retired_-pearl-

June 2007

June’s Russian fixtures began with a visit from Rubin. A listless performance, especially from Kerzhakov, saw us waste chance after chance – and the visitors escaped with the point they’d come for. We have a critical match against CSKA coming up in a week – and the sloppy ball we showed today will not be enough to get us by the Army Men.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 1, Rubin 1

The reserves were duly eliminated from the Russian Premier League Cup after a 1-0 loss away at Krylja Sovetov. The 2-0 aggregate loss will end our participation in the Cup no one seems to care about. One bright spot was the performance of young Miguel Benjamin Ramos, the Columbian prospect I picked up about 18 months ago.
Final: Krylja Sovetov 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 0; Krylja Sovetov advance 2-0 on aggregate

June 16th, and the showdown with second place CSKA. The match lost some of it’s luster when CSKA contrived both games in June – and our crappy play certainly wasn’t going to excite many people. Still, it was 1 v 2, and 26k showed up to watch. Arshavin had injured his back in training after the Rubin game, and would be out for three weeks – though this was the only important match he’d miss.

Vagner Love continued his sterling play this season, by crafting a move with Carvalho that only lacked the finishing touches to put it in the net. CSKA were nearly caught out ball-watching, as Araujo played Kerzhakov free on the counter, only for Alexandr to slip the ball well-wide of the post. The match was played from end-to-end, but it was not a clean affair – the ref having to go to his whistle 36 times for infractions. In the 30th minute, Araujo limped off after a hard tackle from Elvir Rahimic – and Karyaka’s free kick could only be punched away by Sulima. Igor Denisov was having the best season of his career – and most of our good moves came through him. Denisov found Kerzhakov free a few more times, but the striker proved unusually wasteful and the game entered half-time scoreless.

It was not a fun game for the neutrals, despite the number of chances. Stop and start play, numerous fouls and atrocious finishing doubtless turned off a great many Russian TV viewers. In the second half, nothing changed. Spivak had come on for Araujo and was playing well on the wing - and he won himself a penalty as he blew by Chidi Odiah in the Moscow defense, before the Nigerian hacked him down. Spivak is automatic from the spot, and he stepped up confidently and hammered the ball . . . right down mainstreet and into Sulima’s chest. Stunned, we paid for our wastefulness when Ignashevich knocked down Roman Monarev in the box and we had given up a penalty thirty seconds after blowing on of our own. Daniel Carvalho stepped up much as Spivak had, calmly took the measure of Malafeev in goal and ripped the ball low and hard well past Malafeev’s outstretched fingers. Well past them, because Carvalho had hammered the ball three feet wide of the goal.

The match continued on like this – and both sides wasted easy chances and brilliant build-up to keep things scoreless. As the match ticked past 80 minutes, it was pretty clear this was a 1-0 affair waiting to happen. Igor Denisov was bound and determined it was 1-0 to the visitors, and he had been a colossus in midfield – and in the 83rd minute it was his through ball that found Kerzhakov with enough space – and Kerzhakov found that cutting edge he’d lacked all game to tickle the twine. Both sides had plenty of opportunities to score after the goal, Zenith looking to put the game beyond reach, and CSKA hoping to rescue a point – but both sides blew those chances. The two teams, ostensibly the best Russia had to offer, had played a game in which both looked amateurish in front of goal – but for one moment. But that one moment was all it took to give Zenith the win, and all three points.
Final: CSKA Moscow 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 1

A home match against Rostov was hardly the prescription to cure lax play and the beginning rumblings of squad turmoil – but a champion performance saw us roll the visiting side. First half goals from Spivak and Karyaka gave us an insurmountable lead – and Kerzhakov quieted the ugly rumors about him a little by finishing sublimely in the second half. CSKA’s month of horror continues as they lose at home in embarrassing fashion to Anzhi – leaving them without a win to their credit in June.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 3, FC Rostov 0

Despite the gap we had opened above CSKA in the table – things were starting to slowly unravel in the Zenith camp. Alexandr Kerzhakov’s level of play has slipped enormously lately, and has made me reconsider my original plan to simply play out the remainder of his contract and let him walk. If he continues this way, I’ll really have no choice but to sell him off for a sum well below what I think he’s worth.

In other news, Araujo and Arshavin remain unsigned. The check from the Champion’s League TV money came in, and the board released more funds for me to resign the two midfield dynamos. It was a nice surprise that the wage allocations the board was willing to part with should’ve been enough to sign both. . . if they’re demands hadn’t risen in the interim. Both were now asking for 150% of what they had asked for only two months ago – and neither had produced a run of form that might explain the rise. Hell, Arshavin was injured for three of those weeks. Neither is attracting the kind of attention that Kerzhakov, or hell, Hagen – are drawing as expiring contracts – so it is my belief that as their contracts slowly start to run down they’ll get reasonable like Spivak and Contofalsky had – but I do not like the way things are taking shape, especially not with CL Qualifying around the corner.

retired_-pearl-

July 2007

Champion’s League Qualification begins this month – and the draw for the second round will see us face either the Finnish team FC Haka, or Estonian’s Flora. Clearly a coincidence that a St. Petersburg team was drawn against a team from either Estonia or Finland – both countries practically bordering Russia’s second capital. Clearly.

