Puedlfor

Everything Ends Badly, Otherwise it Wouldn’t End

A conveniently timed friendly for Russia in Berlin gives me the chance to get my players a few kicks in a competitive nature ahead of our Champion’s League game against Chelsea. Of the 26 man squad I named, 18 came from either Zenith or Lokomotiv Moscow – both teams still remaining in their respective European competitions. A little tactic fiddling, and a few debuts for overawed youngsters and Miroslav Klose’s brace were the only notable things from this match as Germany’s full-strength team eased to the victory.
Final: Germany 2, Russia 0

February 21st, 2007
Champion’s League, First Knockout Round, First Leg

Chelsea(4-4-2): Green; Ferreira, Bridge, Johnson, Carvalho; Schweinsteiger, Robben, Pizarro, Xabi Alonso; Kezman, Drogba.

Zenith(4-1-4-1): Malafeev; Fuzailov, Bustos, Hagen, Ignashevich; Guarin; Aruajo, Kleber, Arshavin, Wellington; Kerzhakov.

They aren’t better than Inter. They’re good. If they still had Terry – and they stopped playing Kezman and Drogba up front and played some real strikers they might be. But they don’t. Saviola and Evra are cup-tied for this competition, but Schweinsteger’s broken ankle in August and Bayern’s strong midfield mean that the youngster was not.

They’re still better than us though. We came out looking to shock them, and Fuzailov’s early free kick was punched over for a corner. It took a while until Chelsea shook the lingering wear and tear from their season from their heels and hit their stride – but when they did, their midfield four put a stranglehold on the game. A surprisingly dirty team, they were whistled for FOURTEEN fouls in the first forty-five minutes, and Fuzailov had to be stretchered off after Pizarro’s hideous two-footed lunge left his ankle bent the wrong way. Five minutes from time, Arjen Robben produced a bit of magic to skip by Bustos before arching a shot at the top corner. Malafeev reacted brilliantly to parry it off the post – the rebound fell to Pizarro, and his thunderous volley found only Malafeev’s palm as the Zenith net-minder pulled off an incredible double save. Unfortunately, the triple save that was needed was a bridge to far, and the loose ball was tapped into the net by Drogba. A nervy first half, and a vicious one from the London side. Both Kerzhakov and Arshavin were carrying Pizarro-induced injuries and were only at 75% for the rest of the match. Robben and Schweinsteiger were magnificent down the wings, and Alonso and Pizarro raged from box-to-box and the second goal was very much like the first. The German winger playing a neat 1-2 with Alonso to free him to the baseline before crossing back for Pizarro – who’s shot was only just saved by Malafeev, and the rebound again came to Drogba who only had to tap it into the net to double Chelsea’s lead. The Blues should’ve ended the tie then and there, but were wasteful in front of goal and their strikers blew a number of simple chances that they should’ve buried. We should’ve been caught out by a counter-attack. If only Chelsea had a quick striker with lethal finishing ability – you know, a Michael Owen-type – or hell – even the original. But for some reason, Keegan went with his anonymous strike duo and left Owen patiently waiting on the bench – and we held out to limit the damage to a two-goal deficit.
Final: Chelsea 2, Zenith St. Petersburg 0

An MRI and several X-Rays on Fuzailov’s ankle revealed no ligament damage or broken bones, and the preliminary diagnosis is a moderate ankle sprain. In that the Tajik fullback is lucky – and he’ll be healthy in time to face Chelsea in the return leg.



March 3rd, 2007
Russian Super Cup
CSKA Moscow vs Zenith St. Petersburg

Neither side sent out their full strength side – we had a Champion’s League game in four days, and CSKA didn’t care. Whatever the motivation – Zenith’s second XI proved too much to handle for CSKA’s reserves as Julio Cesar, finally recovered after a three month layoff, was a constant bother for the Army Men – scoring one goal himself, and setting up the other two. For the second year in a row we’d ran out easy winners of the Super Cup and collected the nice fat pay check for doing so.
Final: CSKA Moscow 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 3



March 7th, 2007
Champion’s League, First Knockout Round, Second Leg
Zenith St. Petersburg (0) vs Chelsea (2)

Zenith(4-1-4-1): Malafeev; Fuzailov, Bustos, Kolodin, Ignashevich; Guarin; Araujo, Karyaka, Arshavin, Kleber; Kerzhakov.

