What Does Markus Gisdol need to turn Lokomotiv Moscow's fortunes around?

This season's Russian Premier League has been rather topsy-turvy for Russian giants Lokomotiv Moscow. The 2017-18 league champions are one of the two Russian clubs who regularly play Champions League football. The club has seen major changes this season.

The first was the departure of one of their midfield linchpins, Grzegorz Krychowiak, to rival club Krasnodar in the summer. Three months later, former head coach Marko Nikolic got the sack following the club's disappointing start to the season. A month later, their head of sports and development, Ralf Rangnick, left for Manchester United.

Gisdol's appointment in October has so far not done much to revive the club's fortunes and a lot of work remains to be done over the winter break.

Lokomotiv have failed to replace Krychowiak

The centre-midfield pairing of Dimitri Barinov and Krychowiak was crucial to them finishing third in the league last term. They helped the club qualify for the Europa League this season. Interestingly, Krychowiak also ended up as the club's leading goal-scorer of the campaign (nine goals) despite being a defensive midfielder.

Losing him in the summer was a huge blow. The arrival of Caen prodigy Alexis Beka was in no way an ideal replacement for Lokomotiv. Krychowiak's experience in the team, and more importantly in the Russian league, was unmatchable.

Finding his replacement remains a major concern for the club. Lokomotiv must look at their rivals from whom they can onboard a proper replacement for the remainder of the season.

Lokomotiv needs defensive reconfiguration

Unlike other major Russian clubs who play with a modern three-at-the-back formation, Lokomotiv maintains a traditional back-four set-up. Unfortunately for them, this has dried up their goal-scoring opportunities this season. Since November, the club has found the back of the opposition's net a meager six times in eight outings across competitions.

They failed to manage a single win in their six Europa League group outings and only scored two goals in the entire group stage. While this mostly correlates to a lack of quality in the attacking third, it is their formation which is further aggravating the situation.

Lack of quality up front

Their lack of potency in the attacking third remains another weakness. Krychowiak's absence seems to have hit them on both fronts. Veteran Fyodor Smolov is past his prime and the area has not yet been addressed. His partner, Francois Kamano, is too inconsistent to be constantly finding the opposition's net. Kamano has only scored seven times in the 38 appearances he has had since last year.

Lokomotiv needs solid transfer activity to propel them back into European contention.