Uncontested favorite: how Zenit gave the best start to the season in history and remained the hegemon of Russian football

The first half of the Russian Football Championship in the 2022/23 season has ended.

And although some teams surprised: Rostov and Akhmat with a plus sign, and Lokomotiv and Khimki, on the contrary, the main contender for gold medals remained unchanged.

Despite the loss of several key performers of previous years, over the course of 15 rounds, Zenit demonstrated an incredible margin of safety and took the lead by a solid margin.

And in this regard, it is worth talking not only about a comfortable breakaway from the closest competitor in the face of Spartak.

In the first half of the championship, the wards of Sergei Semak scored 39 points and repeated the record of the Russian championships.

Earlier in history, only two teams managed to overcome this segment of the tournament so successfully.

In 1995, this bar was submitted to the Vladikavkaz "Alania", which subsequently won the trophy, and 15 years later, their achievement was repeated by the same "Zenith" under the leadership of Luciano Spalletti.

Then the Petersburgers also did not suffer a single defeat, but misfired only in confrontations with Spartak, Tom and Terek (now Akhmat).

Something similar happened this year.

Zenit also did not lose even once in the first round, but lost points exclusively with middle peasants and outsiders, while in matches with direct competitors they achieved well-deserved victories.

Only CSKA and Krasnodar were able to fray the nerves with blue-white-blue.

Although the first failed in the first half, they looked no worse in the second and lost only thanks to a chic long-range strike by Gustavo Mantua.

The second ones, although they were not so constructive in front, managed to hold out until the very end, where they still faltered under the pressure of Malcolm and the company.

A few minutes before the end of regular time, Christian Ramirez played a hand in his own penalty area, and Daler Kuzyaev coolly shot from the spot.

With the rest of the top teams, Zenit, if not dealt with effortlessly, then dominated for most of the time.

Only serious problems with the implementation helped Spartak avoid a second major defeat in the derby of two capitals in a row, Rostov and Dynamo had little chance of success, and Sochi and Lokomotiv missed 12 unanswered goals for two.

Yes, the “leopards” are not in the best condition after the departure of Vladimir Fedotov and several key players, and the railway workers are in a deep crisis and are forced to fight for survival, but the fact remains.

With eminent opponents, the Petersburgers did not allow themselves to be relaxed and in most cases prevailed more than confidently.

And this eventually helped them set another achievement.

The Semak team completed the first half of the championship with record performance indicators (44) and the difference between goals scored and conceded (“+39”).

According to the conceded goals, the eight-time champions of the country shared the second line with Rubin, leaving only Lokomotiv ahead.

In 2005, the red-greens allowed the opponents to upset Sergey Ovchinnikov only four times.

It is all the more remarkable that later this did not help them win gold.

At the end of the season, they fell down and let not only CSKA, but also Spartak go ahead.

As for the productivity at the gates of others, even the red-and-white times of Oleg Romantsev could not boast of such.

And this is taking into account the lower level of resistance.

In 1994, Spartak scored 31 goals in the first round, but scored most of them against Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod, Tekstilshchik Kamyshin, Lada Togliatti and Uralmash Yekaterinburg.

And it is especially impressive that Zenit achieved all these successes after two of its top scorers of recent years left the team.

Serdar Azmun left the northern capital in the winter and went to conquer Leverkusen, and Artyom Dziuba moved to Adana in the summer.

Among other things, the Petersburgers lost Yuri Alberto, on whom they had high hopes.

Semak played him at the start during the spring part of last season, but in the summer he was forced to let him go to Corinthians.

And although attacking midfielder Mantuan and goalkeeper Ivan Quaresma were received as compensation, the mentor was unlikely to be 100% satisfied.

And at first it might seem that the absence of Dziuba could negatively affect the prospects of blue-white-blue.

In the very first round, they could not deal with Khimki, and then they stumbled in confrontations with Akhmat and Fakel.

