Sergei Semak: "Lovren, Rakitskiy and Malcom all had to come off with injuries"

The boss on the 6-0 win over Ufa and answering questions of the club's injury list and possible future transfers. 
Sergei Semak: "Lovren, Rakitskiy and Malcom all had to come off with injuries"

The first half was quite good, but in the second half, especially at the beginning, we gave up the initiative a little. We managed to score more and got a confident win. I would like to congratulate the supporters on their anniversary too. When the score was 4-0, it reminded me of the 40 years and that would have been nice, but scoring two more was even better for the fans. We are now waiting for the results of the medical examinations of the players who were injured, then we’ll prepare for the next match.

What happened to Azmoun and who else is injured?

Lovren had to be replaced at half-time and Rakitskiy and Malcom also came off due to injuries. Shamkin has rejoined up with Zenit -2, even though some respected papers had written he was in isolation, which is very strange. Those publications should contact our press service to find out more. I would like information like this to be verified in future. But this is not that important today.

Why did Erokhin start ahead of Mostovoy?

We changed the formation and Erokhin was more suited to what we needed, so that’s why he started

Danila Prokhin played the whole second half. How would you rate his performance? Is it possible to play the season with him as the third center-back, or are you still looking to strengthen in this position?

Prokhin played well and quite confidently. There were some points for attention, but I liked how he played. The way he is in training gives us optimism for the future. As for new players, I’m not looking for anyone. We can only bring in a Russian player and those players we want are wanted by their own clubs too, so we will rely on our young players.

Is it possible that Azmoun has a knee ligament injury?

Maybe. We don’t know yet as he got hit and it’s difficult to say now what this has done to him. He was in pain and only a scan will show. It might be just a knock, or perhaps something more serious.

What is the situation with Kuzyaev? Is there a chance that he will be a Zenit player?

I don’t know, I haven’t heard that the situation is resolved yet. He knows the position of the club’s management and my personal opinion. We would like to keep him here, but I think he will decide what is best for him and the decision is his. So far I have not heard an official statement that he has signed a contract with anyone.