We still had league business to take care of before another European adventure. FC Moscow come to visit and take us to the limit before we rescued the three points. Spivak opened the scoring from the penalty spot, before Moscow equalized through Georgian midfielder Alexandr Rekhiashivilliilliliillililililililili. Again Kerzhakov was crap in front of goal and he’s clearly already left in his mind – it was up to Karyaka to strike home from a free kick nearly into injury-time to seal the win.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 2, FC Moscow 1

A visit from Alania helped ease us out of our scoring doldrums, as we ran off three goals in quick succession in the first half, before Alania scored a consolation penalty. Freddy Gaurin was in the zone, as he picked out Kléber and Denisov early on to open the scoring, before Karyaka struck home from the spot after a handball. Bustos’ trip on Pavlyuchenko providing the penalty, that foulee Pavlyuchenko converted. A consolation, and no more, as we remain undefeated.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 3, Alania 1

For the road trip to Volgograd, I rested Kerzhakov on the bench, and instead went with Julio Cesar at striker. Rotor are not too good a team – which made it a perfect opportunity to give the Brazilian some run in the first team. So what happens? Cesar has to leave the game after only five minutes due to injury – and Kerzhakov moved into his spot. We would go on to win, as Andrey Karyaka was in vintage form – hitting two brilliant crosses that Kerzhakov and Arshavin thundered home for the final margin. Another game, another win.
Final: Rotor 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

After the game, reports trickled in from Estonia – where Flora had overturned a 2-1 first leg deficit to advance 4-2 on aggregate. We shall play them at home on the 25th, before traveling to Talinn on the 1st of August to finish the affair.

A visit from Kuban was the beginning of the end for Kerzhakov at Zenith. Karyaka opened the scoring only seven minutes in – and we should’ve doubled the advantage more than once before the break – only to see our midfield’s efforts wasted by a petulant Kerzhakov – who in addition to his poor play, picked up a yellow card for diving. I yanked him off at half-time, the first time I had ever done so for poor performace, and Kléber demonstrated how he should’ve been playing by scoring two superb goals in the second half to put the tie beyond reach. We won, but I am rapidly losing my patience with Zenith’s Favorite Son.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 3, Kuban 0

Doubtless the champions of whatever Estonian league exists – Flora are a decent team, but not one which should pose a threat to us. The fact that we only lead 1-0 at halftime was a matter of consternation then, as Spivak’s 34th minute penalty was the only thing separating the sides. Again Kerzhakov was in a bratty mood, and picked up another needless yellow for throwing a hissy fit – he was yanked again – and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Without Kerzhakov to drag the team down, we rolled to five second half goals, as Kléber slotted home shortly after the break. Ignashevich picked a good time to score his first goal, as he cleaned up a poor clearance on a corner with a radio ball that could’ve killed someone had the net not been there. We let a goal slip to Flora after some poor marking – and at 3-1 it was a perilous lead to take to Estonia. But Spivak would have none of that, as he struck on the 80th minute – and both Kléber and Julio Cesar registered goals in injury-time to practically end the tie.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 6, Flora 1

The last league game of the month saw us visit Shinnik. It was one-way traffic for much of the first half as Shinnik were firing on all cylinders. We only had two chances in the first half – compared to Shinnik’s eight. But we put both those shots on target, and Shinnik’s goalie is not very good. A 2-0 lead going into the break – enormously against the run of play. Shinnik threw away whatever chance they had of coming back when Renat Dubinsky cynically clobbered Kléber from behind in the area. Red card, penalty kick, 3-0 lead. Shinnik managed to score before the end, but that was all she wrote.
Final: Shinnik 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 3

At the close of the month, the draw for the 3rd round of qualifying was held. Littered with some truly giant clubs – Barça, Inter and Chelsea were the bullies on the playground no one wanted to meet. Our opponents from last year, Rosenborg, were in it – but we were denied a rematch when they were picked early on. As the teams were drawn one-by-one, a scary number of the giant teams remained in the hopper – and so did Zenith. When Barça finally came out – there were only four match-ups left to be decided. Of the seeded teams only Anderlecht, Chelsea, Inter and Roma remained. On the other side, Rangers, Zenith, Basel/Shelbourne and Metalurg Donetsk waited anxiously to see if Champion’s League Roulette gives them a reprieve.

Basel/Shelbourne came out first – and the three other unseeded teams all said fevered prayers of ill-will at the duo. And either the prayers were answered, or God hates the Irish and/or Swiss – because Inter were chosen. Inter were disappointed that they didn’t win anything last year – and so they spent £30M on Sebastian Deisler – and didn’t lose anybody at all.

Anderlecht came out of the hate next, and those lucky Scottish bastards avoided the three big teams left – and will probably mean both Old Firm teams in the group stages – as Celtic drew a pretty mediocre Dinamo Bucharest team.

