"They realized their superiority": Pisarev about Zenit's victory in the Super Cup, mistakes of Lokomotiv and Dziuba in reserve

- If we abstract from the score, how would you assess the physical readiness of the teams?

Both seemed to be operating at fairly high speeds.

- I agree.

For the first match of the season, the opponents showed good football.

I liked both the pace and the level of dedication.

But Lokomotiv made a lot of mistakes.

And we are talking not only about the obvious blots of Grzegorz Krychowiak and Marinato Guilherme, but also not the most successful actions of Murilo in the episode with the goal of Serdar Azmun, when the Brazilian allowed the opponent to start a quick attack.

The impression was that the railroad workers were simply worse prepared for confrontation.

Moreover, it was not young guys who failed, but experienced performers.

Zenit showed a variation of the game without Artyom Dziuba.

We rarely get to see this.

- Judging by the result, is the reigning champion able to achieve success without him?

- Yes.

There are simply different tactical options - with and without Dzyuba.

Both have the right to life.

Situations are different, sometimes you need to look for an alternative.

But when the attacker goes, Petersburgers look powerful.

It all depends on the specific opponent, the score on the scoreboard and the tasks for a particular match.

It is good that the team has a choice, and it does not depend on the well-being of the leader.

- Despite the assist, Dziuba was not very noticeable.

Obviously, he is not in the best shape yet.

Could this be a problem at the start of the season?

- It is not worth talking about weak conditions here.

It's hard to judge.

Only the coaching staff has all the information about his condition.

But I don't think that Artyom lost everything during his short-term vacation.

I am sure that by the start of the RPL he will be ready to help from the first minutes.

And in Kaliningrad, Dziuba was a good substitute.

- You were surprised in what form Zenit approached the meeting for the Super Cup, given that Sergei Semak's charges went to the training camp only on June 28, two weeks later than the opponent?

- Lokomotiv also includes players who played at Euro 2020, for example, Krykhovyak and Maciej Rybus.

In total, red-greens have four of them, and blue-white-blues have six.

But that's not that big of a difference.

I repeat, experienced people were wrong.

It is difficult to say what caused this.

I expected the Muscovites to show their opponent more resistance.

On the other hand, the opponent forced them to make blots.

For example, Krykhovyak lost the ball under pressure in the episode with the first goal.

The fact that something like this happened in the railroad workers' half of the field speaks of the high-quality pressure of the opponent and good physical readiness.

- Malcolm had a pretty good match and performed an excellent pass to Azmun.

Is it safe to say that the Brazilian is finally becoming one of the leaders of the team?

- He impressed me with his desire and attitude.

This Malcolm would like to see more often.

But let's all the same be careful ... Plus, because of the Olympic Games, he actually falls out of order for a month.

Therefore, Semak tried a variation with him in the starting lineup.

I think Dziuba will return to the base in the RPL.

- Before the meeting, there was a lot of talk that in the new season Zenit will finally throw a glove.

Did the defeat of one of the key competitors show that such statements were premature?

- And what happened to the team so that it began to slip?

There are no newcomers, but look at the current champion's roster.

There, even Dejan Lovren is sitting in the reserve, and the players of their national teams come out to replace them.

Plus was not even in the application of Vilmar Barrios.

Apart from the goalkeeper's position, I don't see a position that needs to be strengthened at the moment.

I think the clip is very decent, and the young people are good.

This selection will be enough to calmly pass the season.

It is important that there are several universal players at once who are able to close several places, for example, Daler Kuzyaev and Douglas dos Santos.

It remains to find a good goalkeeper.

- The last two matches Semak's wards won against Loko with a total score of 9: 1.

Do these results highlight the difference in class?

- In Kaliningrad, the difference in readiness was really striking.

When Azmun scored second, I no longer doubted the victory of the Petersburgers.

It became clear that they would not miss their own.

The team showed solid football and acted with a margin.

I could add more if I wanted to.

It was felt that Zenit was aware of its superiority and had not yet turned on maximum revs.

Besides, I repeat, there was no Barrios and Lovren.

Yes, and Dziuba still has to dial.

- Having scored, the champion gave the initiative to the opponent.

Didn't it seem that Muscovites were simply uncomfortable acting as the first number?

- Fedor Smolov too often retreated back and to the flanks.

Still, his strengths are sharpened on the target.

Therefore, you need to get the ball closer to them and hit immediately with the first or second touch.

And he tried to combine everything.

In such a match, it is harder for Smolov to upset his rivals.

There were also big questions about the defense.

When Malcolm threw Azmun into the breakthrough, a "hole" simply formed there, and Murilo was not there.

Pablo threw himself into the tackle, but did not have time.

It rarely happens that a forward is left like that.

Here questions should be asked to Nikolic.

- Do you feel that the team lacked a tall striker like Eder?

There were a lot of innings from the flanks, but there was no one to close them.

- Indeed.

Smolov, as I said, was not on the edge.

I remember only one moment, when in the second half François Camano missed the shell with his head a little.

But in the cage there is also the injured Ze Luis, who plays the best on the "second floor".

When the Kabverdian recovers, Lokomotiv will have an excellent selection of strikers.

The red-greens are well staffed, but Vedran Chorluka's departure is a huge disadvantage.

- Didn't the Muscovites often try to play the ball from their goal with the bottom?

Actually, two productive mistakes happened just in such situations.

- This is the style of play.

The railroad workers don't want to just knock the shell forward.

They are trying to show more creative football.

Another thing is that the willingness to do this did not allow.

Hence the mistakes.

But you shouldn't sprinkle ashes on your head.

The Super Bowl should shake up the red-greens.

In terms of the selection of performers, this is also a very decent team.

- Guilherme made another gross effective mistake.

How can you explain it?

- Probably, he just handled the ball badly.

In my opinion, Pablo made him a pretty hard pass to the supporting leg.

The defender can also make claims.

Guilherme was uncomfortable.

But this is the first official match.

I think Lokomotiv simply overestimated their readiness.

Maybe I should have played easier with an opponent of this level.

It remains only to analyze what happened and prepare for the championship.

- Don't you think that an experienced goalkeeper simply has no right to such blots?

- All goalkeepers make mistakes sooner or later.

There are no those who act perfectly.

I think, in any case, there is no reason to doubt the qualifications of Marinato, and you cannot hang all the dogs on him.

Again, the pass was not the best one.

Guilherme remains a top-level goalkeeper.

Let's not forget how many times he really saved.

- Lokomotiv left a lot of free space, including in the support zone.

Did you miss Maxim Mukhin?

- This is a young footballer with great potential.

Of course, somewhere it was not enough.

But, in my opinion, Dmitry Barinov and Krykhovyak are more significant performers for Muscovites.

They should show class.

The Pole, I think, is simply not in the best shape.

Rather, it was very difficult without Chorluka, who ended his career.

We are used to the Croatian being the leader of the team, with whom she acts reliably on the defensive.

I don't remember such failures as in the episode with Azmun's goal.

And this is a more serious problem than Mukhin's departure.

- On top of all the troubles, Barinov was injured in the end.

Is this a disaster for railroad workers?

“I don’t think it’s about serious damage, after all.”

At worst, the place of the lower defensive midfielder can be taken by Krykhovyak.

There is a young Stanislav Magkeev.

Disaster is not the right word.