Chelsea only needed to defend a 2-0 lead from the first leg, and they came out intending to do so and nothing more. Sitting deep, the Premier League leaders defended in depth – using Robben and Schweinsteiger to harass the ball up the field – Alonso and Pizarro breaking up anything that crossed the midway line, and the back four sitting planted at the edge of the box – and made no indication they intended to be moved. Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman were used in attack to lull us into a false sense of security, because they certainly weren’t used to try and score goals.

Chelsea would finish the match with three long-range efforts on target in the match, and none would’ve troubled me – much less Malafeev. That became clear early on – but could we break down Chelsea’s determined defense for one goal, let alone two? In the first half it certainly didn’t look like it, as Araujo and Kleber became impatient and sloppy and both turned in their worst performances in a Zenith shirt. The game went into halftime scoreless.

Araujo and Kleber both came off for Wellington and Spivak – and the two subs sparked a period of Zenith dominance. It culminated in the 71st minute, when Wellington marshaled Kerzhakov’s backward header, before laying it off to Spivak – cutting inside – the Ukrainian took one touch to control it before lashing it past a hopeless Robert Green. Back in the match with a brilliant goal – we had the better run of play for the rest of regulation, but were denied by mere inches the equalizer we needed. Karyaka’s 82nd minute grasscutter slipping just by the far post, and Kerzhakov actually hitting that same post in the 87th. Four minutes of stoppage time sped along like four seconds, and Chelsea had held on for the victory.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 1(1), Chelsea 0(2); Chelsea advance 2-1 on aggregate

It was hard to be disappointed in the elimination. While we could’ve pulled it off – based on the play over both legs, it wouldn’t have been deserved, and we’d already gone farther than most thought we would. And even if it came to nothing in the end, we did win the return leg over Chelsea - and hopefully showed that we’ll be a real force to contend with in the future. Our loss leaves Lokomotiv as the Russian standard bearer in Europe, as they easily saw off a Czech side in the first knockout round of the UEFA Cup. They will be defeated by Barcelona in the second round.



Zenith Star Sets Exit Date
Following his side's elimination by Chelsea in the Champion’s League, Zenith striker Alexandr Kerzhakov has stated that he feels he has done as much as he can with Zenith, and is looking for a new challenge – and as such will see out the end of his contract in twelve months and leave via the Bosman ruling.


Kerzhakov hasn’t been interested in discussing an extension of his contract so his public statement, while annoying, has been expected. I’m not going to get what I consider his full value, but I will try to move him during the summer transfer window so I at least get something. The board has shown a remarkable generosity in that they’ve shattered the mandated wage structure to make an attempt to re-sign him. And if this were about money we might have a chance, but I suppose a player like Kerzhakov was going to want to move on to something bigger at this point anyway. We can hardly blame him, he’s head and shoulders above anyone in the Russian Premier League, and at 24, is about to enter the prime of his career.

The brilliant striker might not be the only Zenith player to depart in the transfer window, as the board has become awfully dumb about salaries. Javier Araujo and Andrey Arshavin have expiring contracts this year as well. Unlike Kerzhakov, both are willing to re-sign, but will want hefty raises to do so. Frankly put, both deserve what they want – and we can afford to give it to them. But the board took their stupid pills this morning, and will not open up the wallet to make it happen.

Here’s my problem. The board wants to re-sign Kerzhakov because he’s a key player; and are willing to pay him an enormous amount more than anyone else on the squad to do so. But they will not let me use that same money to bring back Araujo and Arshavin. WHEN, not if at this point, Kerzhakov leaves – Arshavin and Araujo will be the two best field players on the team – and the face of the team for years to come. If I could give but half each of what the board was willing to give Alexandr to the other two– I could sign Andrey and Javier within a week – and I don’t understand why the board is unwilling to see this.

