Saturday, Zenit added another three points to their collection, which brought them just three points behind league leaders CSKA and two points behind Rostov in second place.
Zenit received the points after beating Amkar 2-0 in Perm, a place that always causes problems for visiting sides. In fact, only three teams have won away against Amkar this season, and notable sides such as CSKA and Terek have both lost there this season, while Rostov drew 0-0 two weeks ago.
With that in mind, it is understandable why Zenit’s head coach André Villas-Boas was happy with his team after the game. His happiness however, didn’t last long.
When a journalist after the game told the Portuguese that Zenit weren’t much better than Amkar, Villas-Boas snapped and sent yet another rant after the Russian press.
“I was expecting this question from this journalist because they never like Zenit,” Villas-Boas said, “So everything about Zenit is negative. So, the first question after a 2-0 win can only be a negative question. This is nothing different than usual. I want to ask this journalist, if CSKA won here, if Rostov won here, because I don’t remember. Maybe this journalist also don’t know. So, typical question from Nash Futbol, and I will give this answer and no more.”
The rant was just the latest in a long series of attacks on Russian media and football in general. During most of the summer we saw him rightly complain about the changes on the foreigner limit. “When the rules were changed in week one,” Villas-Boas said after Zenit’s defeat to Lokomotiv in November, “We couldn’t prepare for the new situation, and it’s very frustrating.”
Ever since the Blue-White-Sky Blues were forced to sell Venezuelan striker José Salomon Rondon to West Bromwich last summer, the Portuguese head-coach has often repeated this mantra. The foreigner limit was changed from allowing five foreigners on the pitch at the same time to four just a week before the league kicked off, and with Rondon not guaranteed playing time due to the limit changes, Zenit opted to sell the striker against Villas-Boas’ will.
Villas-Boas has also complained about both Russian and European referees, and has often used them as scapegoats for disappointing results. He has furthermore complained about the state of Russian pitches, and the Russian press. His moaning about the media especially has turned both journalists as well as fans against him.
His many complaints also made former Zenit player and 1984 Soviet champion Boris Chukhlov criticize him. “He is always whining,” Chukhlov told BBC after Zenit won the championship last year, “The referees are aiding the opposition with their mistakes, the conditions for playing football are poor, and so on. However, we have a lot more questions towards this manager. “
After Villas-Boas announced that he would leave Russia when his contract with Zenit expires after this season, he has clearly dropped his façade of politeness, and now speaks openly about the problems with Russian football. Given the fact that he is the head coach of Russia’s richest and most powerful club, this can sound hypocritical from time to time. However, looking past the rants against the media, Villas-Boas is usually spot-on when he addresses the problems of the foreigner limit or the poor pitches, and there are fans who appreciate that. In October last year, Russian Football News interviewed five St. Petersburg based Zenit fans to hear their opinion about their head coach, and Nikita told us: “I respect the Portuguese even more from this season as he decided to speak openly about different problems in Russian football, such as low-quality pitches, the new limit on foreign players, faulty refereeing etc. Villas-Boas’ courage distinguishes him from the majority of his counterparts.”
Being just three points behind CSKA in first place, and in the cup semifinal, Villas-Boas can still make his last season in Russia a memorable one, and nevertheless, it seems certain that his battle against the Russian sports journalists isn’t over just yet.
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