Week 26 in the Premier League only added more vigor and intrigue to the title chase and a cluttered Europa League field. Building on Saturday's results - Dinamo, Terek and Lokomotiv each dispatched lower-table opponents - Sunday's matches saw Spartak close the gap on 3rd-place Anzhi, while Rubin kept Zenit in the hunt for 1st with a clinical 2-0 home win over CSKA. But it was Krasnodar, the southern capital of Russian football, that played host to the most thrilling match of the weekend and … [Read more...]
Zenit Will Three-Peat
April 26, 2013 by 1 Comment
Forget the talk about CSKA and Anzhi knocking Zenit from their perch atop Russian football. Despite an early-season slump which saw Zenit pick up five points from five matches between August 25 - September 29, brought on in part by squad turmoil after the flashy Hulk and Witsel signings, St. Petersburg's flagship club will nip CSKA on the final day of the season thanks to a superior head-to-head record. That's right, on May 26, Zenit and CSKA will finish with 66 points apiece, eight clear of … [Read more...]
The RPL is Low Scoring - WHY? 5 points
April 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
To those of you who have been following the Russian Premier League, you have probably noticed the low scores. Without going into recent scorelines and statistics, a cursory glance at the final scores and you’ll notice an abundance of 0-0 games. Even teams with potent and big names such as Zenit and Anzhi, with Hulk and Eto’o respectively, have struggled to score. I’m going to take a look at some potential reasons for this. 1) Winter Break: The Russian … [Read more...]
Roysthon Drenthe - Saviour?
April 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Alania Vladikavkaz, by their own admission, are not having a good season. Promoted back from the First Division after a season spent playing catch-up to Mordovia in the second tier, they currently sit joint bottom of the Russian Premier League, having managed just three wins and 22 goals in their 24 games so far. As if that wasn't bad enough, they also managed to get themselves knocked out of the national cup competition by lowly FC Tyumen, a Second Division side from east of the Urals whose … [Read more...]
Dr. Berdyev, or Why I Keep Worrying and Hate Rubin
April 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
You know, I'm in doubt today. Rubin play Chelsea (and I think I'll watch only the 1st half) and I have no idea who to support. It's not a problem of love; it's a problem of hate. I hate Chelsea because of Abramovich's money and Russian gloryhunters. They are so lame. But I don't want to stand with Rubin. I hate them too, probably even stronger. Even though they're not my team rivals. Anyway, I think I do have some reasons for it. And I'll try to explain it here. The first one is the … [Read more...]
Opportunity Knocks for Rubin at Stamford Bridge
April 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
"Chelsea Rubin", and in a week, "Rubin Chelsea". You’d be hard-pressed to find another English – Russian club pairing with such a pleasant ring to it. Rubin, in fact, takes its name from the same Latin root as ‘ruby’, hence the club’s deep red kits. ‘Chelsea’, meanwhile, originally signified ‘landing place for chalk or limestone’, but its more recent fame as a London neighborhood and popular girls’ name lends it more grace. Chelsea are the conventional pick tonight, … [Read more...]
Tactical Analysis: Krasnodar 4-0 Anzhi
April 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Losing 4-0 to FC Krasnodar is bad enough in isolation, but Anzhi's slide after the winter break is more than one game. Only scoring one goal in their last 5, Anzhi's strong season is in danger of coming apart after the winter break. Despite a fairly easy fixture list to start the final stretch of the season, including 4 out of the bottom 5 teams in the table, Anzhi have lost ground on the much coveted second spot that means Champions League qualification. Needless to say title aspirations … [Read more...]
So Russian…
April 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ever fancied coming to the stadium when it's -1 (and it's not considered cold) and in a real snowstorm, especially when the stadium is so old and has no roof? 7200 fans in Nizhny Novgorod did it on Sunday. I could've been there too. Fortunately, I had to watch it on PPV while at the cottage (still, I was forced to) in warm and with dad's cookery. Probably that's the reason why I consider the game boring and so, so lame. There were two bad teams playing on the bad pitch (it was more black … [Read more...]
