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After the setback against city rivals Spartak at the weekend, Dinamo Moscow looked to get their season back on track with a trip to Premier League first-timers Ufa, who were only founded in December 2010. Exciting new signing Mathieu Valbuena made his first start in Dinamo’s 3-4-1-2, while Igor Kolyvanov went with a 4-3-3. The game was played at a higher tempo than what you would expect from the Russian Premier League, which shares many aspects of its style with Serie A. Dinamo pressed straight from kick-off, claiming the ball from Azamat Zaseev when a diamond of players trapped him in on all sides, while Ufa pressed diligently, also leaving their attacking trio up the pitch one-on-one against Dinamo’s back three. It was clear Ufa were paying particular attention to Dinamo’s right side, where Stanislav Cherchesov opted to play Fedor Smolov at wing-back. While he did a reasonable job there, Smolov is naturally a forward and it was obvious he wasn’t as comfortable at tracking back as Yury Zhirkov on the opposite flank. Ufa’s creative hub Marcinho started the game on this side, but he and Diego Carlos switched sides mid-way through the first half, presumably to make use of […]
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