The legendary Semin has a big task ahead of him, but his experience could be the decisive factor in Anzhi’s fight for survival.
Intro: Last season was a time to re-evaluate and rebuild for Anzhi. With their financial backing largely withdrawn in 2014, they struggled in the Premier League and were relegated. The rest of their top players left and the bare bones remained. That didn’t stop Anzhi though, and with some very apt summer signings including Yannick Boli, Amadou Moutari and Leonardo, they have bounced back and secured promotion, finishing in 2nd place in the FNL. They were buoyed by the performances of their foreign stars, as Boli finished top scorer with 15 goals, while Moutari and Leonardo were influential out wide. The impressive season and promotion didn’t keep the managerial role safe however, and Sergei Tashuev has been replaced by legendary former Russia national team and Lokomotiv Moscow manager, Yuri Semin for their return to the top flight. Semin spent 19 years at Lokomotiv, winning the league twice and transforming them from a mid table side to one of the biggest sides in Russia in the process. Since he departed Cherkizovo, he has had stints at Dinamo Moscow, Dinamo Kiev, FC Gabala and most recently Mordovia.
Greatest Strength: Goals. Last season’s FNL top scorers are a big threat up front, as the aforementioned Boli starred, backed by the midfield trio of Moutari, Ilya Maximov and Leonardo. Between the four of them they scored 38 goals (63% of their season total). If they can keep former PSG man Boli firing, they’ll continue to threaten, and this is without considering the addition of any future signings, as they are linked with ex-Ajax winger Lorenzo Ebecilio amongst many.
Greatest Weakness: Their away form. Anzhi only lost 8 times last season, 6 of those away, and 5 of those were 1-0 scorelines.Their failure to perform away from home cost them the title, conceding late goals to drop points on a couple of those occasions, or going down to early goals without being able to fight back. Against the tougher opposition next season this will no doubt be a harder prospect, so they will be hoping that their home form can stay resilient.
The striker Yannick Boli is a crucial part of Anzhi’s ambitions to stay up next season.
Key Player: It’s that man Yannick Boli again. The Ivorian is blessed with pace and knack for being in the right place at the right time. Obviously it’s made a lot easier with the creators he has backing him up, but he is a natural finisher and given the chance in front of goal, there’s a good chance he’ll hit the target. After starting his career at PSG, he has played in Bulgaria and Ukraine before making the £550k move to Dagestan in 2014.
Transfers/Departures Review: Their main loss has seen goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov join his older brother at Zenit St Petersburg on a free transfer. They’ve cleared out some of the dead weight alongside Kerzahkov, with 3 players joining FC Tosno who lost out to Rostov in the playoffs. So far there has been no eyebrows raised with the new arrivals. First through the door was 20 year old Serbian defender Darko Lazic from Red Star, and he was followed by Karlen Mkrtchyan who rejoined the club after departing them last summer. Evgeny Pomazan and Andrey Yeschenko have rejoined the club after their loan spell at Kuban Krasnodar, while a couple of impressive performers from the FNL have joined in the shape of Tosno’s Batraz Khadartsev and Volgar’s Aleksandr Zhirov. The latter had been linked to Sporting Lisbon and is a dominating 6’3 centre back. Dutch wide man Lorenzo Ebecilio has been pictured in Anzhi gear, but nothing has been confirmed yet, though this is expected to be a formality.
Best Case Scenario for the Season: Survival. Keeping their league status for a successive season would be a huge boost and could help them build a good bid for the following year. A decent cup run would be a nice bonus, especially with a prospect of Europa League qualification.
Worst Case Scenario for the Season: Relegation. It would no doubt undo all of their hard work and see another exodus of the clubs best players. If youngsters like pacey Niger winger Moutari can adapt to the top flight then he’ll have suitors from the top clubs and abroad, that’s if he doesn’t already.
Key Early Season Fixture: First game of the season they meet fellow promoted side Krylia Sovetov. A win there would put down a good base for the season, as well as staking their claim as the stronger of the promoted sides.
Season Prediction: Bottom 4. Probably amongst the relegation playoffs unless they can really get their foreign stars on form.
________________________________________________________________________________
Leave a Reply