Zenith were drawn next, and we leaned forward to see if we were going to be royally screwed, or the lesser – but still painful, ducal screwing. UEFA must’ve suffered a miscommunication in their Draw-Fixin’ department, as we were drawn against Roma – while Metalurg Donetsk get the honor of being dry-gulched by Chelsea.

Roma finished fourth in Serie A last year, and have yet to make a major sale in the three years since I took over Zenith. They have, however, added Cristiano Ronaldo, Akin Serhat, Gabrial Ivan Heinze and Fabio Capello in that time.

retired_gabriel1993

A very nice story Puedlfor.
I really enjoy it, moreover since I also play Zenith in my game.

Two small questions ?

Do you play the wingers in midfield or attacking midfield ?
It seems you rarely concede any goals with your tactic. I play a 4-1-2-1-2 with a DM, two MC's and a AMC behind the two strikers.

Are you American or English (you do not have to answer if you think it's too personal) as you have a really good knowledge of continental football. Not that an American cannot have this knowledge, it just intrigues me. I for example am from Belgium and also know every player in the NBA for that matter. A fan is a fan.

Beat the Moscow Capitals !!

retired_putpo

Right I’ve just used up about an hour of my life reading the trials and tribulations of a growing Russian club...

Bloody brilliant thus-far, and was gutted when you fell (JUST I might add) to the might of Keegan's Chelsea...

Bring on the Romans! And one last thing...Villa?! No wonder the fans hated you!

retired_-pearl-

Roelchik: I appreciate the compliments - feedback is always appreciated, especially good feedback

Question 1: I move my wingers around depending on the type of team I'm facing. In the league they're almost always pushed forward into an AM/F type of position. In Europe, against the better teams, they get pulled back. The tactic you described sounds effective - and it's something I'd probably try, as I love attacking midfielders - but I can never seem to get two useful strikers together. And when I do get a second striker(Kléber) he ends up being insanely good from midfield.

You mentioned my defensive record - I don't concede many goals, mostly thanks to Malafeev and my defense. Malafeev is far and away the best goalie in the division by now - and my defense is more athletic than most team's strikers. Plus, I play a very possession oriented style of game that means we dominate the ball for long periods of the match - honestly, I kind of try to play like I imagine Chelsea play. Very committed at the back - a roving destroyer infront of the defense(Makelele) - supporting a pair of midfielders who bomb forward up the middle(Lampard and Gudjohnsen towards the end) - and a pair of really attack minded winger/forwards(Robben/Duff) with a single striker.

Question 2: That question isn't too personal at all, especially when prefaced with a compliment about my knowledge - I am an American, born and raised in Texas. I just pick up info, and it doesn't seem to leave. Ialso had an English and Vietnamese soccer coaches when I played - and they would both let us watch games from overseas. You said it perfectly - a fan is a fan. What's you're favorite NBA team, if you don't mind me asking? I'm a pretty hardcore Rockets fan myself.

nbrocky: Thank you for reading along, and the compliment. Yeah, the Villa thing was a mistake - I was ****ed and hubris, and it was a bad month. But that's ok - the fans love me again - and I intend to give Roma all they can handle(which is kind of a weird thing to say - I already know what happens)

August 2007 – Where have all the strikers gone? Sold to the West, every one

Our first game of the month is in nearby Estonia, as we finish off the tie against Flora. The reserves got some important CL experience, and youngster Miguel Ramos had an intriguing game – but the game ended scoreless as neither team cared.
Final: Flora 0, Zenith St. Petersburg 0; Zenith advance 6-1 on aggregate

And so Zenith march on to meet Roma. I’m not going to preview Roma’s team – it’ll only depress the hell out of me. Roma’s star defender Christian Chivu will not play a part in this tie, however, as he’s still rehabbing a torn ACL. Perhaps sensing his absence would be important Roma shelled out big money to bring in Marek Jankulovski.

The day after our Champion’s League Qualifier, the departure of Kerzhakov became official. The Russian star signed a pre-contract with Sevilla, and will move to La Liga on December 16th. The tribunal is expected to award us anywhere from £2.2 to £2.7 million. Kerzhakov turned down a last-ditch contract offer from Zenith, and an immediate transfer contract from VfB Stuttgart.

On the very same day that Alexandr announced his intentions to leave, Dinamo’s star striker Derlei also agreed a deal to a team in Spain. The 33-yr old Derlei will join Celta for a figure rumored to be £375K on New Year’s Day. Despite his age, the prolific striker is the leading scorer in the Russian Premier League so far this season – ahead of Jeffery Jose Diaz(CSKA), and Kléber(Zenith).

Fixture congestion is a wonderful thing. And by wonderful, I’m being sarcastic. August 5th against Spartak, August 8th - Roma and August 11th – Anzhi. We’ll havea merciful break before the second leg against Roma – but for now, a weakened Zenith team will face Spartak at home. A pretty big crowd is on hand, as Spartak are First among Equals as far as our rivalry with Moscow goes. Another staid display say Spartak jump to a lead in the fifteenth on a dubious penalty from Dmitro Parfenov – we mustered enough pride to equalize twelve minutes later with Spivak’s ricocheting goal. The back-ups couldn’t find a winner and the game remained tied until the end. We didn’t win – but we didn’t lose either.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 1, Spartak Moscow 1

August 8th, 2007
Zenith St. Petersburg vs Roma

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

Roma(3-5-2): Pelizzoli; Ferrari, Mexes, Heinze; Mancini, Jankulovski, De Rossi, Totti, Aquilani; Serhat, Cassano.