Something is going to have to give – the Champion’s League TV money is going to be deposited in May – if after that the board is unwilling to pony up the dough - I’m going to issue an ultimatum to the board. Give me the money to build on our success – or get a new manager.

Puedlfor

The Team

Enough of the doldrums of contract negotiations and board wrangling – let’s met the team that’ll run out for the 2007 season.

Goalkeepers
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Kamil Contofalsky | GK | SVK | 28 | £120K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Vyacheslav Malafeev | GK | RUS | 28 | £2.2M | </pre>

The goalkeeping situation is exactly the same as when I took over Zenith – Malafeev continues to be a rock in goal, and Contofalsky rethought his desire to leave and will play competent understudy.

Defenders
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| - | Int | Sergey Ignashevich | SW/D C | RUS | 27 | £1.5M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Alexey Katulskiy | SW/D/DM RLC | RUS | 29 | £40K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Fgn | Panzer | D C | NOR | 31 | £1.1M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Fgn | Ivica Krizanac | D C | CRO | 28 | £130K | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Rahmatullo Fuzailov | D/DM R | TJK | 28 | £1.3M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Fgn | Rubén DarÃ*o Bustos | D/DM RL | COL | 25 | £1.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Denis Kolodin | D/DM LC | RUS | 25 | £1.6M |</pre>

This is the deepest crop of defenders I’ve had at Zenith yet – and will pose a number of selection headaches. Ignashevich, Hagen(“Panzer�) and Kolodin will all rotate in the middle. Kolodin can kick out to left back to spell Bustos, and Bustos can play either full-back position. Krizanac stays on as an athletic center-back and Katulskiy didn’t want much – and though he sucks, he can suck at about six positions.

Defensive Midfielders

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Fgn | Freddy GuarÃ*n | DM RC | COL | 20 | £2.7M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Fgn | Wellington | DM C | BRA | 25 | £1.9M || ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Igor Denisov | AM C | RUS | 23 | £2.3M |</pre>

Nope, that’s not a mistake. Denisov had always displayed good all-around ability and some position specific training has him looking like a good defensive midfielder – which not only allows him to plug in in-front of the back four, but I think makes him a better all-around midfielder. All three of the players are capable of moving up to a more attacking role, and are talented well-rounded players.

Wingers
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| - | | Olexandr Spivak | AM RLC | UKR | 32 | £1.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Fgn | Javier Araújo | AM RLC | COL | 22 | £2.6M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Int | Andrey Karyaka | AM L | RUS | 29 | £2.5M || ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Fgn | Milan Ivana | F RC | SVK | 23 | £1.1M |</pre>

Unchanged from last year, we’ve got talent, youth and depth upon both wings. Araujo and Karyaka are the day one starters – with the talented Ivana, or veteran Spivak able to step in with ease.

Attacking Midfielders
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| - | Int | Andrey Arshavin | F RC | RUS | 26 | £4.4M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| - | Fgn | Kléber | F C | BRA | 23 | £2.6M || ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Oleg Kozhanov | F LC | RUS | 19 | £525K |</pre>

Arshavin continues to hold out for his massive raise, but is the spark plug in the midfield that fire the Zenith engine. After making his record move from Kiev, Kleber responded by scoring 13 goals in only 17 matches, from a deeper lying position than he’s probably ever played before. Kozhanov has really improved his ability, and will probably make the full international team before Euro ’08 – as a midfielder though – not the striker he came up as. You know, all three of the above midfielders are nominally strikers, who have some ability in the midfield. Obviously, this group will get major reinforcement from the defensive midfielders, who are all capable of playing up here.

