Player Focus: Homegrown Forwards Rightly Making Headlines in Russia

The recent World Cup in Brazil is being viewed as something of a tipping point for Russian football - as the old guard, who have been so prominent since Euro 2008, are faded out to be replaced by younger, fresher talent in anticipation for when the tournament is held on native soil in 2018. National team coach Fabio Capello has often been criticised for not discarding with certain aging members of the squad earlier, particularly when he has some very promising young talent at his disposal, and that it has taken a travesty of a World Cup campaign to force such change.

It’s something of a rarity for two of the top-flight’s most prominent attacking players to be eligible to feature for the Russian national team, given how much money is invested in foreign talent throughout the division each year. However both Artem Dzyuba and Aleksandr Kokorin are blossoming into two hugely productive talents and it is difficult to imagine Capello’s future strikeforce not comprising of the two in form forwards.

The two strikers from the capital have started the season in blistering form, with the pair having scored 4 goals apiece in the opening couple of games. Such prolific goalscoring form has not simply been plucked out of thin air however, as both players have enjoyed a hugely promising 12 months in which they have affirmed their position as Russia’s two leading lights.

Both may possess entirely differing styles of play, however they are each as devastating as the other and the statistics show why.

Dzyuba’s 17 goals last season, while on loan at Rostov, was a miraculous tally from a player who had shown little appetite to become a forward capable of such a prolific return. This season seems to have seen the Spartak Moscow forward take further steps forward and it’s easy to see why Murat Yakin has placed such faith in his burgeoning talent. Dzyuba appears to be benefitting from Spartak’s greater control during the course of the game, in comparison to Rostov, due to the fact that he is picking up the ball in dangerous positions more often than during his spell on loan.

So far this season, Dzyuba has managed to average 3.5 shots per game, in comparison to the 2.4 he managed during his time at Rostov. The fact that he is able to find himself in a greater number of shooting positions means it is somewhat inevitable that he will manage to find the net with an even greater frequency. It’s also no coincidence that Dzyuba is excelling in a Spartak system that historically relies upon width, with Murat Yakin continuing such a tradition, due to his height and physicality. 42% of the team’s attacks this season have come down the left hand side - which goes hand in hand with the fact that Dzyuba has averaged 4.5 victorious aerial duels; equal to that of Spartak centre-back Juan Insaurralde.

Despite the obvious stylistic contrasts, Aleksandr Kokorin has been equally lethal in front of goal and has managed to continue his impressive form from last season. The prodigiously talented Dinamo Moscow forward has improved statistically in the vast majority of areas so far this season and it seems as though the new face of Russian football, a mantle picked up at the expense of Andrey Arshavin, is beginning to back up the hopes and expectations with performances to match.

Kokorin is, more often than not, implemented in a position just off a lone centre forward, usually in the form of Kevin Kuranyi, and is able to drop deep to gain possession while making bursts into the box that can be tricky for opposition defenders to pick up. So far this season Kokorin's attacking threat has caused defenders to pay even closer attention to him. The forward has drawn, on average, 4.3 fouls per game due to the fact that he is now perceived as Dinamo Moscow’s most important attacking asset.

So far this season Kokorin has managed to score 4 of Dinamo’s 10 league goals - with Kevin Kuranyi also chipping in with a few - which goes to show the reliance that the team currently has on their leading man. The manner in which Stanislav Cherchesov has implemented such a possession based game, averaging 58.5% so far this season, with 31% of that coming in their attacking third - ahead of the likes of Zenit, Spartak and Lokomotiv - means that Kokorin sees plenty of the ball and is able to pick up positions that are likely to cause the most damage.

It’s refreshing to see Russian talent become the main talking point at the beginning of the season - given that more often than not it seems to be dominated by the arrival of expensive, foreign talent. Both Artem Dzyuba and Aleksandr Kokorin are fast on their way to becoming two of the most prized assets in the league and that is down to their perseverance in the pursuit of greatness. The goalscoring exploits of both players looks set to continue in the coming weeks and their influence will mean that both Spartak and Dinamo Moscow will be able to harbour hopes of competing with CSKA and Zenit St Petersburg at the head of the table.

Can either of these two top the goalscoring charts in the Russian Premier League this season? Let us know in the comments below