For three whole years, but, of course, he remembered the last meeting for a long time. 0: 5 at home - how can you forget that ?! So a new date with the St. Petersburg flagship did not seem to promise anything pleasant for the Graf. It's not even about the statistics that are deadly for Arsenal: zero goals scored and the same number taken from blue-white-blue points in four attempts. Figures by numbers, they don't play football. People are playing, but the Gunners lost their best player and scorer before the 13th round.
For five years Luka Djordjevic has been on allowance at Zenit, took three leases (now the fourth is underway), but only his fellow countryman Bozovic revealed himself in all its glory. The Montenegrin striker scored four goals for Arsenal, and all, imagine, decisive! Luka's two goals to Rostov, one to Akhmat and one to Krasnodar provided the Gunners with a draw and two victories. A special option in the agreement between Zenit and Arsenal prevented the striker on the field of St. Petersburg. I will not undertake to argue that with Djordjevic the Tula would have had more chances to break the nasty tradition, but football as a spectacle would certainly have won from his presence. Bozovic simply does not have another such master of attack. In St. Petersburg, the vacant position at the forefront was taken by the Zambian Kangwa, who showed himself remarkably in the last round.
Roberto Mancini was worried about problems of a different kind: in what state, moral and physical, will a dozen "compilations" return to the club? Judging by the contents of the protocol, they returned without injuries, at least serious. It is curious that of the five football players who played last matches his national teams as a whole, Mancini put all five at the base - and Lunev, and Erokhin, and Kokorin, and Ivanovich with Mevla. The Argentine trio of Paredes - Mammana - Rigoni got the rest, tired not so much by football (in Ecuadorian Quito, only the first and very briefly appeared on the lawn), as by many hours of air travel. Well, the natural emotional devastation after the happy ending of the extreme qualifying cycle must be taken into account.
No South Americans at all starting line-up the hosts did not manage: Kranevitter entered the support zone, Driussi made Kokorin's company in the attack. Combat strength with one or two reservations. And Zenit's football didn't work out before the break. Perhaps the "compilations" lacked freshness, perhaps the whole team lacked the proper attitude towards an outsider. One way or another, in the notorious class, the other hosts failed to buy Arsenal with a ball. To score, you have to hit, I beg your pardon for a revelation in the style of the Captain Obvious. And the Petersburgers only once hit the target with the ball in the whole half. At the 39th minute. The experienced Gabulov pulled the blow of his colleague on the "nationalist" Erokhin, and nothing more was required from him until the break. Several interrupted canopies and the removal of the ball from the goal - do not count.
Arsenal, on the other hand, pleasantly surprised us - not at all outsider efficiency, solidity, calmness. Even if he created almost nothing in the offensive, minus the nice standard from Kirill Kombarov, he had different priorities - not to miss it. In accordance with the task, he acted - as compactly and attentively as possible, leaving a lone Kangwa behind the line of the ball during other people's attacks - what if he gets away in a quick attack? In the first half, he did not escape, but he kept the defenders and defenders of Zenit in constant tension, which means that it also worked useful.
Mancini's attempts to change the course of the meeting with an active prompt from the technical zone were unsuccessful: either the instructions did not reach the right ears in the hum of 45 thousand spectators, or they were interpreted incorrectly. Leaving for the locker room, Allenatore did not hide his disappointment with the game and the result. In the locker room, he did not limit himself to only one suggestion to the team. The replacement of Shatov by Dziuba led to the restructuring of the St. Petersburg attack. Maneuverable Driussi and Kokorin parted along the flanks, making room in the center for a large comrade.
Together with the scheme, the attitude of the owners to the business changed, and changed in better side... As if at the click of the coaches' fingers, Zenit turned on the speed, increased their aggression and scored a goal. For starters from offside. Ivanovich, having closed Krishito's canopy, did not even begin to appeal to judge Chistyakov, which means that he internally agreed with his decision, which was actually correct. Once again, the stands looked at the referee after the single combat between Dziuba and Sunzu. Chistyakov here too took the side of the weaker, and quite rightly: there was contact, no foul.