Strikers
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| - | Int | Alexandr Kerzhakov | F LC | RUS | 24 | £5.25M | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| - | Fgn | Júlio César | S C | BRA | 27 | £2.1M |</pre>

This is Alexandr’s last year with the club, and a better servant of the club you couldn’t hope for. He’s been everything a striker should be. The Brazilian bothers me – when he’s played, he’s been impressive – constantly working, finding seams and generally giving defenses hell. But his first year at Zenith was injury-ravaged and so he didn’t get that many appearances, and his second season hasn’t started much better, as he came up injured after his virtuoso performance in the Super Cup.

One thing that does bother me about the team as a whole is the increasing number of foreign players. The FUR, the governing body of Russian football, states that no match squad shall have more than eight foreigners in it. The first team as it stands now has nine, which is the first time that I’ve ever had to worry about the rule.

When I took over, there were no South Americans at Zenith – now there are six first team South Americans and another top prospect in the second team. The lure of fishing in the talent-rich waters of South American football is great, because you often get players who are as good, or better than players based domestically – and for much cheaper.

An example: Javier Araujo vs Hristo Yanev. Yanev is a Bulgarian winger who I coveted a great deal, and was pursuing him at the same time as my interest in Araujo. But I chose the Columbian over Yanev because he wanted far too much money, and the transfer fee would’ve been a little high. I ended up with the better player, for cheaper – but brought in a player from faraway shores.

It wasn’t such a big deal when I was confident of building a team around Kerzhakov or Arshavin – but with Kerzhakov definitely off, and Arshavin’s contract demands growing weekly – it may be that the two most prominent Russian players may find themselves replaced by a pair of foreigners – and it may lead down the path Dinamo Moscow took, as their best Russian player is their back-up keeper – and the squad has no resemblance to the fans it plays in front of.

Puedlfor

March 2007

With the formality of European Elimination dealt with, we began the Russian Premier League season on the 10th of March with a visit to Vladikavkaz and a match against Alania. Our title defense began with a walk in the park over a pretty decent team. Featuring Russian International Spartak Gogniev up front, Alania could’ve posed a danger to us – but we came out focused and intent on staking our claim to a third straight title. It was a walkover from the start, ad Kerzhakov started off his final season in style with a goal in the fifteenth minute, and assisting Kléber’s 41st minute strike. Spivak missed a penalty after the break to further extend the lead, but it didn’t matter in the end as Alania couldn’t muster up a coherent attack against our defense.
Final: Alania 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

A week later, and we hosted Rostov. Rostov had been a bogey team for us last year, giving us a great deal of trouble and we split the series with them. However, this was a brand new year, and we continued in the second game much as we had in the first – a stifling hold on the midfield freeing up the wingers and Kerzhakov to attack at will. We had to wait a while to finally breach their defense, with Denisov capping off a dominating first half from him with a 39th minute header. We emerged un-changed from halftime and continued the pressure and Kléber’s brace between 69 and 76 minutes was enough to seal the match and the points.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 3, Rostov 0

A road-trip to Krasnodar and the best-supported team in the division, Kuban would be our last Premier League game of the month. Denisov again was in supreme form – taking control of the midfield and turning provider for our goals this game. A cheeky chip over the defense fell to Araujo to open the scoring only fifteen minutes left, and a well-taken cross found Kléber in the 36th to extend the lead. Kuban, like others before them, were pinned back into their own half and never really troubled Malafeev in goal – and another three points went to Zenith.
Final: Kuban 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

Russian Premier League Cup
The fame and fortune of the Premier League Cup return after a year off and our first round opponents would be Alania. A record low crowd turned up to watch our second XI scrape a 2-1 win in the first leg of the tie. Denisov finished off a torrid month with two thumping goals on either side of the break, before Alania pulled one back from the spot after Krizanac’s obvious professional foul.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 2, Alania 1

Puedlfor

Russian International

Russia have been drawn into a difficult group for qualification for Euro 2006. Along with the always dangerous Dutch team, lie tricky opponents in Finland, Georgia and North Ireland – with group minnow San Marino along for the ride.

After only three games Russia stand a disappointing fourth, having taken only three points against San Marino in the first game. Total demolition jobs by Georgia and Finland left Russia reeling, and needing to take points from every game on the way out – especially the two games against the Dutch we had left.

