full back, centre back, defensive midfield, playmaker and striker listed among them. With Rubin now in a financially strong position to spend money, it’s expected that some bigger names may be on their way to Kazan. Already this summer Rubin have been linked with a whole host of players, including Pescara forward Gianluca Lapadula and Malaga right back Roberto Rosales.

Gracia, however, was quick to act, and on the first day of training back after summer, Rubin confirmed the signing of Swiss full back Moritz Bauer from Grasshoppers Zürich on a five year deal. There was some confusion as to whether this was already arranged, but Gracia confirmed to press that he ha recommended and sanctioned the deal.

More are expected to come, and Rubin are due to sign Peruvian centre back Carlos Zambrano from Eintracht Frankfurt for €5-6m, an indication of their newly regained financial strength and confidence in the market, by plucking an experienced player from Germany’s top flight for such a relatively low price. A source close to the club told RFN that this will not be Rubin’s only foray into the Bundesliga during the summer window, and time will tell who else the club have lined up.

The entire squad re-united on June 20th for a medical, including all returning loanees (although M’Vila and Mavinga were delayed due to visa issues), however Gracia arrived back in Kazan two weeks ahead of schedule to begin working with the coaching staff. Now that the squad has fully re-grouped it will give him a chance to evaluate the squad personally, although his research had been conducted prior to joining according to Metshin, who said:

“By the time he arrived in Kazan, he had analysed all the matches from last season. Professionally he was able to tell us there was a failure in our attack, and other weaknesses! He was able to clearly and easily explain it.”

Gracia has also been quick to attempt learning Russian, and was heard giving instructions and having basic conversations in Russian during his first training session, as well as answering some questions to the press in short bursts of Russian also.

An aspect of Gracia’s management is his association with giving youth a chance. Due to Malaga’s financial issues, several big sales were made, but Gracia adapted, and was able to bring through youngsters Juanpi and Pablo Fornals, who went on to become regular players in Malaga’s first team as the season progressed. Gracia joins Rubin at a very promising time in terms of youth, as over the last couple of years, Rubin have been blooding young players in the first team while and the reserves managed a 3rd place finish last year, with several players standing out.

As well as the established Elmir Nabiullin, Rubin have Ilzat Akhmetov, Timur Akmurzin and Dmitriy Kamenschikov as their brightest young talents, and with Gracia’s nurturing, all could go on to become very useful first team players. Kamenschikov, a 17 year old forward, was on electric form in 2016, scoring eight goals in his last five appearances and many fans were disappointed to not see him given a run out at the end of the season, considering Rubin’s lack of goalscoring prowess.

Over the next month or so, Rubin will fly to Austria for a series of friendlies and a training camp, with some big opposition lined up in West Ham United, Norwich City, Vitesse Arnhem and Sparta Prague. This will be a good test for Gracia to get his tactics implemented before the season starts, and for him to work out just who works best in his system. With the new manager and an abundance of money at the club, this is the most exciting period for Rubin fans in 2-3 years, and the build up to the season, which kicks off over the last weekend of July, is sure to be full of surprises.

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