You will laugh (if you are not a fan of Zenit), but there was another canceled goal of the hosts in this match, a copy of the first, and again absolutely on the case. Only the characters have changed. Fresh ones came to the fore: Paredes hung, Dziuba closed, rejoiced and ... instantly darkened, seeing the red-yellow flag raised by Muscovite Shalamberidze. If Artyom knew how to incinerate with his gaze, the man on the line would smoke at least ...
Arsenal spent a half-time hatching the first shot on target. But as soon as he "gave birth", so immediately and took the lead! Where was Krishito during the inspirational, as in best years, flank breakthrough of Kombarov, why the stoppers carelessly abandoned the only foreign striker without attention is not clear. They simply lost concentration, being too carried away by the offensive. And the guests just needed that. Evans Kangwa handled his first and last moment of the evening excellently.
Together with Poloz, a company note from Mancini went to the lawn of the St. Petersburg stadium. But neither he nor she helped to correct the situation. Arsenal defended their minimal advantage and contributed their "five kopecks" to the medal race of the championship. Even without Djordjevic - who would have thought ?!
So far, St. Petersburg residents have not lost to anyone and are heading the table. But according to the results of a draw "Zenith" surpasses many rivals, Mancini's charges already have four such results. In the last round, the team shared points with the distressed Anji (2: 2) on the road, just before they could not break through the defense of Dynamo (0: 0) and Rostov (0: 0). Lokomotiv took advantage of this and was able to pull up to a distance of two points, Krasnodar and CSKA are already losing seven points.
"Arsenal"
With the arrival at the coaching post of a famous Balkan, Tula "Arsenal" I was able to shake myself and began to score points. Over the past seven matches, ten of them have fallen into the "gunsmiths" piggy bank, which helped Bozovic's team rise to 13th place. You can recall the recent home wins over Dynamo and Krasnodar 1: 0, as well as a 2: 2 draw away from Rostov. But it is clearly too early to draw conclusions, the fight at the bottom of the table is now more dense than ever
Statistics and personal meetings
- Arsenal lost both matches in St. Petersburg within the framework of the championship, but in 2014 won the Russian Cup.
- At home, Zenit won 4 of 5 matches with a total difference of 14: 2
- Arsenal have lost 4 of their 6 away trips this season
It is difficult to expect relaxation from Zenit now, there is no particular separation from the pursuers. At home, Mancini's team leaves almost no one a chance, with all due respect to Arsenal, he is unlikely to be able to catch hold of at least a draw now
We are expecting a good mood from Zenit and the usual powerful game, we propose to bet on the Asian handicap (-1.5) in favor of the hosts for 1.89.
"Academic debt". How Zenit will respond to the president
When will Zenit start supplying not just Russian players to the national team, but its pupils - the new Arshavins and Kerzhakovs.
Haven't seen each other for a long time Bozovic with Zenit, for three whole years, but of course he remembered the last meeting for a long time. 0: 5 at home (then Rostov-on-Don was his home) - can you really forget that ?! So a new date with the St. Petersburg flagship did not seem to promise anything pleasant for the Graf. It's not even about the statistics that are deadly for Arsenal: zero goals scored and the same number taken from blue-white-blue points in four attempts. Figures by numbers, they don't play football. People are playing, but the Gunners lost their best football player and scorer before the 13th round.
Five years Luka Djordjevic is on allowance in "Zenith", went to three leases (now the fourth is in progress), but only his fellow countryman Bozovic revealed himself in all its glory. The Montenegrin striker scored four goals for Arsenal, and all, imagine, decisive! His two balls to Rostov, one to Akhmat and one to Krasnodar provided the Gunners with a draw and two victories. A special option in the agreement between Zenit and Arsenal prevented the striker on the field of St. Petersburg. The vacated position at the forefront was taken by a Zambian Kangwa, who showed himself remarkably in the last round. And this was the very case when there would be no happiness - misfortune helped ...
