Roberto Mancini - next Italy manager

Well, Bob's first major disappointment at Zenit tonight. He fielded a much-changed line-up and was on the wrong end of a cup giant-killing, though it was a very exciting match.

I was wrong about the venue. It was played at Zenit's new stadium despite technically being Dinamo's home game. It drew a 37K crowd so I presume the extra gate receipts explain why Dinamo agreed to the switch. Not playing on their own patch didn't do them any harm anyway.

Zenit went down to ten men after nine minutes, a pivotal moment in the game, after the reserve centre-back hauled down Dinamo's pacy striker when he was one-on-one with the keeper. It looked crucial as Dinamo went on to lead 2-0 at the break. After HT, though, Zenit came out a changed side and levelled with two goals in a minute on the hour. It seemed then as though class would tell despite the numerical disadvantage but Zenit couldn't convert their superiority into goals.

They lived to regret it. In the second period of ET, a weary, mistimed lunge in his own box by a Zenit defender gave Dinamo the opportunity to win it from the spot before a shoot-out. The chance was taken.

In the overall scheme of things, Zenit and Mancini might be relieved to be free of the extra fixture burden victory would have brought. But Mancini's demeanour on the touchline and the team's efforts on the pitch didn't suggest they were thinking like this during the match.

Anyway, Krasnodar away on Sunday in the top versus second clash. Zenit will have to defend a lot better down there, but thankfully we'll see different personnel at the back.
 
Well, Bob will be much happier tonight than on Thursday. Great win for his lads in Krasnodar.

They dominated the opening period and led 2-0 at the break through goals on 30 and 36 minutes. Had to withstand a lot of pressure second half but defended well and when the opposition did get through, Lunev, now Russia's number one, was in great form. Zenit did also offer a threat on the break after the interval and overall it was a very professional display.

Lokomotiv had an impressive win by the only goal at Rostov and are back in second, four points off the pace. Krasnodar and CSKA Moscow are a further two and three points back respectively.
 
Last edited:
Had to work late tonight so haven't seen the game, but I understand that Zenit won 3-1 in front of 50K. Zenit Twitter seems to be in a fairly ebullient mood. Forza Roberto!
 


Bob was a happy man after last night's game, and understandably so.

Next up - Anzhi Makhachkala away in the southern region of Dagestan on Sunday evening. (I assume it isn't viable to switch to Monday, as they did after the last Thursday game, when there's an international break).

A few years back, Anzhi were the big-money club, bringing in players such as Roberto Carlos and Samuel Eto'o on vast contracts, while Guus Hiddink arrived as coach. But the funding dried up, the big names left and they were relegated. They bounced back instantly, thouvgh, and have just about stayed up in the last two seasons, but they're struggling this time. In bottom place with 8 points from 11 games, they were battered 5-1 by Krasnodar in their last home fixture, though they did better last week with a 2-2 draw away to misfiring champions Spartak.

Anzhi are the team of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in the volatile Northern Caucasus region, so the atmosphere is likely to be rather spicy. Nonetheless, Zenit will be disappointed if they don't take all three points from this one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.