The weather didn’t even have the good graces to be cold today. Bah. I decided to push my wingers up in this game – as Roma’s 3-5-2 left great gaps at the back I thought we could take advantage of.

A full house, and they were in the game from the start – as we came out strongly – testing the Roma defense. Kerzhakov, with his future no longer in doubt, was vibrant and incisive in attack – dragging Mexes all over the pitch in a vain attempt to contain him. In the 28th minute, Kerzhakov came short for a throw-in – taking the French international with him – with a deft touch, Kerzhakov flicked the ball into the space the Frenchman should’ve been covering. Heinze was too late in covering – and Ignashevich had a clear run-up before ripping the cover off the ball. Pelizzoli had no chance. 1-0.

Roma threatened right after the goal, but Cassano’s limp shot was easily collected by Malafeev. As the 4th official signaled for two minutes of stoppage time in the first half, Karyaka burst into space behind the Roma defense – a 1-2 with Arshavin left Ferrari stranded, and there were two Roma defenders trying to cover three Zenith players in front of goal. The math doesn’t add up – and Karyaka’s cross finds an un-marked Kléber – and it’s 2-0. Halftime, and the crowd’s going nuts.

Roma shut the crowd up a little after halftime. Capello introduced Ronaldo from the bench – and the Portuguese sprite was a constant thorn in our side. Only four minutes into the half Ronaldo scooped up a Heinze clearance in his own half, and slashed by both Kléber and Guarin before laying it wide to Mancini. Mancini played a long pass to Serhat, who nodded down to Totti and the experienced forward played it on to Cassano who’d found himself in space as a result of the defense-rendering passing of Roma. 2-1.

If all Roma came to Petrovsky to get was an away goal – their next actions made perfect sense. With the score at 2-1, they collapsed on their own goal, and only sent Cassano and Ronaldo venturing forth towards our goal. That’s a dangerous pair to have coming at you – but without support, we outnumbered them. We tried to give ourselves a two-goal cushion for the visit to Rome – but the Roma defense wasn’t going to be beaten again today. 2-1, and a 1-0 loss in Rome would see us out.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 2, Roma 1

Games after European matches are real bastards to win. There’s the physical side of things – but there’s also an emotional letdown when you drop from a knife-edge encounter with Roma to a visit to Anzhi. The Post-Euro blues almost cost us points against a team not nearly our equal. Julio Cesar started at striker and, wait for it . . . got hurt. An 11th minute Anzhi goal looked good enough for the relegation threatened side to steal a huge three points – and it the lead held up for seventy long minutes. But in the 83rd minute Denis Kolodin’s volley off a corner equalized for us – and that’s when Araujo stepped in.

The Columbian was having a pretty mediocre game, when something just clicked, and he remembered that hey – none of those guys are as good as me. An Anzhi attack in the 86th minute was cleared by Hagen’s excellent header and Araujo was first to the ball. Only twenty-five yards from his own goal – the winger had eyes only for scoring. Pushing the ball hard, only Kléber in support, and four Anzhi defenders between him and the goal. Man One was disposed of by simple speed, Araujo blowing by him. Man Two was the victim of a vicious step-over – and when Man Three tried to close him down, a give-n-go with Kléber left him stranded behind. Man Four was backpedaling furiously – but a quick stutter move from Araujo left him unbalanced and all of a sudden Araujo had only the goalie to beat – and a well-placed shot nicked the inside of the far post – and that’s three points won by Araujo’s wicked, twisted run.
Final: Anzhi 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

Eleven sweet days of rest before a visit to Rome. A representative from Lazio rang me up, and asked how much it’d take to part with Kléber. I named a slightly above-the-odds figure of £6.5M, right ahead of our match against Roma – and the Lazio man remarked that they’d watch Kléber a little more and get back to me. I was pretty confident that they’d never pony up that much money. They’d been after Karyaka earlier, and couldn’t rustle up more than 2M for the winger – but there are some things that open even the tightest pursestrings.

August 22nd, 2007
Roma (1) vs Zenith St. Petersburg (2)

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

All they needed was one goal – and when they came storming forward – it was only a matter of time before they got it. A few counter-attacks and parries would send them back – but only for a moment – and three minutes before halftime Akin Serhat slipped his marker and smashed a twenty yard effort off the post an in. And we were out now, on the away goal rule.

At halftime, I had to somehow figure out a way to pry open that Roma defense for a goal – any goal. Kerzhakov was playing well – but being kicked around more than the ball. I didn’t know how to get the team up – they weren’t playing poorly – they just weren’t good enough.

