Artillery Corps
In Zenit’s last match, Arsenal Tula suffered a demolition at the hands of their opponent as Zenit pumped five goals into the back of the Tula goal. A penalty, deep passes and long balls were just part of the arsenal of weapons that Zenit used in their attack. However, there was yet another way that Lucescu’s players were outstanding and that was in their long shots. As you can see from the chart, the Zenit players enjoy taking many chances from outside of the box.
40% of Zenit’s shots came from outside of the box and the most potent weapon was Giuliano (with an average of 2.4 attempts per match which we’ll expand on later), Oleg Shatov (1.8 shots per match) who won’t play against Maccabi, Kerzhakov (4.4 attempts on goal) and Axel Witsel (1.8 shots on average) who was just a step away from signing with Juventus.
The Spanish Axe
Zenit’s midfield may have many offensive weapons including Witsel, Giuliano, Mauricio and Shatov but our focus is going to be on the defensive midfielder who will attempt to stop the Yellow & Blue attack cold, Javi Garcia. The Spaniard began his impressive career at Real Madrid, continued on to Benfica and Manchester City until finally he arrived at Zenit and is thought to be one of the stalwarts in the Russian outfit’s Starting XI and for good reason.
Garcia’s number in terms of defensive actions have a very high success rate, one of the best at Zenit. Let’s take two totally different Zenit matches, one against their arch-rival CSKA and one of their most recent matchups Amkar Perm. In both contests, Garcia led the side in defensive actions (17/23 success against CSKA and 17/20 against Prem). The following table shows you how many balls Garcia was able to intercept this season, second to only the Portuguese central defender Neto.
Garcia’s importance is paramount and he plays in Zenit’s half, close to the center circle but his game isn’t limited to just pressuring the ball. The Spanish midfielder is one of the most critical links between the defenders and the offensive minded midfielders and attack. Witsel, Shatov who won’t take part in the match and defender Smolnikov are the main targets when Garcia looks to take action.
In Hulk’s shoes
The star of the team, number 7, left for China in a massive deal. The story of Eran Zahavi and Maccabi Tel Aviv also happened to Zenit, except the monetary amounts were even bigger. The Brazilian left a gaping hole in Zenit’s offense as he scored 59 goals over 3.5 seasons for St. Petersburg, a hole that is trying to be filled by a number of players. For the time being the player who has taken upon himself to help out the attack is another Brazilian, Giuliano.
The Brazilian midfielder who arrived at Zenit this season, has begun to pay dividends, leading his team’s scorers with 4 out of the 11 goals scored so far this campaign. Long shots along with short passes to the strikers and amazing technical ability are just past of the attacking midfielder’s repertoire who will test Shota Arveladze’s club tomorrow. If Giuliano gets into a bit of trouble, there’s another Brazilian who will be waiting to take his spot in one Mauricio.
In short
- The Yellow & Blue defense better be careful of Javi Garcia’s free kicks.
- Number 18: Igor Smolnikov, Zenit’s right back is dangerous on the wing and the Maccabi defenders will need to be careful as he sends six crosses on average per match into the opponent’s box.
- After Ezequiel Garay left for Valencia, Neto and Criscito have taken over as the main central defenders while Yuri Zhirkov who is considered to be more of a left midfielder than a defensive back, will play on the left wing.
