The first cup match of Zenit and Spartak took place, as well as the meeting of the national championship, at Petrovsky. The status of the hosts and the Saturday defeat of St. Petersburg indicated that a much larger amount of coaching should have been done by Dick Advocaat. Fedotov, with the exception of the inevitable personnel changes, the tactics found in the first match, could be more than satisfied. Red-and-white expectations were confirmed: Quincy was again ahead, and the center of the field, due to the injury of a beautifully playing Sabitov, had to be filled with Mozart and Kalinichenko.
At first, the decisions of the Lawyer seemed to lie beyond the boundaries of not only coaching, but also human understanding. Link Arshavin and his comrades in a double before the match with Spartak not only curtailed the chances of Zenit, but also deprived a fair amount of sense of the Moscow-St. Petersburg derby itself. Even the incident with Spartak fans grazed by the police, it turns out, drove the mercury up the thermometer of the confrontation in vain. Dick Advocaat, it seems, flatly refused to accept the visit of the red and white as an extraordinary, if not the most important event of the season.
In the first match, this was hinted at by the absence of Radimov, a player absolutely adequate to the spirit of confrontation. In such a match, there should be a place for subtle play, strength of mind, and even inappropriate emotions. The appearance of Vlad on the field is not a guarantee of the manifestation of these qualities - but the rejection of his services emphasizes the shift in the emphasis of the match from “derby” to “playing at home against a strong opponent”. Hence the ball control and protracted attacks, hence the lack of speed due to the enthusiasm for positional play. Hence the defeat 1: 3 - and with the release of Radimov, albeit in the majority, Zenit began to play better.
The beginning of the first cup game painted a familiar picture - Maximov and Dominguez, like the ghosts of Denisov and Arshavin, plus the lonely Pogrebnyak. However, Reins midfielder Attorney gave Radimov, at the same time depriving Tymoshchuk functions of an opornik in favor of control of the right middle zone. The team secured itself from a quick goal due to concentration - however, Fedotov’s plan turned out to be long-playing, and in one of the counterattacks, Kim Don Jin didn’t unfriendly put Bystrov’s hand in the penalty area. Goal - and away we go: Vova again showed the portrait of Anyukov (this time - personally to the lawyer) and, having completed his mandatory program, he would have left the field with his nose lifted - if not for the suspicion of a fracture of the latter.
Dziuba’s exit instead of Bystrov was Fedotov’s very strong move - the Zenit defenders that were clumsy that day, the two attackers would have crippled without problems (which was confirmed by the second goal of Spartak after Skrtel’s mistake). But the lawyer finally responded with a rearrangement that had been desired since the offseason - the Dutchman released Zyryanov, thereby strengthening the vertical and reducing the breadth of attack. The resulting rhombus Radimov-Timoshchuk-Shirl-Zyryanov practically translated Dominguez into the role of the long-awaited help to the only striker and became the first personal tactical find of the Lawyer. Both goals of Zenit - legitimate and not - were built just by the Argentine, Perm and Pogrebnyak with the participation of the ex-captain of the team. Such large-scale experiments with a clear eye on the future of the Zenit steering only reinforced the view that he did not recognize the special importance of the match against Spartak.
However, there will be no praise for the Lawyer - after all, his team lost the match, and the score was a fair reflection of the class of the game. Fedotov’s team in a special mood for the St. Petersburg team (he certainly had one) they only helped - if eminent midfield played at their level, then left-back Kudryashov deserved special praise. Remember at least his flanking pass from his half, embodied by Dziuba at the goal moment, ruined by Quincy. We also note the surprise team pressure of Spartak, in which even Bystrov and Torbinsky succeeded.
Nevertheless, Dick Advocaat is learning a little to play against Spartak. And you can be sure that even defeat will benefit him.
ZENIT - SPARTAK - 1: 2 (0: 1)
Goal: 0: 1 - Mozart (45, penalty), 0: 2 - Dziuba (69), 1: 2 - Pogrebnyak (71).
ZENIT: Malafeev, Kim Don Jin, Hagen, Krizhanats (Lee Ho, 57), Skrtel, Maximov (Zyryanov, 46), Radimov, Tymoshchuk, Shirl (Tekke, 69), Dominguez, Pogrebnyak.
SPARTAK: Pletikosa, Geder, Strantzl, Shishkin, Kudryashov, Bystrov (Dzyuba, 46), Kalinichenko, Mozart, Torbinsky (Rebko, 75), Titov, Quincy (Boyarintsev, 70).
Warnings: Radimov (1), Kim Don Jin (7), Stranzl (24), Krizhanac (27), Torbinsky (34), Hagen (80), Dominguez (84).
April, 4. "Petrovsky." 19.30.
Judge: A. Gvardis (Kaliningrad).