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Good Evening We knew that this match could be difficult
because of how Terek plays But as long as we were able to keep the balance
between attack and defense, we controlled the game. May be we haven’t created a large
number of goal attempts but we played calmly and kept the match under control
After you try and force the situation, try to score even though your opponent is playing
in such a defensive manner, you need to still maintain the balance at the back
At one point we didn’t do that and Terek has exposed us and used our disorganisation
at the back to score the goal on the counter attack. The second goal didn’t matter as
much, it was the first goal that did And of course you need to pay attention to
situations like this, especially in the future because when you are using large numbers for
attacking, we need to keep the compactness of the team. When the defence line pushes
higher up the pitch, it creates space for the opposition which they’ve used. Henceforward
we need to be a lot more careful when attacking with large numbers and keep the balance at
the back Newspaper ‘Soviet Sport’ and I have the
following question. Hulk and Witsel didn’t complete the whole cycle for the match preparation,
they were there for only one or two days. Was it appropriate to include them in such
an uneasy game? Would you say you took a risk? Even though the players trained with us for
just one day, they are the footballers which know their job and are professionals. If you
would have asked me whether I’d still make the same choice if I was able to choose again,
I’d still say, yes I wouldn’t have used them in the starting
eleven still as they only arrived yesterday. But bringing them on throughout the game was
necessary because the team needed a substitution and a lot of players who started the game
off, played the whole ninety minutes of their international match
Obviously, you shouldn’t wait for these guys to just win single handily. But they
can create a large impact on the team and help us a lot
Luciano, could you explain what happened to Domenico Criscito and Danny? What sort of
injuries have they received and why are they out at the moment? Thank you
At one of the trainings, Criscito felt pain in his hamstring and that’s why unfortunately
he couldn’t take part today Now regarding Danny; at yesterday’s practice
he felt something wrong with his semitendinosus muscle which was affected during his operation
on the knee joint, on the cruciform joint. But there is nothing serious there and we
just decided to play it safe Even with a bit of misfortune, I still think
we saw the potential of Zenit’s new signings and understand that they will do a lot for
the team but one circumstance does make us worry, may be even falsely ...this sort of
question has been raised before. Zenit’s 2nd half seems to be weaker than the first
half in the previous matches, may be perhaps even psychologically they didn’t look precise.
How do you assess the proposition that, either the players get tired or something goes wrong
in the 2nd half for Zenit? Looking at today’s score, your opinion should
of course be counted for but in my opinion the team does not slow down in the 2nd half
The team has tried to create chances; you saw that the opponent closed themselves off.
We hardly had any luck at front that is why we had to risk and involve more players in
attacks, push the defence line up the pitch, taking the entire team on their half
The midfield and the wing backs were pressing higher and hence a lot of space for the opposition
was left at the back In a situations like this, when you are putting
such big numbers at front and loose balance, you need to be prepared for such things as
loosing the ball And Terek’s team has played well in the
situation when we weren’t prepared to lose the ball
Zenit has lost twice in a row at Petrovsky, the first time they did since your arrival
to the club. Do you see any pattern in those two losses at all, like something in common
perhaps? Also are you worried about psychological side of things, with the Champions league
upon you, do you think it may be an encouragement? Yes, you are right, two consecutive losses
at home is a novelty for us and you could possibly ‘draw a line’ between those two
defeats I am talking in general however and I am not
talking about a specific match as they were completely different games
My team is a sort of team that’s used to fight from the first till the last minute
It’s a team that reacts to loosing That is why I don’t have a feeling of some
kind of concern or worry because I am absolutely confident that the guys will use the next
match to show their reaction It worked out well that we have a match ahead
of us to prove that what we are ready to learn from what happened today
Last season my team was falling behind the leader by seven or eight points and then won
the tournament with a fourteen point advantage This is why I am not worried and I am confident
in my team. But as you fairly noticed, the team needs to work and be more careful due
to the last two home defeats Mr. Spalletti, in the 2nd half when the penalty
wasn’t given for Kerzhakov’s foul, the experienced sport s remembered the times when
the president of the football union was Mr. Tolstykh. There is a new reality now and did
you notice anything new in the refereeing today, something that in your opinion may
have perhaps surprised you. The Russian Football has a new chairman, has the new reality actually
taken place yet? Firstly I must pay attention and observe my
team’s game and not just a single episode in the box, taking into count that I couldn’t
see it properly I think that Roberto Rosetti carries out the
work well with the referees at the moment If we just accept the result on the pitch,
we will have more chances to reflect on this and more chances to fix the situation in the
future in order to achieve a new result and play better
Mr. Spalletti, today you had another debut player on the field- Renat Yanbaev. Can you
comment on his game today and clarify if Domenico Criscito will be able to play the Champions League match against Malaga?
Yanbayev has had a
good match He may
need to improve on picking his time to join the attack. But the player is really fast
and has character and desire to fight Now regarding Criscito, at the moment it is
hard to say that he will be playing in the Champions League game
With regards to Yanbayev he isn’t included in
the squad for Champions League as he joined us after the deadline day for squad submission