Standings(3 gms)
Finland: 9 pts
Georgia: 7pts
Holland: 7pts
Russia: 3pts
N. Ireland: 0pts
San Marino: 0pts

March 24th would see Russia face a road match against North Ireland. North Ireland are still looking for their first points of the campaign, and feature David Healy as the main threat to score in front of a rabid home crowd in Belfast.

The North Ireland crowd was quieted though, when we came out and smacked them back from kickoff to final whistle. Using the same basic tactic as I do at Zenith, the players who normally play for Zenith were, of course, needed to lead the way and they didn’t disappoint. Arshavin opened the scoring in the 35th minute when he scooped up a loose ball on the edge of the area before knuckling a hard hit ball past Alan Mannus in goal.

Alan Mannus would not prove to be easy to beat again, and the acrobatic saves he pulled off time and time again kept the Irish team in the game. The Norn Irish field players though, let their goalie down with a tame performance that never threatened to breach Malafeev in goal – and provided entirely too many easy looks for Russian attackers. That many chances was bound to end up with another goal, and it was left to Zenith’s on-form young midfielder Igor Denisov to do the honors. After Mannus had parried a hard-driven Izmailov shot, the Irish back-line frantically cleared the ball down the line – but only as far as Karyaka – who spotted his teammates charging run down a seam and picked him out with a picture perfect cross and Denisov was left with a simple tap-in to seal the three points, and collect his first Int’l goal.
Final: North Ireland 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

In other group matches, Finland had snatched a point away from home against Holland – as Mikael Forsell tore the Dutch defense to shreds – including setting up Jari Niemi for the tying goal. Georgia showed that perhaps they’ll start to wilt after a good start, as they slumped to a draw at San Marino – as the tiny nation picked up its first point of qualifying.

Standings(4 gms)
1) Finland: 10pts
2) Holland: 8pts
3) Georgia: 8pts
4) Russia: 6pts
5) San Marino: 1pt
6) N. Ireland: 0pts.

Puedlfor

April 2007 – The One Unforgivable Sin

The world of a football manager is pretty simple really. Oh, it’s not easy – you have to deal with players egos, you have to deal with the transfer market, you have to work with tactics and coax as much out of naturally parsimonious boards as you can. But in the end, it’s simple – where the world outside football needs ten commandments – football only needs one:

Thou Shalt Not Lose

That’s it. Not - Thou Shall Honor Thy Chairman and Thy Board, not – Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbour’s Left Back, Not – Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Match Officials. Just the one.

Thou Shalt Not Lose

If you win games, the board will put up with just about anything. You can openly flirt with other jobs, you can constantly complain, you can skirt the line of legal activities – hell you can cross over a couple time – and the board will put up with it. Because you win.

And I win.

And it’s the only reason I had a job after this month.

The month started ordinarily enough – the return tie in our Russian Premier League Cup against Alania. We’d already visited them and won once this season, and this was no exception. Our reserves produced a much better display than they had in the first leg – with Julio Cesar leading the way with a splendid pair of goals in the second half. Freddy Guarin notched his first goal in a Zenith uniform to lead us to a comfortable win.
Final: Alania 0(1), Zenith St. Petersburg 3(5); Zenith advance 5-1 on aggregate

That’s when things got a little out of hand. Araujo and Arshavin had just rejected my latest contract offers – and I was a little peeved at the board. I went to them and demanded more money for wages. They turned me down. I demanded more money for transfers. They turned me down and told me that further outbursts would not be tolerated.

The next day, Sam Allardyce got the Dreaded Vote of Confidence from Doug Ellis at Aston Villa – and I announced that a job like Villa would certainly be interesting to me, and that I could see myself leaving Zenith for it. The board was not amused – and asked me politely to reconsider. The fans were shocked, and urged me in plaintive tones to please stay on.