We were worried about problems of a different kind: in what state, moral and physical, will a dozen of "compilations" return to the club? Judging by the contents of the protocol, they returned without injuries, at least serious. Of the five footballers who played the last matches of their national teams entirely, Mancini put all five at the base - and Luneva, and Erokhina, and Kokorina, and Ivanovich with Mevlei... Argentine troika got rest Paredes – Mammana – Rigoni, tired not so much of football (in Ecuadorian Quito, only the first came out on the lawn and for a very short time), as many hours of air travel. Well, the natural emotional devastation after the happy ending of the extreme qualifying cycle must be taken into account.
The hosts' starting line-up did not do without the South Americans: they entered the support zone Kranevitter, in the attack the company Kokorin made up Driussi... Combat strength with one or two reservations. And Zenit's football didn't work out before the break. Perhaps the "compilations" lacked freshness, perhaps the whole team - the mood for an outsider. One way or another, in the notorious class, the other hosts failed to buy Arsenal with a ball. To score, you have to beat, I apologize for the revelation in the style of the Captain Obvious. And the Petersburgers only once hit the target with the ball in the first half. At the 39th minute. Colleague's blow to the "nationalist" Erokhina experienced Gabulov pulled, and nothing more was required from him until the break. Several interrupted canopies and the removal of the ball from the goal - do not count.
Arsenal, on the other hand, pleasantly surprised us - not at all outsider efficiency, solidity, calmness. Even though he didn't invent almost anything in the offensive, minus a pretty standard from Kirill Kombarova, so his priorities were different - not to miss. In accordance with the task, he acted - as compactly and carefully as possible, leaving a lonely behind the line of the ball during other people's attacks Kangwa- what if he gets away in a quick attack? In the first half, he did not escape, but he kept the defenders and defenders of Zenit in constant tension, which means that it also worked useful.
Attempts Mancini Changing the course of the meeting with an active prompt from the technical area was not crowned with success: either the instructions did not reach the right ears in the hum of 45 thousand spectators, or they were interpreted incorrectly. Leaving for the locker room, Allenatore did not hide his disappointment with the game and the result. In the locker room, he did not limit himself to only one suggestion to the team. Replacement Shatova on Jubu led to the restructuring of the St. Petersburg attack. Agile Driussi with Kokorin dispersed along the flanks, making room in the center for a large-sized comrade.
Messi will help Zenit confidently defeat Arsenal
A bus battle is expected in Rostov, and in the Milan derby Handanovich will not allow himself to be upset twice.
Together with the scheme, the attitude of the owners to the business has changed, and for the better. As if at the click of the coaches' fingers, Zenit turned on the speed, increased their aggression and scored a goal. True, from an offside position. Ivanovich closing the canopy Crisito, did not even bother to appeal to the judge Chistyakov- means internally agreed with the decision thereof, in fact, correct. Once again the stands looked at the referee after the single combat Dziuba with Sunzu. Chistyakov and here he took the side of the weaker, and quite rightly: there was contact, no foul.
You will laugh (if you are not a fan of Zenit), but there was another canceled goal of the hosts in this match, a copy of the first, and again absolutely on the case. Only the characters have changed. Fresh came to the fore: Paredes hung, Dzyuba closed, rejoiced and ... instantly darkened, seeing a Muscovite raised Shalamberidze red and yellow flag. If Artyom knew how to incinerate with his gaze, the man on the line would smoke at least ...
“Will there be Vasin? Perhaps this is a plus for CSKA. " Predictions for the 13th RFPL tour
Will Berdyev be offended by the former club? Will Spartak be able to win in Grozny? Is Krasnodar ready to fight CSKA? Trying to look into the future.
