Schedulers in the Rosgosstrakh Championship of Russia saved the higher profile matches for the last, as the top of the table will battle on Sunday, with defending champions Rubin Kazan in a rare Monday match-up.
On Sunday afternoon, the Petrovsky faithful will be in full force as Spartak Moscow visits Zenit Saint Petersburg. The opening weeks for both sides were less than fulfilling as Spartak saw their much-lauded attack well controlled by Dynamo, in route to a loss, whilst Zenit was greatly limited by Krylya Sovetov. Whilst the opening week contest saw Valeriy Karpin’s run into an inspired performance by Dynamo and a possible hint of a shape of things to come from the White-Blues this year, Zenit, despite all the fan fare looked disjointed against the Samara.
In his comments to sport press, Mr. Karpin succinctly noted the Krasno-belye’s chief problem was the lack of movement and “complacency” and the youthful manager will ensure his side are more than prepared for higher work rate. Without a doubt, Spartak will need great attacking vision cutting upon Zenit and if last week is any in Luciano Spalletti’s debut in-charge of the Saint Petersburg side, they will be very patient going forward. The former Roma manger deployed his customary 4-2-3-1 formation but service to striker Alexandr Kerzhakov was terribly lacking and for the most part, efforts were of the low probability kind. Should Zenit not show a greater attacking vision, this match could grind out to a mid-field affair with Spartak the initiator.
Dynamo gets no break from back-to-back opening week Moscow Derby's as they go up against CSKA. It was hard not to come out for Dynamo’s victory over Spartak and question whether manager Andrey Kobelev has created a masterpiece in their winter signings. The White-Blues played as a team, with gritty resolve against their rivals and Andriy Voronin sparkled at times as well as showing a venomous desire to win.
This has all the makings of classic Derby battle as CSKA, coming off the highs of winning advancement to the Champions League quarterfinals will be ripe for an upset. Dynamo, who were brilliant in limiting Spartak last week, will need to the do same against Leonid Slutsky’s attacking quad of Miloš Krasić, Alan Dzagoev, Keisuke Honda and Tomáš Necid. The test for the Army-Men manager is to control the reigns of his side and return focus for the domestic campaign, starting with Sunday’s crucial test.
On Monday, defending champions Rubin Kazan will need to be careful in their visit Tom Tomsk or the Siberian side could steal points from them. After their extra-time loss to Wolfsburg in the Europa League, Kurban Berdyev will direct his side towards winning their third successive domestic crown. Standing in their way will be a Tom Tomsk, who were superb last week, with Sergei Kornilenko leading the way in a 2-0 defeat of Rostov.
The Belarusian international returned to Siberia, on-loan from Zenit Saint-Petersburg and immediately reaffirmed his goal-scoring prowess with two highly professional marks. Tomsk manager Valeriy Nepomnyaschy saw youngster Andrey Ivanov shine after summoning him at the hour and will be tempted to give him a spot in the starting eleven. Mr. Berdyev has consistently shown the ability to juggle his line-up, getting the best from his side and will need to do so again on Monday to push past the stubborn Siberian side.
Prepared by John Davies
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