But all this was evidence of rather intermittent problems with the mood and the inability of the team to play all matches at maximum concentration.

Yes, while neither Ivan Sergeyev nor Mateo Cassierra have become a full-fledged replacement for one of the best Russian strikers of recent years, and without him, Zenit lost the opportunity to easily break into the defense of teams inferior in class.

But as practice shows, even without him, the Petersburgers are able to score - and in large numbers.

After the departure of Dzyuba, Malcolm finally became the first violin, who is having the best season since moving from Barcelona.

Wendel began to score even more, and Andrey Mostovoy turned into one of the main options in the attack and is one step away from repeating his personal record for goals in the RPL.

With all the shortcomings, Sergeev is regularly noted with accurate blows.

According to the “goal + pass” system, he has already repeated his best achievement in the Russian championship (11) and will surely surpass it.

Close to this is Kuzyaev, who does not fall out of the base, despite fierce competition.

Yes, Claudinho is not so effective yet, but it is extremely difficult to overestimate his contribution to the organization of the attack.

And this was especially noticeable in the cup meeting with Spartak, which ended with the first major defeat of Zenit in a derby in 16 years.

But this failure should not be taken too seriously.

As well as the failure with the "Wings of the Soviets" two weeks earlier.

With the current format of the competition, losing in the group stage does not mean signing a sentence for yourself.

Entering the playoffs from second place will not be a disaster, but from third place it will force the team to meet with a team from the country's lower division in the first round of the playoffs, but at the same time it will deprive them of the right to make a mistake before the final.

As for defense, in this aspect, Zenit certainly has not become weaker in recent years.

At the level of the national championship, Dejan Lovren and Rodrigao look impressive, especially with the support of the ubiquitous Wilmar Barrios, who remains the best defensive midfielder in the RPL.

And this is well confirmed by the numbers.

In terms of expected goals allowed (xGA), the Blue-White-Blues are confidently in first place (7.26), well ahead of CSKA (12.51).

They missed even less, which also indicates a reliable game of goalkeepers.

And this is in the absence of a superstar in the position of the first number.

And although it is hardly acceptable to call Zenit the champion in advance, it is still extremely difficult to name an opponent capable of providing him with worthy resistance.

Yes, Spartak and CSKA look pretty impressive after the arrival of new head coaches, and the army team also carried out a large-scale re-bid campaign.

Under the leadership of Valery Karpin, Rostov flourished again, and Dynamo is recovering after the departure of Sandro Schwartz.

But so far there are no prerequisites for the fact that the St. Petersburgers will suddenly give way to one opponent after another and regularly lose points.

Even now, their margin of safety is amazing, but they can add more.

If Claudinho starts to consistently realize his chances, and Cassierra recovers from his injuries and finally settles into a new place, it will be almost impossible to fight them.

And most importantly, it is not clear what could predetermine the end of Zenit's long-term hegemony in the RPL and add intrigue in the context of the fight for the title.

The difference in class between the Petersburgers and the pursuers is still high, not to mention the teams of the second echelon, who are completely inferior to them in class.

In most matches, they don't even have to turn on high revs to be successful.

And this brings to mind the reform of the Dutch company Hypercube, the purpose of which was to increase both entertainment and income, as well as intrigue.

But given the latest results of Zenit, even the formation of an elite subgroup of six clubs within the championship does not seem like a way out of the situation.

There is a possibility that regular meetings with opponents of approximately equal strength will take a lot of energy from the blue-white-blue and will not allow them to show their maximum every week, but then others will be in the same conditions.

Consequently, they will also not be able to avoid spectacle losses.

Thus, either a sudden crisis in Zenit itself (as was the case under Roberto Mancini), or the emergence of an equally strong team capable of coping with outsiders without unnecessary nerves and fighting on equal terms with the current champion can change the balance of power in the league.

And although the prerequisites for the emergence of such exist, it is too early to talk about it.

At least this competition year.