The second half saw a more earnest Zenith team come forward for the goal – and driving that team was Kléber. He’d had a decent first half, but in the second he was a man possessed. Raging from box to box, he was cutting up the Roma defense with brilliant passes, he was delivering crunching tackles, he was shattering Roma attacks and instigating Zenith ones.

Fifty-seven minutes in, and Fuzailov lumps the ball down the right flank for Araujo on a quick counter. Bringing the ball down, he slipped a pass to Kléber and the Brazilian just took off – opening up acres of space between himself and Roma’s rapidly retreating midfield. The Roma back-line advanced, looking to shut this attack down – when Kléber lobbed the ball over their heads. Caught with their momentum going forward – they had no chance of catching Alexandr Kerzhakov going full-speed the other way. It was a simple matter for Alexandr to run onto the ball – and Not-Sulky Alexandr doesn’t miss chances like that. 1-1 – and Roma are now looking down the barrel of a 3-2 deficit and 57,000 screaming fans are now quiet.

Roma needed a goal, and that just to force extra-time. But as the game rapidly ticked towards its end – it was the Russian visitors who looked more likely to get a goal. Flustered, and broken – Roma crashed to defeat in Qualifying – and it’s another scalp on the wall for Zenith. And for the first time I think – a scoreline that flatters the big team against us.
Final: Roma 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 1; Zenith advance 3-2 on aggregate
MoM: Kléber(10)

Kléber never left Rome.

We’d just left the locker room when an agent from Lazio approached me, and made a formal offer of £6.5M for Kléber. I accepted, bid farewell to the genius Brazilian, and Kléber agreed to terms with Lazio before our plane landed in St. Petersburg. Kléber was a Zenith player for one year and four days. In that time, he made 45 appearances in all competitions – scoring 27 goals and assisting twelve others.

Our first Non-Kléber game was a visit from Dinamo Moscow on the 26th. The final game of the month – Kerzhakov had been injured in the Roma match, and so Fragile Julio Cesar got the start. Wasted opportunities, and a Dinamo team unwilling to come out and play – resulted in the game ending a nil-nil draw.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 0, Dinamo Moscow 0

After 22 games, we’re well clear at the top of the table with 18 wins, only four draws and a dominating +39 goal differential. CSKA have a +40 goal differential. The Moscow team is regularly chipping in 4-6 goals a match now thanks to Vagner Love and Carvalho. If they don’t have that nightmare June, with one draw and three losses(I wrote it as four losses earlier, I think – I got one of their draws mixed up with a Spartak loss. My mistake) – they would be leading the league on goal differential.

Here’s a table to demonstrate that, and some gratuitous bragging on the stranglehold I've got on the division:


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Zenith Peterburg | | 22 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 48 | 9 | +39 | 58 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | CSKA Moscow | | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 56 | 15 | +41 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Dinamo Moscow | | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 19 | +16 | 40 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Spartak Moscow | | 22 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 38 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Rubin | | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 36 | 22 | +14 | 35 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Lokomotiv Moscow | | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 20 | +5 | 34 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Krylja Sovetov | | 22 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 35 | 23 | +12 | 33 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Shinnik | | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 36 | 30 | +6 | 32 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Amkar | | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 26 | 31 | -5 | 30 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Alania | | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 45 | -20 | 22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | FC Moscow | | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 23 | 37 | -14 | 22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Saturn | | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 27 | 38 | -11 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Rostov | | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 24 | 38 | -14 | 20 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Rotor | | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 14 | 47 | -33 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Kuban | | 22 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 14 | 33 | -19 | 16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Anzhi | | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 38 | -24 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>

retired_-pearl-

Champion’s League, Group F Preview

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Liverpool | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Zenith Peterburg | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Sporting CP | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Wisla | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>


It’s a much less formidable group than the one we were in last year. We meet Wisla again in the group stages. They’re the same as they were last year – and we’re still better. That match-up SHOULD be six points for us.

Sporting are a decent side, and Marius Niculae is going to be a handful for our defense to track back – but they seem weak in defense – and I think we can take four points from them.

Liverpool are the defending English champions – and are still anchored by Gerrard and Carragher in the defense. With Paul Robinson in goal, and a stiff defense with Carragher next to Spaniard Cesar or Dutchman Kevin Hofland, it’s a formidable task to beat this group. Of course, that assumes you can get to the defense – because penetrating a five man midfield that has Gerrard and Mark van Bommel roaming free at the back is not a given. In front of those two, playmakers like Luis Garcia, Harry Kewell, Anthony Le Tallec, Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Jorge Lopez make a living feeding off the left-overs from the striker. Yakubu and Cisse rotate at striker – and it’s pick your poison – both are physical freaks.

Running the whole show is ever-calm Rafa Benitez. I think we can take a point from them – and that should be enough. I feel we should qualify from this group for another knock-out round this year without needing a win in the frozen winter to progress. Though if we need it - Sporting come to town December 5th for a visit.

In other groups, nothing stands out – Group H is probably the “Group of Death” - with Real Madrid, Ajax, Marseille and Dinamo Bucharest.

