"The absence of Dziuba will not become a tragedy": Rakhimov on Semak's problems, Goncharenko's ideas and the favorite of the Zenit - CSKA match

"Zenith's bench is very short."

- Zenit won two victories in the starting rounds of the RPL, and also won the Russian Super Cup. Petersburgers still have no equal in the country?

- Needless to say, Zenit will have no competition in the near future. Many teams will disagree with this. But for the Petersburgers, the ending of the last season with the conquest of titles smoothly flowed into the beginning of the new one. Now Zenit has won the Super Cup. Sergei Semak's charges are kept at a high level, and this gives them confidence. They understand that they can do a lot, and even mistakes are not very striking. In some moments the team is lucky, but, as they say, the strongest are lucky.

- Is the decline in the team's game inevitable sooner or later?

- Of course. The Champions League kicks off in autumn and the number of matches will increase. It will be necessary to quickly recover and promptly introduce new players to the squad. At this moment, uneven matches may take place. Therefore, Zenit needs a good bench.

- Don't you think that with the departure of Oleg Shatov, Daler Kuzyaev, Igor Smolnikov, as well as the failed return of Alexander Kokorin, the team's clip has become much weaker?

- I agree with you. Even in the match against Rostov, we saw that the bench was very short. When a team starts playing three times a week, there won't be enough players. A champion needs a good clip. If the residents of St. Petersburg do not acquire anyone, they may have problems, especially given the new limit.

Yes, Zenit has eight great legionnaires, but 17 strong Russians are also needed to keep a high level. The team was joined by Andrey Mostovoy and Danil Krugovoy, but they do not have the same experience as the players who left. After all, Shatov, Smolnikov and Kuzyaev have repeatedly become champions of Russia, played for the national team. You still need to be able to play at this level.

- In the match against Rostov, Yaroslav Rakitsky received a red card. Can 19-year-old Danila Prokhin not cope with the pressure in the game with CSKA, or should the presence of such an experienced partner as Dejan Lovren help the young pupil of the club?

- It all depends on CSKA. How much pressure the Moscow team will put on the opponent's defense. If it is sufficient, Lovren will have to help the young teammate, insure him and be distracted from his direct duties. But if the army team fails to regularly strain Prokhin, it will be easier for him to adapt. 

- Wouldn't it be a logical step for Viktor Goncharenko to release a tall and powerful Ilya Shkurin onto the field, who can push the opponent's central defenders?

- Yes, Shkurin is an overall forward. Yes, he scored the ball. But this is not an indicator. There are many other nuances that trainers are guided by. The question is whether CSKA will need to impose a fight on the defenders in this zone. Maybe the army team, on the contrary, will bet on a fast striker, for example, on Arnor Sigurdsson, who will open behind the backs of the opponents.

- And yet, which striker would be preferable for CSKA in the match against Zenit, the ram-type striker Shkurin or the light fast Sigurdsson, given Prokhin's inexperience and Lovren's slowness?

- Dejan is already 31 years old, but I would not say that he is a slow defender. Horvath is fast enough. Moreover, not only Lovren and Prokhin are responsible for defense. There is also a support zone. Group interactions in defense are important.

- But Deyan and Danila will play together for the first time in their careers ...

- It's not a fact that it will turn into a problem. After all, the ball may not reach them at all. Ozdoev with Barris can play so well in the holding area that they leave defenders out of work. But if they fail, and voids begin to appear between the lines, any pair of center-backs will have a difficult time.

"One episode can break all structures"

- Artem Dzyuba missed the match with Rostov due to damage. Will Zenit cope with CSKA without their captain?

- Dziuba's absence will not be a tragedy. Leading footballers can always get tired or injured, as in the situation with Artyom. But the players replacing them must at least keep the level, correspond to it, or better - strengthen the game. In the absence of Dziuba, such a person may not be enough for Zenit.

- How ready is Sebastian Driussi to play in the center of attack? After all, we are used to the Argentinian acting on the attacking flank ...

- He came to the team as a striker. In any case, he was transferred to the inside position, this is also the zone of action of the attacking player. Of course, he and Azmun have different responsibilities. For example, Driussi may well play under the Iranian. Sebastian is able to both give the last pass and break into someone else's penalty area on his own. So Semak won't have to make big changes to the game if Dziuba doesn't play. You just need to look at the strengths of the wards and use them wisely.

- Can we expect that on Wednesday Semak's charges will give up the initiative to the opponent in order to carry out quick attacks, as it was in June in Moscow, when Zenit sent four unanswered goals into the opponent's goal?

