Sergei Semak: "We played a good match and can take a lot from it"

The Zenit manager on the game against Grasshopper Zurich, the second summer camp and the upcoming game with Inter Milan.
Congratulates on the win Sergei! After the match with Dynamo you said that the result isn't important, the why the game is played is more important. What did you think about today's game? 

The match developed in different ways during the game. We did not start the way we wanted. The first half was quite difficult, a lot of tough tackles and regarding the pitch, the grass was quite long, so it was difficult to play on, we took some time to adjust. In the second half, especially after the second goal scored by us, our opponents opened up, we had a number of opportunities to score more, so the game turned out to be quite good and informative for us. We will take a look at our mistakes and work on those.

Yury Lodygin said that the key difference between this match and the match with Dynamo Moscow, is that Dynamo did not put pressure Zenit as much as the Swiss. Is it good for Zenit to play team with different styles? 

Yes it's good. The Swiss league starts in only ten days, so we can say that Grasshopper Zurich are very well prepared, they were trying out different options for their game. It was interesting to play them, and it turned out to be a good match and we can take something from it. 

Zenit will now play Inter Milan as well as Genoa at the next Gazprom Training Camp. You probably have Luciano Spalletti's phone number. Have you called him?

That's why the game will take place! We had a chat and discussed how things are and then decided to play a friendly. I agreed with pleasure and I'm very happy that we could arrange the game. It took a long time to find the location to play, but it'd done and we are very happy to play a team at such a high level, it will be interested to play them. 

Today, you played two completely different teams in each half, and both won 1-0. Are you happy with this?

I did not pay too much attention to this, because Grasshopper also made substitutions in the second half. We created a huge number of chances in the last fifteen minutes and should have scored. In the first half, the game was quite difficult: for a long time could not cope with their pressure and played poorly out of defence, but this is understandable. We know that the start of a game is to adjust to both the opposition and the pitch.

Perhaps the players where distracted by the mountains and the beautiful surrounding area?

Surroundings are always important. It's nice to play in a stadium and not just at training grounds, and the beauty of the area is of secondary importance, because we know that we came here to work, that's not always easy. But the landscapes here are really magnificent. 

So far Zenit have not conceded any goals. How do you feel about this? 

Good. All coaches would be happy with this. Although we do have something to work on and we know this fully and have all the information we need. Nevertheless, it is important for confidence, for team interactions and for our goalkeepers. This is a nice bonus to winning the game.