Lack of moments, unsuccessful substitutions and Zhirkov’s incredible goal: how Spartak lost to Zenit

13 strokes of Spartak and neat game of Zenith

The beginning of the season turned out to be extremely mixed for Spartak. On the one hand, the red and white, despite the real revolution in the lineup, immediately joined the fight for the championship, having won three victories in a row. On the other hand, Oleg Kononov’s wards could not cope with the “Braga” and flew out of the Europa League. And just a couple of days after an insulting defeat, the team had to take home a principled opponent in the person of Zenit, who was also part of the leading group of RPL teams.

At the same time, the St. Petersburg team scored only one point in the last two matches and allowed the opponents to catch up with themselves. In the seventh round, the reigning champion completely lost to Ufa, which caused bewilderment among the fans and gave rise to a conversation about the functional pit into which the Semak team allegedly landed.

In the derby, the young coach decided not to get into trouble and play strictly from defense. However, the specialist could be understood, because there really was no reason for the guests to take risks at the Otkrytie Arena, especially since Spartak intended to act as the first number.

As a result, the red and white really possessed the advantage. The home team spent 59% of the time with the ball. However, this ownership by and large did not bring any benefit to the team and turned out to be absolutely “sterile”.

Firstly, Zenit played very tightly and reliably in defense. Guests during the attacks of the opponent lined up a powerful block of four defenders and four midfielders. Ahead, in fact, were only Serdar Azmun and Artyom Dziuba, who tried to pressure the defenders of the red-white in the initial phase of the attacks and were always ready to escape into the counterattack.

Thus, despite the available advantage, the Spartacists practically didn’t get into someone else’s penalty area and were beaten only a few times from a relatively close distance. In the second half, one can only recall Lorenzo Melgarejo's shot, but the line judge in that episode recorded an offside position.

Since it was not possible to enter someone else's penalty area, the Spartak players had no choice but to shoot from a long distance, and these shots were almost always doomed to failure. Simple statistics: Kononov’s wards hit 13 shots on goal by Andrei Lunev, but only four times hit the target. It is no coincidence that the Zenit goalkeeper, despite all the pressure of the red-white ones, practically did not enter the game. In addition, the owners did not go to the standard provisions, of which there were many.

Fart “Zenith” and bad luck Kononov

However, in general, the game can be called a draw. Spartak controlled the ball, but practically did not create moments, and Zenit seemed to agree on one point.

But the reigning champion at the very end of the first half smiled luck. It is not surprising that the guests created their moment after drawing a standard position. The delivery from the corner, which turned out to be almost the first for Zenit, ended with an incredible shot of the most experienced Yuri Zhirkov in the far nine. It is gratifying that the bronze medalist of Europe, at the age of 36, continues to play beautifully and truly helps the country's strongest team.

Note that shortly before that, Spartak also scored after a free-kick, but the goal of Zelimkhan Bakaev was canceled after watching the VAR, the red-and-white decision was not disputed.

In the second half, taking the lead, Zenit finally sank into defense, relying on counterattacks. This decision fully paid off, because after the break, the St. Petersburg team could have scored the second goal rather than Spartak equalize.

Absolutely did not play and replace Kononov. Esekiel Ponce entered the field 25 minutes before the final whistle, but simply disappeared into the field and was practically useless for the team. The Argentinian really did not even manage to cling to the ball. Yes, and Zelimkhan Bakaev, moving to the right flank, became much less active. Lorenzo Melgarejo who replaced him was remembered only for being offside during a promising attack. Finally, evaluating the game of Nail Umyarov is very difficult, since he spent too little time on the field. In the end, red and white switched to bulk and began to bombard someone else's penalty with awnings.

As a result, Spartak failed to win back. Summing up, the teams gave out not the most spectacular match, the result of which was decided by one exact blow. Blue-white-blue showed a champion character and pulled out three points, despite all the problems and losses. It is symbolic that this victory was their first in history at the "Opening Arena".

And fans of red and white should not sprinkle ashes on their heads, because the process of building a new team continues. August really turned out to be incredibly busy for the red and white. In the course of one of the weeks, the Spartak players had to hold three matches at once, and Kononov regularly complained about the heavy schedule. But after relegation from the Europa League, red and white will be much easier, in addition, a pause for matches of national teams will help to recover.