A few days later, we hosted Shinnik – and despite the growing turmoil off the field, it was business as usual on it. Kléber continued to pound ‘em in, opening the scoring from a corner kick on the 33rd minute – and Guarin scored in his second straight game from a deflected shot. Karyaka completed the rout with a penalty in the second half – and we’d taken full points from the first four games, and had yet to concede a goal.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 3, Shinnik 0

This was when hubris began to set it. A little problem with the board, and then we’d smashed another opponent – and I felt bulletproof. When David O’Leary got axed from the Arsenal job, I again declared my interest in another job.

And that was when the **** collectively hit the fan.

Dragged before the board, they read me the riot act and made clear that they were very disappointed in what I was doing, and that unless things changed, I would find myself unemployed.

The fans were ****ed too. I knew I had absolutely no chance at the Arsenal job, and they knew I knew. I was just trying to **** off the board. And the fans knew it, and they were ****ed because they needed a manager who was worried about things on the field, and not busy jerking around with things outside of it.

The Russian Federation was upset as well. They are not in the habit of employing people of such dubious unprofessional nature and that my job with the Russian national team would not be there, if I should upset the Zenith board again.

All of this – and our next game was a visit to Luzhniki and title-challengers Spartak Moscow. A loss in this game would effectively signal the end of my career at the top flight – such was the anger of the board.

Wanderly Paiva, the Spartak Manager, took this time to take a couple pot shots at me in the press. I declined to comment – I had said enough already.

The match got huge press coverage, and many were predicting the Fall of Zenith. With so much turmoil going on off the pitch, it had to affect the teams on the field. And like so many things, they were completely wrong. It took five minutes to shatter Moscow’s resolve, as Kerzhakov flicked on Malafeev’s goal kick right into the path of a hard-charging Arshavin. Suddenly in yards of space, Arshavin pounded forward, and drove the ball hard and low past the Spartak keeper, and it was 1-0 Good Guys. Spartak were rattled by the early goal, and would never recover. Ten minutes of Zenith possession later, we grabbed a second. Arshavin’s long attempt could only be parried by the Spartak keeper, and first to it was Kerzhakov. 2-0. Spartak were falling to pieces and lost possession on the kick off. It was Karyaka who lobbed the ball into the box for Kleber. The Brazilian brought the lob down, cut back and before his marker could react – he’d slammed the ball into the back of the net. 3-0. And Spartak had been crushed. Kléber added another late on to complete the humiliation, and my job was safe for another day.
Final: Spartak Moscow 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 4

Three days later, we hosted relegation strugglers Anzhi. Again we romped to a dominating win. Kléber continued to score at a fantastic pace, and Arshavin added a second for insurance. Another win, and a little more job security.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 2, Anzhi 0

An away match against Dinamo saw our first conceded goal of the season, and our first dropped points. We opened the scoring when Denisov scored another goal – and the Russian youngster is starting to truly grow into his potential talent. The Dinamo talisman Derlei equalized and Dinamo slowly took control of the game. It was therefore, no shock when they took the lead through Andrey Dyatel’s speculative shot. Arshavin came on as a sub, and he rescued a point with a close range finish.
Final: Dinamo Moscow 2, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

We are not the only team to have started the young season unbeaten. Both CSKA and Dinamo have staved off defeat and trail us only by two points in the table.

The close of the month saw another Russian Premier League Cup match, this time hosting Krylja Sovetov. The reserves couldn’t inspire themselves to overcome the full-strength Sovetov team in front of another near-record low attendance. Comprehensively out-played, we were lucky that only Denis Bobva’s strike struck home for the visitors.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 0, Krylja Sovetov 1

And so a month of turmoil ended with me still gainfully employed. If I were in any other line of work, the unprofessional, and insubordinate behavior would’ve gotten me fired. But this is not any other line of work – because in this line of work, there is only one Unforgivable Sin – and I haven’t committed it just yet.

