We know that every team wants to win every game, but which match is more important for you tomorrow's match against Lazio or the game a week later against Club Brugge?
The most important match is always the next one. There is only one match we are thinking about at the moment. We have to concentrate to win tomorrow's match.
You previously worked with Fabio Capello, was he an inspiration for you?
Yes I did, but Firstly there was Luciano Spalletti, I was with him a lot as a player and a coach. It’s thanks to him that my management career began. Don Fabio is a legendary footballer and manager, and it was a great honour for me to work with such a manager and person. I think about him a lot and am grateful to him all the time.
Who’s flown here and who hasn’t? Who’s ready to play? What problem areas do you have?
Unfortunately some players have not trained until today and there are players who’ve stayed in St. Petersburg, as sadly the international break wasn’t kind to our team. Some returned with issues and injuries and Karavaev came off in our last game with an injury. Wendel returned back injured from the Brazilian Olympic squad and Krugovoy is training on an individual basis, Magomed Ozdoev too. So these are the players who have not travelled. Driussi and Azmoun have just returned to training with the team today and are not yet match fit.
Malcolm came on only at the end in Grozny, is he ready to start and when can we expect to see him play 90 minutes?
Malcolm has only been in full training for several days and came on for 15 minutes, it's been tough for him. He may start, but for how long he plays… we'll see. His fitness levels aren’t enough for the whole game.
How difficult is it to play so these away games at different times? Tomorrow you will start at 11pm St. Petersburg time, and then the next away game with Tula will start at 2pm? Andre Villas-Boas previously complained about late kick-off time in European games, what do you think about this?
There are a lot of difficulties, but this is our life and our job. Of course, it's not easy to play at two o'clock our time, but the players are used to it.
In the match with Akhmat you had to change to a formation with three central defenders when Karavaev came off. How likely is it that you will play with three central defenders tomorrow?
There is a chance, we need to look at the players we have available, adding to what we saw in Grozny, we need to understand how three central defenders would work in this game. We'll see, we’re not ready to answer this question yet.
Dzyuba's poor performances in October was put down to fatigue. Now he has had a rest, but wasn’t great in Grozny. What is the reason for this?
Every player has his ups and downs, including Dzyuba. He sets a very high standard so many experts and journalists expect a lot from him. I am sure he will score goals, and everybody has good and bad games.
Zenit played away to Anderlecht 10 years-ago and Anyukov and Gubochan were both out at right-back, so Spalletti said that you, Sergei Semak, would play there. Who could play right-back tomorrow?
That was a wonderful moment and quite unexpected. Regarding tomorrow's match, we'll see who can play as every day is precious in terms of recovery. We'll decide tomorrow when we talk with the players.
Malcolm, Sebastian Driussi and Sardar Azmoun have all returned to training. Will we see Zenit's attacking football tomorrow?
You are talking about players who’ve been out for a long time, so it is difficult to expect much from them.
Lazio have a number of players returning, how will this affect the game?
It will affect the game of course. The more good players in the squad, the better for any manager. This adds options, fresh legs and competition. It is good for Lazio that their top players are back in the squad.
