Rob (@RobDillonMTA) – Journalist who specializes in Russian football, Editor of More Than Arshavin
Connor (@Con_027) – Russian Football follower, CSKA supporter, England resident
Pavel (@russianpotter) – Nizhny Novgorod-based young journalist and Spartak supporter, currently in Vancouver
John (@JohnSager) – Russian Football follower, Zenit supporter, California resident
——————————————————————————-
1) What has been going on with Kuban? Can their form rebound?
ROB: What’s been going on? Poor management behind the scenes and unrealistic expectations. The club has been a selling side for awhile, and this year they’ve not really managed to replace the outgoings. Petrescu and Kuchuk’s hard work is being undone in that Europe has suddenly become the demand, and the club isn’t deep enough to manage competing on two fronts. Goncharenko looks like a good appointment to the manager’s chair, but he won’t enjoy the luxuries he had at BATE and it’s hard to see them doing much more than top half this year. They’ll finish below Krasnodar, which will be a blow.
CONNOR: It’s quite a difference from Kuban, it was only recently that they suffered their first league defeat of 2013 and now they can barely stop losing. I don’t really know how or why this torrid run has started. I can’t attribute it to a loss of a key player or a significant result. I think the new manager may help them turn it around and they have the players capable of doing so, they just need everything to click again.
PAVEL: We seemed to be overestimating Munteanu. Managing Mordovia is definetely not like managing Kuban; everyone fought with Kuban and was going to play with Mordovia in power-economy way. It seems he’s just not what we thought him to be. And yes, I’ll be blaming the coach.
It already did. What Gancharenka has to prove is that he can be successful not with just one team and not one team like BATE. For Kuban, next couple of months will be highly entertaining.
JOHN: I think it is a case of too much transition in a short period of time. Continuity is greatly underrated and there was just too much hectic changes in personnel that Kuban – although seemingly able to defy – caught up to them. Kuban are now poised to be eliminated from the Europa League Group stages and finish mid table. It is not terrible, but not the lofty ideal that many expected.
2) What about CSKA? Is CSKA out of the title chase?
ROB: You’d have to think so, nine points at what is effectively halfway, and with an in-form Krasnodar to come, a repeat of last season seems highly unlikely. Slutsky, whilst a good manager, seems to be struggling for ideas at the moment, and with squad depth worryingly thin, particularly up top, they can’t compete with Zenit who can rotate at will. Factor in their struggle to play at ‘home’ and the capital’s terrible pitches – hardly ideal when your lead striker is Ahmed Musa – and you see the problem. CSKA need to overhaul Loko or I can see Slutsky getting the chip, which would be a bad move long-term in my eyes.
CONNOR: CSKA have suffered in a similar manner, the loss to Bayern seemed to completely demoralise the squad to such an extent that they fell apart in the league. I’d say they’re out of the title race, they’d have to completely turn around their form and hope that all of Spartak, Lokomotiv and mainly Zenit fail to keep up the form they’re currently showing.
PAVEL: Yes, they are. In the same way that Spartak were last year. Play more than once a week – and your problems will be seen easily. And just as Spartak a year ago, CSKA have lots of injured players and a short bench, so… Well, they can return to the gold rush, but they need to forget about Champions League, what looks unlikely in spite of what a personalities Slutsky and Giner are.
JOHN: CSKA have been slipping up in too many games that they cannot afford to slip up and compete for the title. There are too many horses in the race and Zenit are too strong. I think CSKA can hope for Champions League qualification at best, but on current form I think they may be dropping to the Europa League next season.
3) Can Lokomotiv or Spartak catch Zenit?
ROB: Not unless Zenit implode, which they do have a tendency to do every now and then. Spartak and Loko both lack the consistency to match Spalletti’s men, and both have a habit of dropping easy points from time to time. The way they’re going to have to win the title is by beating not only the midtable sides away from home, but by consistently taking points off the top sides around them, and Zenit have the edge there. At this stage it’s very much Zenit’s title to lose.
CONNOR: I’m surprised at how well Lokomotiv are doing so, naturally, I don’t see them sustaining their form throughout the season to seriously put in a title challenge. The same can be said about Spartak who are perennial bottlers when it comes to actually having to consistently putting in performances for the whole season and when the pressure is on, it’s hard to back them. However I am concerned that I have just indirectly said the title race is over and Zenit will win.
PAVEL: I’d believe they can. It’s possible mostly because Zenit also playing in the Europe, and some people already see Spalletti’s team tired. I don’t know what performance we’re going to see in a month or two. Could be everything. I’d say Lokomotiv and Spartak’s chances are equal. But we can see it in comparison the next week.
JOHN: Both can, as form will change after the long winter break. While Zenit are clearly the favorites, the race is not over and there will be many more European games for Zenit. We’ll see how form looks after the winter break before crowning Zenit as champions.
4) Are Russian teams in Europe struggling to deal with playing on two fronts? If so, why?
ROB: Only to the extent that you would expect – Zenit and CSKA remain among the Champions League outsiders and also-rans purely because they don’t yet have the quality to regularly reach the latter stages, so to see them beaten by the likes of Bayern and Atletico is no shock. In the Europa, Anzhi’s problems are well documented, Kuban are having a poor year for various reasons, and Rubin’s progress has been as serene as ever. Their domestic problems are more down to the fact that knockout strategy doesn’t work in league play, but on the whole there’s nothing overly surprising about any of the results thus far, Zenit’s win in Porto and struggle vs Vienna perhaps the exceptions.
CONNOR: Zenit are obviously not struggling and seem to be dealing with two games a week rather well. CSKA are clearly struggling due to their lack of depth and the injury to Seydou Doumbia. The same can be said for Rubin who also have a fairly thin squad and lost their best striker to injury. Kuban have a bigger squad but Munteanu didn’t rotate as much as he could have done. Not much needs to be said about Anzhi whose problems are clear.
PAVEL: I think I can’t provide any definite point on it. But I suppose everything is alright. They beat who they have to beat and lose to who they are supposed to lose. Nothing special. Except Spartak (of course), but I’ve already said and going to keep saying that – they wanted to lose to St. Gallen and the loss was planned.
JOHN: I think it has to be catching up to CSKA and Kuban. Their results are suffering on both fronts. Zenit seem to have added the kind of depth to continue with a strong team in both directions. For Anzhi, at this point, the Europa League is a distraction from the latest goal to stay in the premier league.
5) Russia has safely qualified for her 3rd World Cup. What was the biggest difference maker in the relatively safe passage this qualifying period?
ROB: I think they’ve benefited from a relatively weak Portugal squad, but you have to give the players credit for getting the job done – short of the final game in Baku and an aberration in Belfast, there weren’t any points stupidly thrown away as we’ve seen in the past – nobody would have been surprised to see an away draw in Israel or a home defeat to the Portuguese. Part of that is Capello’s organization and respect of the dressing room – they listen to what he says – and part is due to the likes of Shirokov and Kokorin stepping up to the plate when needed. That Kerzhakov is scoring again is a great boost,and makes 2014 look a little more promising for the Russians.
CONNOR: I’d say it was Capello. An experienced manager to guide Russia through qualifying was exactly what they needed and it paid off. Lets hope for the same at the World Cup!
PAVEL: Capello. Simple as that. He wants to go for something big as a national team manager. He never had that. Sort of a bucket list.
JOHN: It is going to sound cliché, but Capello made a big difference. Russia won games they had to and they beat Portugal when they needed it. In the end, Portugal made the job a bit easier, but Russia deserved to win the group.