Rafalution

i like this story, it makes me want to take the helm at Zenith myself :thup:

Puedlfor

Thanks again for reading along and the compliment

May 2007 – Chastised

May 5th, and Lokomotiv visit Petrovsky, looking to turn around their poor start to the season. The visitors parked the bus in front of the goal, and made it their plan to defend and maybe steal something on the counter. It was a plan made tougher when Marat Izmailov was carted off with an injury – yet they managed to hold off our attack and entered the break scoreless. We’ve got a potent offense though, and rarely is a team going to visit Petrovsky and hold us scoreless. Lokomotiv were not good enough to pull it off, and Kolodin’s near post header from a corner on 61 minutes would’ve been enough to seal the win – but just to make sure, Kléber finished off the visitors seven minutes later.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 2, Lokomotiv Moscow 0

On the road again to Ramenskoye, and a game against Saturn. The match saw a vile tackle from Saturn’s best defender, and a nightmare game from their keeper and another three points for Zenith as Kerzhakov scored a goal in each half. Down a man and with a worthless goalie, Saturn were too shaky to pose a threat to Malafeev, and we continued our perfect start to the season.
Final: Saturn 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

Amkar Perm came to Petrovsky as the story of the young season. The minnows from the foothills of the Ural Mountains, they are firmly rooted mid-table despite conventional wisdom picking them for the drop, they’d done well to steal points on the road before – but not today. Karyaka and Kerzhakov struck within moments of each other in the first half to send the sentimental favorites home with nothing to show for their efforts.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 2, Amkar Perm 0

The last game of the month, on the 19th, saw us visit far-away Samara and Krylja Sovetov. We threw away a solid start, as Kléber’s early goal was cancelled out by Karyaka’s own goal, and at halftime the scores were level. Sovetov took a shock lead only a minute after the break when Araujo sent the ball into the wrong net. The lead didn’t last for long, as Araujo got it right ten minutes later to level the match and Igor Denisov’s two late strikes were enough to finish off the six-goal affair.
Final: Krylja Sovetov 2, Zenith St. Petersburg 4

The Russian Cup Final, not involving Zenith for the first time in two years, would pit Lokomotiv Moscow against Shinnik, in what should be a one-sided affair. No one told Shinnik though, as they held on for a thrilling 3-2 win thanks to Sergey Rishikh’s 51st minute winner.

Heading into June, we were flying high – making a perfect start to the seaon and only dropping two points. But we were not the only perfect team left – only an extra draw separated us from CSKA Moscow and Vagner Love. The Brazilian had made a triumphant return from injury - eviscerating opposing defenses with the flair and disgusting ease he'd shown before his injury.

A trip to Dinamo awaited us on the 16th of June and would pit 1 vs 2.

Puedlfor

The Round-Up

[b]Ukraine:[b] A shocking season in the Ukraine saw Dinamo Kiev and Shakhtar go trophy-less. Metalurg Donetsk took advantage of Shakhtar’s fatigue from their European campaign to hold off the defending champs for the High League title. In the Ukrainian Cup, CSKA Kiev finished an unexpected run to capture the trophy.

Turkey: Galatasaray won their second straight league title in a row, but couldn’t capture the Cup, as Sakaryaspor pulled the upset in the final.

Germany: FC Bayern strolled to another easy title win, as well as capturing the Liga-Pokal, adding two more trophies to the congested trophy case. Düsseldorf won the DFB-Pokal over Dortmund on penalties.

Holland: Feyenoord broke up Ajax’s three year run to claim the Eredivisie title for the first time in many moons. Ajax were upset, but since they went on to upset Inter in the Champion’s League Final, they’ll get over it. Heerenveen won the Amstel Cup over Willem II on penalties.

Italy: The Scudetto will again go to the San Siro, but this time it was Milan edging Inter at the death for the title. Inter finished the season without a single trophy to their name – losing the Champion’s League Final after Recoba’s madness left them a man down, slipping down the stretch in Serie A and being passed by their rivals, and falling to Parma in the Italian Cup. Juventus staved off some pressure on their manager’s job by winning the UEFA cup 2-0 over Aston Villa.

France: Ligue 1 finally featured a boring title race, as Monaco staked their claim to another league title and didn’t slip up. Bordeaux and Lyon captured the two domestic cups.

