Semak's tricky move: how Zenit beat Lokomotiv in the Russian Super Cup

Semak's tactical move

An hour before the start of the meeting, it became clear that it promises to be very interesting. If only for the reason that in the starting lineup of the Petersburgers there were not only the most important performers in the person of Dejan Lovren and Vilmar Barrios, but also the main scorer. Artyom Dziuba unexpectedly remained on the bench, as a result of which only Serdar Azmun took the lead. It should not be ruled out that Sergei Semak could put him in a pair of Sebastian Driussi, who had previously expressed a desire to again act as a striker, but the mentor judged differently. The choice was made in favor of the 4-3-2-1 scheme already tested at the end of last season, in which Magomed Ozdoev took the place of the defensive player, and Wendel and Daler Kuzyaev were located a little higher.

Lokomotiv appeared in a much more traditional form, if we take the summer friendly matches as a basis. Marko Nikolic settled on the classic 4-4-2 with a diamond in the middle line, and all personnel changes were forced. Murilo replaced Vedran Chorluka, who ended his career, and Alexander Silyanov and Daniil Kulikov, who left the club, Vladislav Ignatiev and Maxim Mukhin, respectively.

And as the course of the meeting showed, Semak won the first stage of the tactical duel.

Dziuba's absence in the squad helped Zenit become more mobile and ready to impose high pressure on the enemy.

Yes, the Petersburgers did not use it on an ongoing basis, but in short intervals, but almost always the pressure on the defenders brought success.

The loss of Corluka turned out to be very serious, which was fully confirmed by the match for the Super Cup.

Apparently, Lokomotiv understood this as well, otherwise they would hardly have acquired Bayer's defender Tina Yedvaya.

Problems in the center of defense of Lokomotiv

Already in the first minutes, the defense of the railway workers was marked by inconsistent actions after the usual lumbago from the flank, almost allowing Driussi to open an account, and then failed in the episode with the first goal. Yes, the nominally fatal mistake was made by Grzegorz Krychowiak, in whose game the echoes of the unsuccessful Euro 2020 were felt. An imprudent pass from the Pole led to the loss of the ball, and the central defenders did not advance to Daler Kuzyaev and allowed him to break through on goal without resistance. The blow was irresistible.

And subsequently, the individual mistakes of the Lokomotiv defense representatives more than once led to the fact that Marinato Guilherme was forced to enter the game. The goalkeeper was "shot" by Driussi and Azmun, and Malcolm almost organized himself a one-on-one exit. With the help of a jerk, he left behind almost all the defenders of the enemy, but Pablo was miraculously insured by his compatriot.

However, teamwork in the center of defense was clearly lacking, which led to the second, possibly key goal of the match.

For several minutes the teams acted on a collision course and had chances to excel, but if Lokomotiv failed to use its chances, Zenit realized one of them.

Murilo went too high to put pressure on Malcolm and left Pablo alone behind, and he did not follow Azmun's maneuver.

Left alone, the Iranian received a pass from Wendel, mockingly outplayed Guilherme and doubled the lead.

Long Shot Bet

It is worth noting that Lokomotiv's failures were not limited to playing at their own goal. In terms of creation, everything was also not the best way, the reason for which was largely the choice of Nikolic's lineup. Due to the fact that Krykhovyak and Kulikov gravitated more towards the center, Rybus and Silyanov were actually forced to close the flanks alone. And if the Pole was no stranger to it, the young Russian was not ready for this. The railroad attacks lacked width, and attempts to break through the central zone were unsuccessful. As a result. most of them ended with long-range strikes.

By and large, little has changed in the game of Nikolic's charges over the past six months.

The bet was still placed on counterattacks and the skill of individual performers.

But if in the spring Fedor Smolov, Francois Camano and the same Krykhovyak demonstrated a phenomenal level of implementation and used almost all of their moments, then over time the indicators returned to average values.

Lokomotiv remained at about 1.4 xG on average per match, but this time they were unable to convert any of their clear scoring chances.

Although during the meeting for the Super Bowl such things happened.

Already in the eighth minute, Smolov received a pass in the penalty area, but failed to properly handle the ball and shot wide.

It is noteworthy that the dangerous breakthroughs of the railroad workers into the penalty area were practically over.

In the remaining time, they could not cope with the massive defense of the Petersburgers, and therefore the main danger came from all the same long-range strikes.

Smolov again disturbed Mikhail Kerzhakov, Rifat Zhemaletdinov hit the bottom well, but no more.

Miranchuk's exit and Guilherme's misfire

With the exception of a bright segment in the openings of both halves, Lokomotiv looked good in the middle of the second half of the match. By this time, Anton Miranchuk and Dmitry Rybchinsky appeared on the field, significantly reviving the team's play. This is especially true of the first of them, with the help of individual actions, it was great to advance the ball into the attacking third of the field and distribute it between partners. It was after its release that the red-greens began to use the flanks more often, and in general, to offer the opponent a higher pace of the game.

Miranchuk himself, by the way, also had a chance to score and turn the tide of the meeting. At the 77th minute, he received the ball near the border of the penalty area and fired powerfully into the target with a turn. However, the blow fell in the center and became an easy prey for Kerzhakov. The Zenit goalkeeper, though he didn’t have a lot of work, performed more than confidently. Thus, he made it clear that the Petersburgers do not need to acquire a goalkeeper to replace Andrei Lunev, who left for Bayer.

Judging by the game, Nikolic's substitutions had a positive effect on Lokomotiv's game and allowed him to create a certain tension at the Zenit goal. But if you look exclusively at the result, then Semak's permutations turned out to be more successful. In particular, we are talking about Artyom Dzyuba and Alexander Erokhin, who entered the Kaliningrad Arena lawn in the 60th and 82nd minutes, respectively. It was they who were there when Guilherme made an unforgivable mistake in handling and allowed the Petersburgers to score the third goal. It was the captain of the Russian national team that intercepted the ball, but did not become greedy and allowed his partner to excel.