Matthew Harris
The waiting is finally over and the new season of Russian Premier League football has arrived. As expected, the first wave of matches produced some interesting results, but for drama the much anticipated derby clash between Lokomotiv Moscow and Dynamo Moscow could not be bettered, with two last minute goals not enough for Dynamo to overturn Lokomotiv’s earlier three strikes.
Last year’s champions Zenit St. Petersburg travelled to Terek Grozny and got their season off to a solid start with a 1-0 win over Ruud Gullit’s men. Danko Lazovic scored the winner in the 14th minute and despite Terek enjoying most of the possession from then on, Zenit held on to claim the spoils.
Even before their opening game, the country’s faithful had identified Zenit as the team to beat this season. Last year’s Russian Premier League champions lost only two games in 2010 as they eventually claimed the title by a comfortable six points. Their progress in the current Europa League shows they have remained strong as the build-up to the start of the Russian season gained momentum and the win in Grozny suggests that Zenit will once again take some stopping.
Detractors will point to the fact that Luciano Spalletti’s side have failed to bring in any big-name signings in the close season and this in turn has led to some concern amongst Zenit’s fans of staleness setting in. Despite being linked with several players across the globe, most notably Tottenham Hotspur’s out-of-favour striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, the St. Petersburg-based team were conspicuously quiet and there were more departures than arrivals.
However, it is indeed wise to look at this and form the conclusion that the rest of the Premier League is simply scrambling to catch up and the current Zenit squad needs no tinkering. And Spalletti himself would argue that experienced players such as Vyacheslav Malafeev and Aleksandr Kerzhakov are amongst the best in their respective positions and snaring better players would take some doing.
Goalkeeper Malafeev in particular was the subject of Spalletti’s praise after the Terek game, with the former Roma coach showing how highly he rates his number 1. “Malafeev is one of the national team goalkeepers”, said Spalletti. “He’s a very high-level footballer.”
For the club’s rivals Zenit’s displays over the Russian off-season don’t inspire confidence of a change at the top of the table. While the country’s other sides can adequately claim to be “half-baked” without league action to keep them sharp, Zenit have flourished in the Europa League, winning all their group phase games before breezing past Young Boys in the first knockout stage. And while a 3-0 defeat away to FC Twente in the Round of 16 looks to have scuppered their adventure, Spalletti himself is defiant.
“After the last game we were more disappointed than upset. We should have won, considering how we played in Enschede,” commented the Italian. “We’ll have another match on Thursday, and I’m sure that we’ll advance further.”
Despite Spalletti’s bold words, it will take a spectacular feat for Zenit to be troubled by European travel arrangements in May and repeat their UEFA Cup success of 2008, but the Blue-White-Light-Blues’ performances in the Europa League suggest the club are in perfect shape for the 2011 Russian league campaign at least.
And as they return to domestic action, Zenit will point to the many records that they have set since Spalletti and his team took over.
In the 2010 season, Zenit won nine Premier League games in a row during a period which took in a remarkable run of 26 games unbeaten in all competitions. Furthermore, the club’s Petrovsky Stadium has become a fortress, with Zenit not to taste defeat on home turf since August 2009.
None of this will make attractive reading for Zenit’s closest rivals: Once again the main challenges are likely to come from the likes of Rubin Kazan and the four Moscow teams – Dynamo, CSKA, Lokomotiv and Spartak, but they will have to overcome Zenit’s formidable home record to stand a chance of lifting the title in 2011.
Zenit may not have started the Russian Premier League season in style, but Terek are never an easy side to play and Spalletti was certainly satisfied with the narrow victory.
“Our task was to win, and we did that. Our opponent played well, and showed good football. Just like last year, it was hard to play on the pitch in Grozny. So all the more important it was for us to win today.”
In short a win is a win, and Zenit’s campaign is off to a victorious start. Regardless of what happens in the return leg against FC Twente, Russia’s champions will be full of confidence as they host Anzhi Makhachkala on Monday (21st). Irrespective of who they have or haven’t signed in the close season, Zenit St. Petersburg remain the team to beat.