Spain: Real Madrid won the league again, and don’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon. They lost the Cup though, to Villarreal on penalties.

Portugal: Porto celebrated another Superleague title, and Estoril - a team I’ve never heard of – won the Cup.

England: Liverpool won their first title in about seventeen years, edging Newcastle on goal differential. Chelsea finally won some silverware, defeating Manchester United in the Carling Cup – and Aston Villa continued their remarkable domestic cup form as they trounced Brighton in Wembley for the FA Cup. It wasn’t enough to save Sam Allardyce’s job though, and David O’Leary looks set to make a return to the club.

Rafalution

Hahahaaa Chelski did not win anything else but that all this time? Drifting slightly off topic here, but in my game they recently bought Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic, and just got Deco and Schweinsteiger. Ibrahimovic alone cost them ~ 80 mill euros. Thats a lot of money!

And they haven't won anything yet :thup:

Puedlfor

Not a thing - £171M spent over two seasons and only the Carling Cup to show for it. If they hadn't gutted the defense to help fund the moves for midfielders and wingers - they'd be in much better shape.

Russian Internationals: Georgia On My Mind

It’s back to the international scene, as Russia have two critical Euro qualifiers in early June – against Holland and Georgia. We need to take four points from these two games to challenge for the second spot in the group.

The game against the Dutch would come first, and even the most optimistic was only hoping for a draw at home. That was before the Dutch started acting stupid though. They lined up in a narrow 4-3-3 formation. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with a narrow 4-3-3, but it’s not suited to the current Dutch team. The attack line would be lead by Ruud van Nistelrooy, who would be flanked by Robin van Persie and Roy Makaay. Now, Makaay is talented as hell – but I can’t help but feel that asking a natural poacher like Makaay to play off another goal-poacher isn’t going to work. In the central midfield, Edgar Davids and Rafael Van der Vaart would act as support for Arjen Robben – shoehorned into a central midfield role.

The game kicked off with a capacity crowd in Moscow, and the Dutch seemed perfectly willing to sit back and soak up Russian pressure – which was the stupidest thing they’d done YET. They’ve the talent to bury us, and they should’ve done so – but only five minutes in Rolan Gusev’s cross found Marat Izmailov free at the edge of the area and it was 1-0 Russia.

Rather than come forward to equalize, the Dutch stayed back and ceded the impetus of the match to us. Ten minutes after the opener, Arnold Kruiswijk barreled Ignashevich to the ground on a corner kick and Karyaka calmly finished from the spot. 2-0, and things were going haywire for the visitors.

In the 24th minute, Gusev cut loose with a long cross for Kerzhakov. Kerzhakov nodded the ball back to Arshavin, who had a go at goal from about 30 yards. The relatively tame shot should’ve been easily controlled by Stekelenburg – but this was just not Holland’s day. 3-0.

A meltdown of truly awesome proportions had the Dutch down 3-0 after only 24 minutes – and that would be the way the match would end. Injuries to Arshavin and Gusev as the match wound down meant they would miss the game against Georgia – but for now, people were in a festive mood after a huge win.
Final: Russia 3, Holland 0

A let down in the next match was to be expected – but Malafeev misjudging a cross in the 7th minute and allowing Georgy Demetradze to tap home unmarked – that wasn’t. It was a pretty poor effort from Russia on this day, and it took Dmitry Kholkov’s lob to draw us level – and we could never find the cutting edge to take the three points. The disappointing draw sees Finland open a big lead atop the group – and Holland moves into second – a point ahead of us.
Final: Russia 1, Georgia 1

See, here’s the table to prove it -

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Finland | | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Holland | | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Russia | | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 10 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Georgia | | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 9 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | San Marino | | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 17 | -15 | 2 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | N.Ireland | | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 10 | -8 | 1 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

Or next pair of games would see a road trip to group leaders Finland, and a visit from North Ireland - currently bringing up the rear of the group. That would be in September though, and there's plenty of stuff in between to concern ourselves with.