Zenit is stronger than Spartak in Moscow

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The St. Petersburg club extended its unbeaten streak against Moscow teams to 18 matches (13 wins and 5 draws). Spartak cannot beat Zenit for 11 meetings (7 losses and 4 draws).

RPL. 8th round. Tushino. Spartak 1:2 Zenit (St. Petersburg). Goals: Sobolev – 21′, Lovren – 48′, Mostovoy – 60′.

Derby of the Two Capitals did not live up to expectations. Zenit drove Spartak the whole match, had a lot of chances, converted only two. Muscovites, on the other hand, gave away the ball and territory, had three chances, scored only once.

Brazil’s Claudinho recovered from injury, but the attacking midfielder started the game as a substitute. Spartak left the newcomer Keita Balde on the bench. These were the layouts before the starting whistle of Pavel Kukuyan.

The diamond proposed by Abascal started to work much better than at the start of the season, if you take out the Super Bowl match. But the Spartak scheme is effective with a weaker opponent. And in a meeting with the favorite of the season, the tactics of the young coach did not work. Why the Spartacists gave the ball and the initiative to St. Petersburg is not clear. After all, Muscovites in their own stadium, with their fans (the stadium was not full again: there was no fan section and for those reasons – the upper tiers) in a match with a sworn rival. And in the end – two approaches and one shot in the first half, and two more scoring chances in the second. And it’s all! With such a game, there is no competition for Zenit.

St. Petersburg took advantage of the hospitality of “Spartacus” in full. Almost the entire match, Semak’s wards did not give rest to the defense of Muscovites. Zenit had to score at least three goals in the first half. There were chances for Mostovoy, at least three, Cassierra had a good opportunity, Spartak allowed sharp blows from Malcolm. Literally suffered from Zenit Denisov, whom the guests passed so easily and simply, creating a numerical superiority. Inert Martins, and one Litvinov in the support zone was not enough. But Zenit themselves squandered their moments, but Spartak realized the only chance.

Alexander Sobolev’s goal was like in a movie for the Zenit team. They watched in fascination as a Muscovite puts a football projectile into the Kerzhakov net. This was the only episode when Spartak played faster than the opponent. Substitutions in the national team suggested themselves even before the break, but Abascal decided on them only after a missed goal.

The second half for Spartak differed only in that the guests converted two of their many scoring chances. Lovren’s goal turned out to be somehow clumsy and even offensive for Spartak: Maksimenko missed the spotted one between his legs. The ball from St. Petersburg followed from the logic of the game and flew into the Spartak net quite on business.

Zenit clearly followed the instructions of the coach: there was an installation (this was confirmed by the players after the match and Semak himself at a press conference) to play on the flanks, stretching the rhombus of Spartak. Why the coaching staff of the owners did not answer, again, it is not clear. Options: go to 4-4-2 or go back to 5-3-2, creating density at the edges. Abascal made a not entirely clear decision – he released Keita Balde, who had not played for 4 months. The Senegalese did not get into the game, which was to be expected.

The winning score for Peter was set by Andrey Mostovoy, insatiable in the football sense of the word. His ball was miraculously good. Maksimenko did not have a single chance to beat off the leather sphere at space speed sent by the Zenit goalscorer.

After the missed goal, Abascal and his team turned sour at all. Reducing the backlog in the account is definitely not their forte. Khlusevich and Rybus did not create the sharpness on the flanks that is needed to realize the scoring potential. Kerzhakov helped out a couple of times – after long-range strikes from Spartak, and even Promes had a half-moment in the end. This is all that the red-whites were worthy of in the second half.

Zenit also brought the matter to victory and broke away from their pursuers in the standings. The complete superiority of the team of Sergei Semak over the main (according to many experts) rival, for which the St. Petersburg team did not even have to turn on the will-character, not to mention additional resources. 50% was quite enough, how sad it is to admit.

When I asked if Semak expected such a weak game from his opponent, the head coach of Zenit answered almost philosophically: “I expected Spartak to put pressure. According to the account we had to recoup, and it’s not always easy. We could have scored earlier, but failed to convert our chances. Today the result is fair. Tough, tough win. The guys deserved it with their game. We will prepare for the ninth step, which will be in a week.”

Answering the question of the correspondent of our publication, whether Spartak consciously gave the ball and the initiative to the guests, the head coach of Muscovites Abaskal was brief: “Zenith is a high-class team with quality players. The peculiarity of their game is the combination of a wall on the flank. We tried to put pressure on their half of the field. With such a game of the opponent, we could not defend in the middle block. Should have pressed higher. So yes, we consciously gave the initiative to Zenit.

Vladimir Sabadash.

Author’s photo

Message Zenit is stronger than Spartak in Moscow first appeared on Moscow truth.

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