Arsenal spent a half-time hatching the first shot on target. But as soon as he "gave birth", so immediately and took the lead! Where was Crisito during an inspired, as in the best years, flank breakthrough Kombarova why the stoppers carelessly abandoned the only foreign striker is unclear. They simply lost concentration, being too carried away by the offensive. And the guests just needed that. His first and last moment of the evening Evans Kangwa ordered excellently.
Together with Snake a company note from Mancini... But neither he nor she helped to correct the situation. Arsenal defended their minimal advantage and contributed their "five kopecks" to the medal race of the championship. Even without Djordjevic- who would have thought?!
You can see the goal in
The lackluster game and the defeat of Lokomotiv in Ufa gave Zenit an excellent opportunity to break away from the still main competitor in the Premier League. But already in the first half it became clear - international matches affect almost all teams, where there are a large number of "collections". Even on such a powerful line-up as Zenit.
Slow Zenith
On September 11, 2016 Mircea Lucescu's team smashed Arsenal in Tula, and almost everyone was sure that Zenit would win the championship title. Then the blue-white-blue scored an early goal, after which they dealt with the opponent without any problems. Even Alexander Kerzhakov, who now watches football from the podium, has distinguished himself. It is noteworthy that that game followed immediately after a two-week pause for international matches. But the Romanian specialist was able to find the best combinations, and after the match he had no reason to complain about the referees. The current head coach of Zenit Roberto Mancini found himself in a more difficult situation.
The Italian lost 12 players during this pause. Moreover, the matches were to be extremely important, especially for the Argentine legionnaires of Zenit. Perhaps that is why defining midfield player Leandro Paredes and striker Emiliano Rigoni remained in reserve for the match with Arsenal. Mancini decided to play on the already proven 4-4-2 formation. She has been a success this season on several occasions, with Arsenal no sign of trouble.
But the problems began from the first minutes - the Tula closed in their half of the field, as expected, betting on counterattacks. When the ball turned out to be at the Zenit, they did not seem to know what to do. The hosts rolled him along the field, full-backs Domenico Crisito and Igor Smolnikov did not always help the attack, so the opponent defended confidently. The pair of central midfielders Erokhin - Kranevitter in 45 minutes only once managed to find a non-standard move, which led to a strike from the penalty area of the former midfielder "Rostov". But Gabulov played confidently, not allowing Stanislav Cherchesov to doubt himself. Oleg Shatov looked the most depressing way: a couple of times he tried to play the game, but rested against the powerful Tula defenders. Even Aleksandr Kokorin was lost: Zenit's top scorer was constantly sinking closer to the midfielders, trying to play the ball instead of them, but this rarely helped Zenit approach the opponent's goal.
Goal from Zambia
Problems arose not only at Zenit, but also at the lawn of the St. Petersburg stadium. From a distance it was clearly visible that in some parts of the field the grass was replaced - in both goalkeeper areas and in a small area near the end line. The blue-white-blue have three more home matches ahead of the planned substitution. So far, there is no reason for serious concern - with a closed roof, the lawn is not afraid of problems. However, now hardly anyone can guarantee that on December 2, with Ural, there will be no more new grass floors on the field of the stadium.
Main coach Arsenal's Miodrag Bozovic decided not to change anything during the break. The four dynamically moving defenders, who were constantly helped by five midfielders, were completely satisfied, and the Zambian striker Evans Kangwa even managed to occasionally cling to the balls. The Tulyaks really missed Luka Djordjevic, but under the terms of the lease, the Zenit striker could not take part in the match.
In the second half, Mancini immediately released Artyom Dziuba, and Zenit's game became more meaningful. But the main thing - there was speed in the attack. However, the dangerous moments arose mainly after the innings. So on 52 minutes the fans jumped up from their seats, but the assistant referee raised the flag - Branislav Ivanovic scored a goal from offside. 15 minutes later, the same assistant canceled Dziuba's goal after a penalty kick. Zenit attacked aggressively, replacing Paredes established interaction in the center of the field and it seemed that Mancini's team would snatch victory.
