After years of chaos and bad results, Anzhi Makhachkala have started this season in an impressive manor. Coming off a season where they lost no less than 16 games and conceded a staggering 50 goals, the Dagestani outfit has lost just twice so far this season, and only Spartak Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and Amkar Perm have conceded fewer goals than the five that has gone in behind goalkeeper Aleksandr Belenov.
The success is however no coincidence as Anzhi did some impressive business on the transfer market this summer. They were especially effective in cleaning out the bankruptcy estate at Kuban Krasnodar after their relegation, as they brought in five players from Krasnodar’s second outfit. The most prolific of these signings were Russian goalkeeper Belenov, who also played on loan at Anzhi in the spring, and who has been in fantastic form this season.
On the last day of the transfer market, Anzhi even managed to convince Spartak to release Sergey Parshivlyuk and Pavel Yakovlev, meaning they could move to Dagestan on free transfers in what could potentially be very good deals.
On top of that, Anzhi brought in European experience in the former Manchester United winger Gabriel Obertan, former Bordeaux defender Cedric Yambere, former Croatian international and HSV midfielder Ivo Ilicevic, and last but not least Ukrainian international Pylyp Budkivsky from Shakhtar Donetsk.
However, despite all these impressive dealings, the most interesting arrival in Makhachkala this summer was head coach Pavel Vrba. Vrba is best known for leading the Czech national team to the Euro in France, but he is also the man who led Czech minors Viktoria Plzen to two championships and won the Czech Coach of the Year award six times in a row between 2010 and 2015.
Although Vrba is known for being an offensive minded coach, who would rather win 4-3 than 1-0, he is yet to get the Anzhi offense going. All they have scored in their first seven games is four goals, and strikers Yannick Boli and Budkivsky are yet to prove themselves to their new coach. Perhaps, that’s why Vrba looked another way last week, when he opted to start winger Obertan up front, for which he was rewarded with a nice goal and a stellar performance by the Frenchman. Obertan is therefore likely to start up front against Zenit as well, and he’ll look to hurt the defenders with his pace and dribbling skills.
Despite the impressive start to the season, not everything is good in Makhachkala these days though. They have lost two important players in Mohammed Rabiu and Ali Gadzhibekov to injuries, while Armenian international Karlen Mkrtchyan remains in doubt for the battle against Zenit.
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