GaudinoMotors
Well-Known Member
The rewriting of transfer history alive and well.
But yes - time to let this go.
But yes - time to let this go.
Roberto Mancini - next Italy manager
- Thread starter Tez Tosterone
- Start date
I don't see any point in arguing about events 4 and 5 years ago. However, I don't feel I should refrain from posting updates about Mancini at Zenit because some people might be interested in how he's doing.
Which is pretty well, in fact. They won 1-0 in a derby against newly promoted Tosno at Zenit's old Petrovskiy Stadium on Saturday (this is roughly the equivalent of a small, fairly local club such as Macc Town getting promoted to the Prem as City moved to the Etihad and playing at Maine Road because their own ground was inadequate). Not the best display from Zenit but, considering they played in Israel in the Europa League on Thursday, any kind of win on Sunday afternoon would have been decent, IMO. They're now joint top with Lokomotiv Moscow (identical goal differences and goals scored) with 9 points from 3 games. Akhmat Grozny in third place also have a 100% record.
This coming Thursday Zenit have the second leg of their Europa League tie and, with a 2-0 first leg lead, they'll presumably rotate. They have a home game against Spartak Moscow the following Sunday, which is probably the fixture above all that Zenit fans would want to win during any season (and this time Spartak are the reigning champions as well).
Zenit have also signed a 21-year-old Argentinian CB called Emmanuel Mammana from Lyon. This was a position where they were weak so if he's a success, it'll go a long way towards making them potential champions.
City Hobgoblin
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Petrusha: Are Tosno going to play all their matches at the Petrovsky?
Blue Hefner
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Thanks. No idea if it's on TV in the UK this season so I tweeted the guy who used to do the commentaries for UK TV in the past and will let you know what he says.
Yes. This is what they announced a couple of months ago, and it's still what's stated on their own and the league's website.
The Petrovsky also has a 3K capacity arena next door where Zenit-2 (their reserves) and the chronically unsuccessful second team in the city Dinamo St Petersburg play.
Blue Hefner
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A first defeat for Roberto last night as a much-changed Zenit side went down 1-0 at home to Bnei Yehuda of Tel Aviv in the second leg of their Europa League qualifier. The 2-0 away win in the first leg saw Zenit through on aggregate, however. Mancini seemed pretty philosophical, saying that they're playing every 3 days at the moment so have to rotate and the odd defeat is inevitable. They didn't play well against opponents who basically came to park the bus and nicked a goal, but nor did they ever really look in much danger of losing control of the tie overall.
They pulled in just under 46,000 yesterday, which for a televised Thursday night match against that opposition is pretty decent. Suggests that Mancini has so far managed to ignite some enthusiasm in the fan base. Don't think anyone will worry too much about the defeat as long as he keeps a challenge going at the top of the league and qualifies for the group stage of the Europa League (the draw for the play-off round is later today).
Spartak up next at home, on Sunday evening. As Zenit have historically hardly ever had a local rival in the same division, they regard the matches with the greatest edge as those against the Moscow teams - and especially Spartak, as they're the best supported and most prestigious of the capital's clubs. (Spartak also enjoy it if they can put down the second city upstarts, but have bigger rivalries with the other Moscow clubs, especially CSKA). So if Mancini can win on Sunday, his stock will be very high.
EDIT - They've drawn FC Utrecht in the Europa League play-off round, first leg away.
They pulled in just under 46,000 yesterday, which for a televised Thursday night match against that opposition is pretty decent. Suggests that Mancini has so far managed to ignite some enthusiasm in the fan base. Don't think anyone will worry too much about the defeat as long as he keeps a challenge going at the top of the league and qualifies for the group stage of the Europa League (the draw for the play-off round is later today).
Spartak up next at home, on Sunday evening. As Zenit have historically hardly ever had a local rival in the same division, they regard the matches with the greatest edge as those against the Moscow teams - and especially Spartak, as they're the best supported and most prestigious of the capital's clubs. (Spartak also enjoy it if they can put down the second city upstarts, but have bigger rivalries with the other Moscow clubs, especially CSKA). So if Mancini can win on Sunday, his stock will be very high.
EDIT - They've drawn FC Utrecht in the Europa League play-off round, first leg away.
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Will write more when I have time tomorrow, but Bobby Manc shouldn't have to put his hand in his pocket if he wants a drink in St P in the near future. In front of what was reported to be a sell-out crowd (68K if true, though I haven't seen the official numbers), they beat reigning champions Spartak 5-1 tonight. Quite a statement!
PannickAtTheDisco
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very good crowd, spartak were all over the place