The start of the 2022 season in the Kazakhstan Football Championship was absolutely not a success for the capital Astana. After two rounds, the six-time champions of the country do not have a single victory on their account, and they also do not score at all. Correspondent bbabo.net tried to understand the problems of "blue-yellow".

In the first two rounds, Astana, under the leadership of Srdjan Blagojevich, played at zero with Shakhtar at home, and then lost away to Premier League debutant Aksu - 0:1. What makes Astana's position even more precarious is the fact that the team faces a forfeit defeat in the first round match against Shakhtar.

Next week it is planned to hold a meeting of the Control and Disciplinary Committee of the KFF, where a decision will be made to award "Astana" a technical defeat. The reason lies in the fact that the capital club released the seventh foreigner on the field in the first round, which is prohibited by the regulations. The coach of "Astana" has already apologized for what happened, and took all the blame.

"Astana" will receive a "techie" in the first match of KPL-2022?

It turns out that after two rounds Astana will have 0 points, this is almost inevitable. And in the entire history of the capital club, this has never happened before. In four seasons, "Astana" started with one point scored in two rounds, but it's the first time that there were no points in the piggy bank at all.

Since 2015, Astana has more often started the season without losses, and only one campaign has recently started unsuccessfully for the club - KPL-2017. Then the capital scored one point with a goal difference of 1-4.

How many points did Astana score after two KPL starting rounds:

2009 - 6/6 points (goal difference - 7-3)

2010 - 1/6 (1-2)

2011 - 3/6 (1-2)

2012 - 1/6 (0-2)

2013 - 1/6 (1-5)

2014 - 3/6 (1-0)

2015 - 6/6 (5-0)

2016 - 6/6 (5-2)

2017 - 1/6 (1-4)

2018 - 6/6 (5-0)

2019 - 6/6 (6-2)

2020 - 6/6 (7-2)

2021 - 4/6 (4-2)

2022 - 1/6* (0-1*) - after the decision of the FTC, the KFF may become 0/6 (0-4).

But all this is nothing more than points and statistics. Another thing is the drawing of the game itself, which is not yet available. It is clear that Astana has a new coaching staff, a number of new players. But even if you go through the game with Aksu, these theses do not have any weight.

Yes, only four players, who played for the club last year, were at the base of Astana. However, how to react to the fact that Aksu has a completely renewed line-up? All of the home team's players have joined the Premier League debutant in recent months. And this did not stop them from beating Astana.

Moreover, it should be taken into account that the players of "Astana" are more expensive and, in principle, high-class. But in this match, the status did not help the capital in any way. 14.45 million euros - the transfer cost of all the players of "Astana", 6.3 million - the total price tag of the players of "Aksu".

Now Astana has not a single goal after two rounds of KPL-2022. The most interesting thing is that in all 26 matches in KPL-2021, the team left the field only twice without goals - in a lost meeting against Ordabasy (0:2) and at the end of the season against Kairat (0:1).

Blagojevich was called a tactical genius during his work in the Caspian Sea. Neutral fans quickly fell in love with the combinational football of the Aktau team, which was instilled just by the Serbian coach. But you need to understand that on the seashore Srdjan is not under such tremendous pressure as in the capital.

In "Astana" players and coaches expect immediate results. There is no extra time here, but every decision and action is studied under the microscope of both club bosses, fans and the media. Therefore, much is expected from Blagojevich in Astana, and he will no longer have such a comfortable position as he had in Caspian, without pressure and expectation of results.

So far, Blagojevich has failed to instill his football in Astana. Somewhere this problem is supplemented by certain nuances related to the health of the players. In the first and second rounds, Srjan fielded two completely different pairs of central defenders - first Daniil Beskorovayny and Denis Polyakov, and then Talgat Kusyapov and Artem Rakhmanov.

The left flank of the Blue-Yellows is absolutely weak. This is criticism both of winger Pedro Eugenio, who is in his second season at the club, and of Brazilian newcomer Brian Silva, who plays in defense. And the question is brewing: maybe it’s worth trying to play enough on this flank of the local Saga of the Council and Stanislav Basmanov?

Separate criticism from the fans arrives at midfielder Aslan Darabaev and goalkeeper Marko Milosevic. Many do not understand why Blagojevich needs a legionary goalkeeper with Alexander Zarutsky alive and well. Someone explains this by the fact that the Serbian goalkeeper plays better with his feet, and this is very important for Blagojevich's tactical pattern. But after the situation with the seventh legionnaire on the field, everyone began to discuss precisely the decision to release Milosevic at the base.

Darabaev, on the other hand, "goes" for the fact that he was also brought by Blagoevich, and he worked with him in the "Caspian". But so far this reunion does not give "Astana" much fruit.Definitely out of shape is the leader of Marin Thomas. It is possible that this is a slow acceleration of the Croatian winger at the start of the season, but for now the picture is bleak. It is still difficult to say something about the newcomer Mohammed Kamara. He only joined Astana last week, and it is unrealistic to adapt in such a short time. The guy is trying, but for now, the most expensive player in the league needs time.

It's a tough time in Astana right now, but it's all against the backdrop of the events that have taken place over the past few days. Agree, if Blagojevich hadn't made a mistake with the seventh legionnaire, a goalless draw with Shakhtar would have looked like "not the best start", but clearly not as a "shame". And in the second round, if the team lost minimally not to Aksu, but to some other team that played in the KPL last season, then there would also be at least a little bit of talk, but less.

Therefore, it is impossible to draw any hasty conclusions, but it will be very interesting to follow closely the further performance of "Astana". Already on Thursday, March 17, the club will host "Aktobe".

Let's see if Blagojevich will be able to straighten the game "Astana" in the next round.

Recall that this season the capital club will take part in the qualification of the Conference League.

Photo: FC "Astana" (1, 2, 4, 5, 6), FC "Aksu" (3)

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