“They need to recharge the batteries”: Bilyaletdinov about the first defeat of “Zenith” in the season, problems in the attack and the role of Semak

"The stars of" Zenith "studied thoroughly"

- “Zenit” lost to “Ufa” and suffered the first defeat of the season. Is it possible to say that the champion of the country is planning a crisis?

- I think it’s not worth talking so clearly. Still, the team does not stand still, moves, does not lose concentration in the second half. Functionally, “Zenith” is ready, which demonstrates its game. Another thing is that the plan does not always work out. It seems that there are moments, but they cannot be converted into goals.

- In this case, how can one explain the fact that the blue-white-blue, having the most expensive and equipped staff in the league, cannot score for two games in a row?

- And here it is already really possible to start talking in the vein that a problem is brewing in the Zenit camp. Now everything will depend on the coaching staff. First, you need to work on the mistakes and increase the number of scoring chances. Secondly, bring to mind those meager hints of an attack that is now. Creating is always harder than destroying; in this regard, champions are more difficult than their rivals. Teams are preparing for matches with Zenit, as for the last fight, so you have to solve two problems at once.

- Experts and fans are hinting that the players who are part of the team from St. Petersburg should a priori beat most of the RPL opponents in the class. At least the middle peasants like Ufa and Akhmat.

- What a naive assumption. Whatever the class, it must be confirmed every day. And the stars of "Zenith" are now three times more difficult. They were studied thoroughly, therefore, habitual actions competently overlap. In addition, they are preparing for Artyom Dziuba or Serdar Azmun, as for a single team.

- That is, the main problem of Zenit is that it has become predictable for other RPL teams?

- It’s clear how to play against him. This is a natural process. I do not exclude the possibility that during the September pause in the Russian championship, the coaching staff will redo the tactics and refuse fast combinational football. But here you need to ask the players, they themselves must understand that they have guessed. Without waiting for a break and conversations with the coach, being on the field, rebuild and make a decision. But the main conclusion is that it is clear that the team needs a reboot, and they urgently need to recharge the batteries.

- That is, in addition to tactics, do you see problems in other components?

- Perhaps there are some deviations in the physical and moral state of the players. We are human beings, not robots, so it’s impossible for anyone to be constantly on the rise. I do not exclude that there is a certain glut of football. In addition, the fans make higher demands on the players in each match, and not everyone can handle this. The burden of a leader is a very difficult thing.

- But how could players get tired in seven matches? After all, Zenit, unlike Spartak and Krasnodar, has not yet begun its European Cup campaign.

- It is difficult for me to answer this question, because I do not know all the subtleties of their training process. They could get tired right there. You need to understand how the team was preparing and in what condition it approached the championship. Perhaps the players failed in a stable state, and not at the peak. Thus, in the last rounds the period of recession and slipping fell. If so, then St. Petersburg will break through and they will begin a sharp rise.

"Everyone wants to throw them from the top"

- You said that the rivals guessed Zenit, so you began to successfully block castings on Dziuba from the flanks. And what about the center field players Alexander Erokhin and Daler Kuzyaev? They changed each other during the match with Ufa.

- For them, too, is a problematic issue. But the matter is not in the rivals, but in the fact that both have not yet recovered from injuries and are far from ideal form. But a lot depends on them in the attack of the team. At least its diversity and creativity. If you make simple passes across with a slight forward movement and a diagonal throw along the incoming path, then the problems will continue. I studied the question: this is how 80% of RPL teams attack. It is monotonous and predictable.

- In this case, how to act the attack of “Zenith” to be more productive?

“Perhaps they should try penetrating attacks.” For example, the Belgian national team, Manchester City, practices this and at one time preached the golden squad of Barcelona. I am talking about the constant use of such a model, and not about isolated cases. Against such a construction of the game is difficult to fight, in addition, it is spectacular. At the same time, it is very difficult, but if it works out, there will be just aerobatics!

- Back to the defeat of the country's champions in Ufa. Could the result of the team be affected by the fact that there was no disqualified Sergei Semak on the coaching bridge?

- Of course. Players are accustomed to the timbre of their coach’s voice. Many people think that behind the noise of the stands, the players do not hear us. This is not true. To those on the near flank, you can always shout and give a hint. But again, during the game they hear the usual voice and react to it at a subconscious level. So without Semak, the Petersburgers were clearly uncomfortable. At least the degree of tension that the trainer gives on the edge has decreased.

- The next match Zenit will play away against Spartak. What actions should be taken by the coaching staff in order to restructure the team and achieve success in Moscow?

- You need to relax, sober up your head and, most importantly, do not reconfigure yourself with a bias to anger. The match is status, the opponent is the most important, but sports aggression sometimes overshadows the mind. Such games do not win on struggle and selflessness, you can put your head on the boots, but leave the vanquished. So you need to approach in a calm moral state and functional readiness for a specific opponent.

- Assume that if in such a status meeting the champion can not score again, a wave of indignation will rise in the media, and, perhaps, there will even be talk about changing the coach?

- Yes, our hotheads like to quickly clutch at such facts and begin to build entire structures. Remember how it was in Vysotsky’s song? "The giraffe is big, he knows better." Indeed, they can say and write anything, or even specifically “throw it in”. It is important that the Zenit leadership adhere to a different opinion ... And we always have a lot of people who want to throw stones.

- Is there any fear that Zenit might repeat Spartak’s post-champion season this season? Then the red and white could not cope with the pressure and burned out morally. Subsequently, this led to a revolution in the team and serious personnel changes.

- There are such concerns. Blue-white-blue now, as the heroes of the children's game "King of the Hill." Everyone wants to throw them from the top. And it’s hard for the players to enter the second round after such a loud triumph. As a coach, I know that some, even the most experienced players, need several seasons to get back to normal. So, if all of the above problems remain in the course of the fall, in winter the management should seriously work and expand the group of newcomers. I think this will be the best solution in this situation.