Carried away by actions in the attack, the blue-white-blues completely forgot about defense - the first meaningful exit of Arsenal led to a goal: Kirill Kombarov got the ball on the right flank and made a pass to Evans Kangwa, who was running into the center. The Zambian attacking midfielder, it seems, until 73 minutes did not understand why he was on the field. But in the right moment he played extremely coolly and did not miss from an advantageous position. The central defenders of "Zenith" could not do anything, obviously they remained thoughts in the attack.
In the end, Zenit made several more attempts to level the score, but Arsenal was clearly not going to lose three points. The game was going to the point of error, and Zenit was the first to make a mistake that evening.
Mircea Lucescu, on occasion, will surely recall that victory in Tula with pleasure. Mancini, on the other hand, will try to forget the game with the Tula, and the Italian seems to have long since resigned himself to the fact that his team is overtaken by the “FIFA virus” with every pause in the matches of the national teams.
On the topic: SKA did not interfere with Zenit
When referee Artem Chistyakov was blowing the starting whistle at the Arena St. Petersburg, in the Ice Palace hockey SKA began the third period of the game against Kazan Ak Bars. Two overlapping events featuring the city's top sports clubs - where should the fans go, which one should they prefer?
In recent years, the palm has moved to hockey, where it was possible to watch the best players in the KHL in warmth and in ideal conditions. SKA has done everything possible for the comfort of its fans. On "Petrovsky", blown by the winds and weeping under constant Petersburg rains, only hot guys from the "bend" did not feel any discomfort. The rest had to think twice if the game was worth the candle. But with the advent of the Arena St. Petersburg, the narrow-gauge railway in Ice turned into a two-way road leading to the most modern stadium on Krestovsky Island.
Most importantly, and this is clearly demonstrated last Sunday evening, there are enough fans in the city for both SKA and Zenit. The Kontinental Hockey League game against Ak Bars was attended by 12,295 people, which is 98% of the total capacity of the Ice. As for Zenit, 45 736 spectators came to the blue-white-blue. Quite good numbers, if we do not forget that the rivals were not a grand, but one of the outsiders of the championship. Last season, when the blue-white-blue also received Tula residents at home on Sunday, only 16903 spectators reached Petrovsky. Draw your own conclusions, but it is obvious that even on the eve of the working week, people are ready to go to football, where, with the roof closed, they will feel as comfortable as possible.
Prepared by Alexander Makarov
Premier League. 13th round
Zenit (St. Petersburg) - Arsenal (Tula) - 0: 1
"Zenith": Lunev - Smolnikov, Ivanovich, Mevlya, Krishito (k) - Kuzyaev (Paredes, 65), Kranevitter, Erokhin (Poloz, 81), Shatov (Dzyuba, 46) - Kokorin, Driussi
"Arsenal": V. Gabulov (k) - K. Kombarov, Sunzu, Belyaev, Alvarez (Grigalava, 79) - Bourchanu - Tkachev, Gorbatenko, Chaushich (Maksimov, 87), Shevchenko (Khagush, 62) - Kangva
- Goal: Kangwa, 73
- Warnings: Paredes, 77 / Čausic, 37; Sunzu, 53; V. Gabulov, 90
- Judges: Artem Chistyakov (Azov), Konstantin Shalamberidze (Moscow), Alexander Bogdanov (Vereya)
The main sensation of the game weekend in the Premier League took place in St. Petersburg, where Zenit lost to Tula Arsenal - 0: 1.
First time
This match, like all others in the 13th round, began with a minute of silence in memory of Zenit's sports director Konstantin Sarsania. The "blue-white-blue" themselves played today in mourning bandages.
The very same game in the first half turned out to be extremely dull and expressionless. Roberto Mancini's squad started the meeting at high speeds, but this is a distinctive feature of the Italian team, which is enabled by default. It was not possible to extract anything intelligible from the speed of actions. Moreover, Zenit had no territorial advantage as such. It’s not in the style of Bozovic’s teams to park the bus. Therefore, Arsenal also attacked.