Other European adventures will see Shinnik face Metalurg Donetsk, and CSKA Moscow face Lens in the first round of the UEFA Cup. Saturn fell in the Inter-Toto Cup to Chievo. In better news though - next season will see five Russian teams in Europe. Our exploits and those of Lokomotiv last year have seen our coefficient move up enough that while we only have the one CL place, we've now got three UEFA spots and an Inter-Toto spot - and we are rapidly closing on Scotland - the last country with two CL spots(especially since both Rangers and Celtic choked in Qualifying.)

retired_gabriel1993

Being Belgian, I follow Mbenga around, so I have more attention for the Mavs, which does not mean I like them or how they play.
I actually don't like their style of small lineups and such.
I was actually disappointed the Rockets didn't make it past the Mavs. I like the Yao-T-Mac combo a lot. That's how bball should be played.
Athletic guards with a dominating center. Feel sorry for the Heat and Suns. These teams I like.
I can see Nash used to play soccer as well, dribbling all over the court looking for the open man.
Should try that in my own game. I play basketball myself and used to play soccer as well, when I was little.

I'll give your tactic some thought and maybe experiment on it against some smaller clubs.
As forwards I bought Dmitry Bulykin from Dinamo when his contract expired and he was good for 20 goals in his first season. He of course partners with Kerzhakov, who in my game happily signed a contract extension. Since Radimov also signed an extension, I sometimes play Arshavin as right striker. In my roster I also have a young guy called Dmitry Makarov. He together with Hartig come off the bench.

How do you set your defense to keep the ball in your possession ? Is there some kind of option in the team tactic maybe ?

retired_-pearl-

Ah, yeah - I didn't like losing to the Mavs either - with the injury to Juwan Howard we were just so thin upfront, and we really didn't have too many reliable ball-handlers outside of TMac or athletic perimeter players - so Terry and Stackhouse killed us all series long. I think we could've taken the Suns in the next round - Yao always gives Amare fits, but the Spurs would've crushed us. They're just soooo fundamentally sound, especially on defense, it's scary.

But it was just Year 1 - and both those guys are young - the Rockets should have 7-10 years with McGrady and Yao before age gets to them.

Re: Those strikers you mentioned - Bulykin re-upped with Dinamo, until he decided to retire unexpectedly this past offseason - and I suppose it helps that Radimov and Kerzhakov resigned. Radimov's aging, but he's still talented - and transfer listed in Extremadura down at the bottom of the Spanish Leagues - so far he's resisted efforts to come back to Zenith. In my database Makarov never made it to Zenith.

As for the tactic, I just set my midfield and defense to have a pretty low tempo - and have the passing set pretty short. Especially for the center-backs - I want to encourage them to pass it up to my defensive midfielder rather than just hoof it up the field.

August 2007: The Final Days

Before we move on – my board went absolutely nuts with the money we’ve just received. We made ~£9.7M in a twenty-four hour period – and that’s not counting the TV money in May(another £3.2M) – or the attendance money(£1.1ish) from three group games. According to the board, we are officially RICH. I’d been right at the edge of my salary limit – I was spending £98k a week, it was £100-105ish. When I get back to St. Petersburg, the board – with barely concealed glee(and wee bit of gloating) – announced that our finances could support a wage-bill of £275,000 a week.

Araujo and Arshavin remain unsigned thanks to their demands – which grew almost as much as my wage allowances. Three months ago, they’re asking for 10 and 8 a week – now it’s 29 and 26.

As August closed, I was pretty content to sit on the team I had and add over the winter – but CSKA had other plans. In one move, they dismantled their team – selling Vagner Love to Mallorca for around £6M. Ding, Dong the Witch is Gone.

Without Love(and we all need some Love) – they required a creative midfielder, and were after one of my winter targets – 23yr old Brazilian Jadson. Jadson had moved to Shakhtar back in 2004 – and was starting to bloom into his talents – I was going to move for him in December, but CSKA changed all that by pre-empting my advances.

But CSKA aren’t in the Champion’s League, and Jadson wasted little time signing with us. He only cost £2.9M for a fee, but he’s going to make a decent living off his wages at Zenith. He’s a definite goal scorer in midfield – but since CSKA waited so long to go after him, he won’t be eligible to play for us in the group stages – Shakhtar weren’t in the CL this year – so he will be able to play in the Knockout Rounds(*Anti-Jinxing*)

Since I was making one move, I decided to just sign the rest of my confirmed winter targets – which was just three young prospects.

First up was Yury Zhirkov. My scouts raved over this youngster, from the Dnipro youth set-up – and he’s got the potential to be a decent left winger some day. Dnipro released him a few weeks before I got around to signing him, so he comes in on a free transfer, making very little. If he doesn’t pan out – I’ll just axe him and be done with it.

Next up are two Argentinian youths. I’m scouting Brazil and Columbia already, so I just hired a local scout and sent him traipsing around the countryside looking for players. Martin Caballero is a sixteen year old striker with a killer instinct in front of the net, and his reading of the game and maturity are well beyond his years. Alejandro Portillo is a fifteen year old central midfielder who might be good enough to get onto my bench. Lightening quick, he doesn’t have the game sense that Caballero does – but his work-rate and teamwork are second to none. Even as a fifteen year old he got out on the training field and was putting even my most professional players to shame with his effort and desire to learn. I’m definitely going to give them both some shots at some first team action as the season winds down.

