A former defender for CSKA and the USSR national team, Vladimir Ponomarev, shared his thoughts on Euro-Football.Ru about Spartak Moscow and its head coach Guillermo Abascal. He offered a pointed critique, arguing that Spartak’s leadership is right to consider a change in coaching if the current system is not delivering results or clear direction. Ponomarev suggested that Abascal appears uncertain about the team’s identity, the tactical plan, or who should be on the field. In his view, such uncertainty tends to sap players’ morale and provoke a creeping sense of resignation after conceding goals, a pattern that recent matches have underscored.
According to the former player, Abascal has faced a steep adjustment to Russian football culture. Not everyone who manages in Russia seamlessly adapts, especially when arriving without a ready-made squad. The key task, Ponomarev emphasized, is to build a cohesive unit from the ground up. This is markedly more challenging than joining a club that already functions as a well-oiled machine. Consequently, Spartak’s decision to pursue a coaching change appears, in his estimation, to be a logical step. He stressed that the team needs fresh ideas and a new source of strategic direction to restore confidence and competitive edge.
In the most recent league action, Spartak managed a 2-2 draw with CSKA in the 11th round of the Russian Premier League. The clash intensified as the red-and-white pressed for an advantage, but both teams found the back of the net twice before the final whistle. That result left Spartak with a record that reflected ongoing tensions between offense and defense, and it highlighted the ongoing debate over the club’s long-term tactical plan.
Through 11 rounds, Spartak sat in fifth place in the Russian Championship standings, accumulating 17 points. Upcoming on October 22, the Moscow club was set to face Paris NN, a match that would test whether the team could translate effort into consistent points. The league table at that time showed Krasnodar atop the standings with 27 points, followed by Samara’s Wings of the Soviets on 21 points. Zenit St. Petersburg sat close behind with 20 points, illustrating a tight race among the top clubs and underscoring how crucial a stable coaching philosophy can be to climbing the table.
Previous reports from Euro-Football.Ru indicated that Spartak had given Abascal an ultimatum, signaling a critical inflection point in the club’s season. The broader narrative suggested that the club’s leadership was weighing the best way forward to rejuvenate performance, maintain squad harmony, and deliver the competitive results expected by fans and stakeholders alike. In this context, the discussion around a coaching transition was framed not as a sudden upheaval but as a strategic move aimed at aligning coaching methods with the club’s needs and the realities of the league.