The first of the two dangerous moments in the half was created in the 12th minute. Shatov cut a pass to the far corner of the goalkeeper's corner to Kokorin, who threw the sphere on Driussi, and Sebastian struck with his head - just above the gate! In Zenit's game, a lot came together in long passes with Kokorin and Driussi opening up. But everything that the Petersburgers created was too readable.
The Tula also did not succeed in attacking: the defense of the hosts worked out in good faith, and the “gunners” lacked the accuracy of small movements in order to create problems at the gate of Lunev. The result of all this - 0 shots on target of the opponent. But the leader of the championship was still accurate once. In the 40th minute, Erokhin decided on a long-range strike, and Gabulov had a lot of effort to pull the "round" from under his left rack! With a relatively calm game, the teams went on a break, and, to be honest, nothing foreshadowed a radical change in the game.
Second half
And to some extent it happened. Mancini changed Shatov to Dziuba, the scheme changed, and the attitude of Zenit too. Almost immediately, the “blue-white-blue” organized a scoring attack: Krishito hung from the standard to the left offside line, from where Ivanovich shot Gabulov's goal. 1: 0? No! Offside, moreover, two meters. The referee team worked well, and the Serb himself seemed to understand that he was closer to the goal than the last defender.
Five minutes later, Sebastian Driussi got another chance. After Smolnikov's pass, the Argentine striker from close range struck his head - again by. "Zenith" in those minutes took possession of an impressive territorial advantage, which was then reinforced by Miodrag Bozovic. Yes, yes, there is no mistake - at the beginning of the final third of the match, the Arsenal coach changed striker Igor Shevchenko for Anri Khagush, who often plays on the defensive.
A little later, Mancini replied: Leandro Paredes instead of Daler Kuzyaev. Yes, fresh forces were needed in the center of the field. In the 68th minute, Zenit scored the second goal - and again after filing from the set, and again offside! This time Dziuba scored, and he was in the wrong position. Here the Zenit coaches surrounded the reserve referee, but the replay showed us all that this goal was also canceled rightfully.
But after 6-7 minutes something unexpected and almost unbelievable happened. A quick counterattack by Arsenal, Kirill Kombarov cut a chic diagonal from the right flank to the left corner of the goalkeeper's room, where Lunev tried to get to the ball, but in vain - Kangwa was closer to the projectile, and it was he who struck past the goalkeeper and exactly into the goal - 0: 1! At the beginning of the review, it was written that Bozovic does not really like "buses" - but after the goal was scored, it seems that Graf had no choice but to change the scheme of his game to 10-0-0.
Zenit had only one chance for the next ten minutes, when Kokorin entered the penalty area from the right and shot wide. Then, at Arsenal, Grigalava replaced Alvarez, and at Zenit, Poloz replaced Erokhin. Moreover, the St. Petersburg replacement turned out to be quite ridiculous. Erokhin did everything in order to quickly leave the field, but Mancini had not yet had time to explain to Poloz what he should do.
By the way, Dmitry could have scored with the first touch after Smolnikov's throw - the ball went off his feet and flew past the left rack. About four minutes before the end of regular time, Ilya Maksimov came out instead of Goran Chaushic.
Results of the match
That’s what they didn’t expect, they didn’t really expect it. One shot on target - one goal. Tula "Arsenal" becomes a specialist in championship leaders. First Krasnodar, now Zenit. So you can get to the European Cup zone. Of course, not without a great deal of luck, Bozovic's charges took their three points. But the Petersburgers themselves are to blame. Until Arsenal put the bus at their own penalty area, there were chances. In the second half, with the transition to total defense, it was already less, but the canopies in the Dziuba area should have played. Did not work out. And now the intrigue flares up with new strength, because CSKA got close to Lokomotiv and Zenit. The hotter the derby of the two capitals will be next week!