I’m not allowed to sign 14yr old Brazilians – so remember this name Cléber. At FOURTEEN years of age he’s good enough to get some playing time for us. Jesus. Perhaps I don’t have the necessary perspective – but I’ve got reams of scouting reports that suggest an incredibly talented generations is going to come of age in South America in the next decade or so.

It turns out the reason I can’t sign him is because youngsters aren’t allowed to move more than once in a year(?) – and he hadn’t “officially signed” with his current team until February 22nd, 2007. On February 22nd, 2008 – He’s Mine.

And just to put things in perspective – Real Madrid spent £59M on Xabi Alonso to bring the Spaniard home from Chelsea. Chelsea used that money to buy Jonathan Woodgate, Rio Ferdinand and Marchena. Of course, that doesn’t compare to the £97M spent by Barça on Fabio Aurelio, Luis Fabiano, Jerko Leko and Maxi Rodriguez. And now we’re put back in our place. Not all RICH teams are created equal.

retired_-pearl-

Russian Internationals: Nearly Finnished

September 1st and a critical road game against Finland in our group. Things started poorly when Jari Niemi headed home in the 11th minute – I was livid, as the Finn was enormously offside, but the linesman blew the call and the goal stood. We threw everything we had at the Finnish goal, but couldn’t get our efforts consistently on target and went into half-time down a goal. The Finnish lead wouldn’t last long into the second half though, as Izmailov’s long through ball fell to Kerzhakov, and Alexandr smashed home to knot things up again. We were still celebrating our goal, when disaster struck – a cross found the head of Aki Riihilati, who powered a header right at Malafeev . . . who dropped the ball, and in the scramble back-heeled it into his own goal. For some reason, Malafeev just can’t replicate his form for Zenith for Russia. Dmitry Sychev salvaged a point in a game that frankly, we dominated. The swift striker slipped free of his marker and slipped it home for a 2-2 finale.
Final: Finland 2, Russia 2

As Holland and Georgia both romped over San Marino and North Ireland – we slip to fourth in the group. Only a few points behind second – but our fate is now out of our hands.

The next match was a visit from North Ireland. Stuck at the bottom of the group, with only one point, they didn’t look like taking anything from this match either. Arshavin was on target with a hard-hit volley in the first half, and Sychev pounced on Aaron Hughes flubbed trap to seal the game. Three points, but results elsewhere didn’t go our way, and we’re still in 4th.
Final: Russia 2, North Ireland 0

San Marino failed to take anything from Georgia – and so they remain ahead of us, if only just. In a result we needed to go completely opposite of what it did – Holland went into Helsinki and ran out 3-0 winners, to tie the Finns atop the group. A loss from Holland would’ve left them in 4th – instead, they look like the favorites to win the group now.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Holland | | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 6 | +12 | 17 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Finland | | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 17 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Georgia | | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Russia | | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | San Marino | | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 24 | -22 | 2 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | N.Ireland | | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 13 | -11 | 1 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre>


Remaining Fixtures
San Marino vs Russia: A match we should easily win – we cannot afford to slip up here. Anything but the full three points will pretty much end any hope of qualifying.
Holland vs Georgia: We need Holland to win this game. A Holland win, coupled with our win would move us into third place – but only three points behind the Dutch team. As we face Holland in the final game, we would then have our destiny back under our control.
[b]North Ireland vs Finland[/i]: It would be very convenient for the Irish to pick up some points – but they’ve been so very bad, I wouldn’t count on it. A North Irish win would be fantastic, as it would move us level with Finland on points(though losing the tiebreaker).

Georgia vs Finland: A draw or Finnish win would probably be for the best here. The only scenario that I could come up with that leaves us out, despite winning our last two games, involves Georgia winning both games.
Holland vs Russia: Not the fixture we’d want to have needing to qualify – we at least have confidence from our last meeting.
San Marino vs North Ireland: Playing only for Pride at this point.

retired_-pearl-

September 2007

Zenith St. Petersburg vs Liverpool

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

Liverpool(4-2-3-1): Robinson; Carragher, Riise, Hyypia, Hofland; van Bommel, Gerrard; Le Tallec, Garcia, Kewell; Yakubu.

With two teams who both place such priorities on defense, it was not surprising that this was a slow-tempo match that lacked for chances. As expected, we had a great deal of trouble penetrating to the Liverpool back-line – as Kerzhakov was swarmed and battered about alone up front. Liverpool wasn’t much better – and so both teams spent the opening thirty minutes defending hard, and consolidating possession. It wasn’t until the 40th minute that either team really mounted a serious attack – as Kewell saw his cross knocked out for a corner. On the ensuing corner Yakubu lost an aerial battle with Malafeev for the ball – but the ref whistled for the foul on the keeper. Luis Garcia stepped up and buried the ball. 0-1.

