The head coach of Zenit talks about the condition of the players, the standings and the upcoming match with Dynamo.
Photo: Evgeny Asmolov
— “Dynamo” won two victories in a row in the RPL, while previously they had a series of three defeats in a row. What can you say about the results of our Sunday opponent? What impression does he make on you?
— “Dynamo” was and remains one of the contenders, they are a very high-quality team. As for points scored, points lost… All teams gain and lose points at one time or another. The team that performs most consistently wins.
— “Zenit” and “Dynamo” continue their performance in the Cup. With such a busy schedule, what qualities of the teams come to the fore?
– Now the functional state is very important, the number of players who will be ready for matches is important – the density of the calendar is very high. All of this together will make a big difference.
— In past games, there was a noticeable rotation of the lineup. Is everyone now ready to take the field in Sunday’s match?
– Let’s see. There are players whose participation is in question. I hope that Douglas Santos and Ilzat Akhmetov will be added to our roster. We’ll see, closer to the match we’ll take into account the condition of the players. Today we will have literally the first lesson for those who played on Wednesday.
— Can we say that the last match with Rubin was a point at which many negative factors converged, and now this is an opportunity to build on it and get into shape?
– I don’t think there was any point. Matches like this happen sometimes, no matter what calendar you play on. Once a season, such matches always happen – the winner is not the one who controls the game or has the advantage, but the one who scores. As far as implementation is concerned, everything also turns out differently: sometimes the team scores from a mini-moment, and sometimes in 100% situations they don’t score much. This is football, that’s why it’s interesting. Our job is to prepare for every match and do everything to play the best we can.
— There is a lot of talk about the fact that Dynamo’s style is well known to Zenit; you have met with this team more than once. They prefer to play attacking, open football. Is there any reason to wait for an open game in the next match?
— It’s difficult to imagine how open the game will be. Dynamo knows how to both defend and attack. Our team has the same qualities. Let’s see how the match turns out – both teams know how to play well in attack. Let’s hope that the match will be productive and entertaining, we will try to do everything to win.
— At the moment, Dynamo is quite well behind Zenit, but at the same time continues to fight in the Cup. Should we expect rotation from an opponent who can make a bid for the Cup?
– I don’t think so. The apparent gap is indeed significant, but it is compensated for in two matches. This is not a critical gap for so many games. I think that Dynamo is the same contender for winning the championship as other candidates – like us and like Krasnodar.
