Roman Zobnin is perhaps the best Spartak player following Quincy Promes at the start of the season. The red-and-whites powerfully rushed from the very first rounds under the guidance of the young Spaniard Guillermo Abascal.
Well, Zobnin, unexpectedly for many, shows his best football in recent years. The midfielder burns out the center of the field like at the best of times when he first appeared at Spartak. But now he has added an attacking peppercorn to this – something that throughout his career was never considered his forte. Zobnin is the best in the RPL in terms of the number of scoring chances created (15), he ranks fourth in hit passes, and his percentage of chances is 50%. Top indicators of a true leader. Zobnin also scored two goals, including such a beauty once morest Torch.
But just a year ago, Zobnin was almost the most criticized player in Russia. Roman was going through a difficult period in his career, the apogee of which was a fierce import at the European Championship in a match with Denmark.
Even his first coach Sergei Dukhovnikov did not spare Roman: “With this pass, he put an end to the national team and scored the lid on the coffin of this team and Cherchesov.”
But the wildest thing started later. In the media space, they began to discuss Zobnin’s salary in relation to his poor game. Roman was the highest paid Spartak player, receiving 3.5 million euros a year. As is often the case with us following the failure of the national team, the salaries of the players became the main topic of discussion. Zobnin got especially hard.
“For you to understand, the footballer Zobnin receives 26 million rubles a month! – Olympic champion in handball Vladlena Bobrovnikova argued. – In my life I won’t earn so much in my whole life (the tautology just asks here), how many people in a month! Boxer Saadat, for example, exposes her face to blows to earn medals and money for herself and her family. And how many of us, athletes of the highest level, champions who were given ZMS not for 5th place, who will never see such amounts.
It got to the point that a few months later, Zobnin, according to rumors, asked Spartak to reduce his salary to 2 million euros a year. The club did not confirm or deny this information.
Zobnin really had a lot of questions regarding his game. In the first two years at Spartak, he was very good, but then he began to make more and more mistakes. It is very likely that the cause of the decline was an injury to the cruciate ligament, following which he recovered for a long time and tried to get in shape. At the same time, there were no questions regarding dedication to Roman – as always, he performed a large amount of rough work. Domenico Tedesco did not risk betting on Zobnin in midfield and pushed him to the edge of defense. Roman did not like to play there and he directly said that he was waiting for Spartak to sign a player for this position in order to return to the center.
“The novel is the personification of the hopelessness of Russian football,” said Gennady Orlov. – He is the leading player in Spartak, but the team is not playing. Maybe this is the reason – the leaders are pulling Spartak to ninth place in the standings.
The Spartak veterans did not spare Zobnin either. “Sobolev and Zobnin lost a lot compared to when they played their best football,” Evgeny Lovchev said in April 2022. – Still, you need to understand that quite recently they were footballers of the national team. And with such a game they will not be taken.
But in the summer, everything changed for Spartak and personally for Zobnin. A coach came to the team who understood how to bring out the best qualities of Roman. Guillermo Abascal brought with him the 4-3-1-2 formation, in which Zobnin took the place of the “eight” in midfield, paired with Christopher Martins. These two midfielders aren’t exactly the best in the league when it comes to moving the ball and creating chances in front of goal, but both are capable of a terrific amount of work. Abascal understands this, which is why he is betting on vertical football, in which Zobnin and Martins have the opportunity to wind mileage back and forth, including breaking into the box in the style of Frank Lampard.
The right role, excellent form and quick learning of the new coach’s principles of play are the reasons why Roman Zobnin has become top once more and has begun to be useful in attack like never before.
Mark Bessonov