Trailing the English champs, we pushed forward, trying to get an equalizer – but attack after attack was blunted by the Liverpool defense, frustration started to seep in. But we still kept coming, and in the 70th minute, Arshavin was hacked down about 27 yards from goal. Karyaka took the measure of the kick, and his swerving ball was batted wide by Robinson – but Ignashevich was first to the ball – and with Robinson still getting up after the diving save, Ignashevich smashed it into the roof of the net. 1-1, and it’s all equal. Liverpool had taken most of their creative midfielders out, substituting defensive players to hold the lead – so their attack lacked the bite it needed to grab the three points. And while we managed a few decent chances, we needed better than decent chances to beat Robinson.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 1, Liverpool 1

In other CL games, Sporting held out to win 3-1 over Wisla in Poland – moving them to the top of the group.

Barely given time to rest after the Liverpool game, we had a road match against Lokomotiv Moscow. Slow, and dulled – Lokomotiv were the better team for much of the first half and converted an early chance, as Sychev sliced through our defense to open the scoring. We slowly brought ourselves into the match, and began to create some good chances. Right before halftime, the Brazilian Jadson – making his debut – got a step on his marker, and met Karyaka’s cross perfectly at the far post to score on his debut. Honors even at halftime and no changes were made – and we started to stamp our authority on this match. Substitute Miguel Benjamin Ramos was the provider for our second goal, as his centering pass was met by Guarin’s first-touch strike. Nigmatullin was helpless in goal as we took the lead. This was Dmitry Sychev’s day to shine though – and only six minutes before time he waltzed through our defense again to earn Lokomotiv a point.
Final: Lokomotiv Moscow 2, Zenith St. Petersburg 2

With two high intensity games nearly back-to-back – we were sapped for a home match against Saturn. Competent defending, and some very bad finishing from a tired Zenith team left the match scoreless until the end.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 0, Saturn 0

Our inability to put the ball on goal marred the first half against Amkar as we could not find the net with a map and a compass. At halftime there were some stern words said, and they seemed to have an effect. In the second half, our midfield dominated the park – controlling the ball, practically shutting out Amkar from possession. Ten minutes after the interval, Arshavin finished nicely from Jadson’s pass to take us into the lead, and on 70 minutes Jadson got one for himself to put us 2-0 up. Amkar snapped one back after converting a dubious penalty – but they were still celebrating that penalty when Kerzhakov struck. And again two minutes later Kerzhakov struck again to bury Amkar. Milan Ivana added the cherry atop the sundae as he finished off a rebound in injury-time.
Final: Amkar 1, Zenith St. Petersburg 5

Only a world-class performance from Ricardo saved a point for Sporting – as we visited Lisbon and controlled the match from start to finish. Sporting’s potent attack line was absent and we dominated the larger team in their own house. Ricardo is not the No. 1 for Portugal because of his looks though – and he was unbeatable in goal. Malafeev made a few nice saves, but nothing truly breathtaking. In the end, we can feel slightly disappointed to get only a draw out of this – but in perspective – if you’d told me we’d fly into Lisbon and be clearly the better team but only leave with a draw – I would’ve been pleased by that.
Final: Sporting 0, Zenith St. Petersburg

In the other match, Wisla had a nightmare visit to Anfield. Five first half goals left the Poles rent and broken. Yakubu completed his hattrick in the second half, and Wisla move to the bottom of the group – having conceded nine goals in two games.

We round out the month against Krylja Sovetov at home – and it’s a huge occasion. Not only is Krylja Sovetov a good team, and should provide a good game – we have a chance to clinch the title today. Only five games remain in the season – and we hold an eleven point lead over CSKA. Should CSKA fail to win against Amkar – and we take three points from Sovetov – the title is ours once again.

Twenty seven minutes in, and Roman Monarev has given CSKA the lead, while we haven’t opened up Sovetov’s defense yet. With CSKA’s ability – I think it’s too much to hope for Amkar to come back. Put the champagne on ice, and get down to the business of winning this game.

At the break the scores were unchanged, and our performance was clearly lacking. Our build-up was dreadful, and Sovetov were defending well – and posing a threat to counter. We had hogged the ball – but were unable to breach the Sovetov defense to open up space for someone to finish.

Sixty minutes in and we’re starting to threaten the visitor’s goal. A few long-range efforts and some dangerous corners have Sovetov back on their heels and they’ve abandoned the counter-attack. It wasn’t until only ten minutes before time that we finally got on the scoreboard. Milan Ivana tracked down a loose ball, and slipped by his marker before tapping the ball to Kerzhakov in front of goal. Kerzhakov shouldered off his marker before pounding the ball right inside the post. 1-0. In the same minute, CSKA doubled their lead over Amkar – but if we hold on to this lead, we only have to draw one of the remaining four games to clinch the title. As the game closed, Jadson had a couple open headers in the box, but couldn’t get the ball past Sovetov’s trusty post.
Final: Zenith St. Petersburg 1, Krylja Sovetov 0

The CSKA match ended 2-0 to the Moscow team, and so we have a chance to clinch the title on the road at Rubin. A draw will be sufficient to clinch the title – or if CSKA contrive to drop points in the interim.