- Let's not forget that by the tenth minute the Petersburgers had already distinguished themselves twice. Of course, CSKA was forced to go forward, leaving a lot of free space in their half of the field.

But the game is not a game. If the army team scores a quick goal, Zenit will need to play more attacking, move the defense zone higher. It all depends on how events will develop. One episode can break all tactical formations. Therefore, the June match should not be projected onto the current one.

- That is, it is impossible to predict who will seize the initiative from the first minutes?

- We can only assume that with the referee's starting whistle the fight for the initiative will begin. And it's hard to say who will own it in the end. Much will depend on the number of martial arts won, errors in gears and simple mistakes.

Will Zenit be more comfortable playing fast attacks? CSKA may, on the contrary, retreat into defense and act a little deeper. Remember the ending of last season, when the red-blue from high pressure switched to a more rational game, started defending lower. As a result, they drew with Dynamo, beat Spartak in the derby, and then scored four unanswered goals against Akhmat. And all these matches they started not with high pressure, but went deeper.

- Shouldn't you expect high pressure from CSKA in the game against Zenit?

- I think no. After two rounds, both teams scored six points. The situation is not risky.

"The mood for Zenit will be different for Goncharenko's charges."

- One gets the feeling that the army team in the new season did not become more reliable in defense.

- There are still enough mistakes. CSKA footballers, in my opinion, are just starting to enter the season. Even in the match against Tambov, there were certain problems. Sergey Pervushin's wards in the end could even snatch a draw. Therefore, it is not yet necessary to talk about the reliability of the red-blue in defense. But we must also make allowances for the level of our rivals. Still, the mood for Zenit will be different for Goncharenko's charges. Everyone wants to prove themselves. There will be more attention and discipline.

- Konstantin Kuchaev looked good in the place of an attacking midfielder. Can we assume that he will remain in this position even if Nikola Vlasic returns?

- A question for Goncharenko. I cannot predict, because you need to understand what tactical ideas the coach has in this regard. If Vlašić returns, there will be a completely different conversation, because the Croat shows himself well in the position of an attacking midfielder. Nikola is the leader of CSKA.

- Was Kuchaev's play in this role a revelation for you? Still, he usually acts closer to his goal and practically does not gain points for performance.

- Whatever place Kuchaev took on the field, he always gave mobility, efficiency. But Konstantin also has matches in which he does not show himself very well, although he is gaining experience. But, I repeat, it is necessary to take into account the skill level of the opponents. Let's see how Kuchaev will show himself in the game against Zenit, as well as in matches with other giants. Then it will already be possible to draw conclusions.   

- How strong will the loss of Fedor Chalov become for CSKA, given that now he has two replacements at once?

- Football is not complete without losses. Disabled players always have to look for the right replacements. Therefore, the team must have a good clip of performers. CSKA, at first glance, solved the problems in the attack with the acquisition of Shkurin and Adolfo Gaich. On the other hand, so far we cannot say which of them is number one in CSKA. And before that, Chalov always entered the field, even if he didn't score. The Belarusian and the Argentine have yet to adapt to the RPL.

- Could Gaich's appearance on the pitch from the first minutes be a surprise for Zenit?

- Absolutely not. Team coaches know everything about the opponents and do an excellent analysis. When you work, you understand 95% in which lineup your opponent will enter the field.

- It seems that a pair of CSKA defenders Konstantin Maradishvili - Ivan Oblyakov is much weaker than Ozdoev and Barrios. How can the army team solve this problem and prevent the failures in the center of the field, which were present in the mentioned June match?  

- Team interactions are very important. It is not worth talking about the fact that the two supporting midfielders of CSKA oppose two counterparts of Zenit. This is not how the game is built. But, of course, it will be very important to win single combats in the support zone. Today, Ozdoev and Barrios look preferable in this component. You can get away from them due to quick control of the ball, speeding up the game in the middle of the field.

- Should we expect Malcolm's displacements to the left flank to force Mario Fernandez to play with an eye on the defense and not so often connect to attacks?

- Malcolm regularly changes his attacking positions during matches. He can play on both flanks or in the center. Even in the June game against CSKA, he constantly moved around the field. This is a football player of such a high level that it makes no difference for him where to play.

- How to restrain such a master? It seems that one to one Malcolm is able to beat any CSKA football player.

- This is where team interactions are important. If the Brazilian goes to play, the safety net must work, the zones where he can move must be blocked. These are details and nuances for the defending side.