This week Zenit travel to Perm where they face bottom-placed Amkar. The red-blacks, as they are known, famously owe their club colours to A.C Milan, a team Roberto Mancini knows well and has played many times. Unlike the Rossoneri, Amkar are of modest financial means - injuries and transfers have the team regularly in states of flux, and such is their situation at the start of this season.
Amkar have only recently picked up their first points after securing two consecutive draws: first against Ufa, and then Krasnodar. It took them five games before they secured a positive result, and six games to finally score. They will be disappointed to have made such a poor start, which has notably seen them lose 3-0 in an uncharacteristically poor defensive display against Dinamo Moscow, and they remain the only team not to have beaten this year’s unimpressive Anzhi side.
On the face of it Amkar are staring up at Zenit from the wrong end of the table, but their 71-year-old manager Gadzhi Gadzhiev has been coaching since 1972 - league positions at such early stages do little to surprise or intimidate a man at the very peak of experience. The team from Perm have never been relegated from the top flight and Gadzhiev, now in his fourth season at the club, is an expert pragmatist who knows how to make the most out of any circumstances.
Amkar started the previous season in reverse fashion and were in fact fourth at this same stage last year, one place behind Zenit and with no goals conceded at home. Key to this and testament to the club’s youth policy were leading roles that Aleksandr Selikhov and Georgi Dzhikiya (both 23-years-old) had begun to play. They were then sold to eventual champions Spartak during the winter, but Gadzhiev still managed to hold onto a respectable mid-table finish, and that is the realistic aim this time around as well.
The club may joke about buying Neymar but the reality is less spectacular and probably less amusing for Gadzhiev when the team lacks a prolific goalscorer. The task of scoring goals will fall heavily on the shoulders of Darko Bodul who managed to score five goals last season but is yet to score this time around. It does not make Amkar’s life any easier that Roland Gigolaev, who was their second top goalscorer last season, is currently nursing an injury.
Influential central midfielder Janusz Gol came off the bench to score against Krasnodar but it remains to be seen if he will be deemed fully match ready. The sale of Branko Jovicic and the sidelining of Fedor Ogude have Amkar sorely lacking in natural defensive midfielders. The likely central pairing of new signings Alexander Ryazantsev and Mikhail Sivakov offers more in attack than in defence.
Along with Ryazantsev, fans may recognise former Zenit players Alexey Gasilin and Brian Idowu, with the latter likely to start. At the back, Amkar will be able to rely on their captain Petar Zanev, who is approaching his 100th appearance for the club from Perm.
With all things considered the emphasis for Amkar will firmly lie on defence. Gadzhiev generally favours a 3-5-2 setup which allows the team to quickly get numbers behind the ball before launching counter-attacks. Against Zenit it is likely that this will be slightly modified so that the wingbacks will sit a little deeper and only one striker starts.
The last time the two sides met towards the end of last season it ended 1-0 in favour of Amkar but that was with their team in full swing – currently they have not found their rhythm and appear vulnerable. However, Amkar’s form is steadily improving and despite conceding seven, only one of these goals was conceded at home.
