I wish to congratulate the team and supporters on today’s win. There are days when almost all your shots on target lead to goals and today was one of those days, they were all good goals too. Today is a good day, but even such a big win only gives us the same three points. Tonight we can celebrate, but tomorrow we will start to prepare for the next match.
Zenit created a lot after quick counterattacks. Was the starting lineup selected with this tactic in mind? Was there a plan to give the ball to Spartak?
We didn’t have this plan. We scored an early goal and after that, Spartak had to come out and attack more. They are not a team that defends deep and free space began to open up at the back and we took advantage of that. When one team scores, the other side has to open up and they risk counterattacks, which is what happened.
This is the second match in a row where Karavaev has started ahead of Sutormin, has he won the right back position?
No, you can't say that. Karavaev and Sutormin have different strengths and we chose who plays depending on the match, the opponent and the fitness of the players.
Why did Dzyuba start on the bench?
We have two forwards as I said before the game and sometimes we play one, sometimes we play with two. With the tactics we played it was better to go with Sardar, so Dzyuba started on the bench. We gave Mostovoy a chance due to the tactics we went with, and for the next match we may go a different way. Let's take a look at our opponents and see who will be ready.
Rakitskiy got two assists today and hasn’t taken corners recently. Was this due to Douglas' injury?
Today we decided from the start that Rakitskiy would take corners as Douglas had a different role.
How is Douglas Santos after he went off injured?
Unfortunately, he’s injured and this is an added headache for us as he is an important player for us. We don’t know the extent of his injury but tomorrow or the day after, we’ll find out more. We know it’s a thigh muscle injury.
How surprised were you today that Caufriez and Rasskazov started today for Spartak? Did you target Rasskazov?
Caufriez played in the match with Dynamo in the same position and can play both on the right and in the middle of defence. As for Rasskazov he has been playing in defence for Spartak. Today he or Kutepov could have started as they don’t have much choice in that position. One or two positions we were unsure about, but we knew the rest. Both sides know more or less everything about each other, so there were no big surprises today.
Spartak have not beaten Zenit since 2012, and Zenit seem to win the matches involving the two sides. How can you explain this Zenit dominance? Are Spartak no longer a rival for you?
We can’t say that and things can change quickly as we’ve seen many times before. I won’t talk about dominance either. Before kick-off we were having very different conversations and we have to work hard to keep at the top of our game. There are matches when everything goes well for you, like with Lokomotiv last season. Today's result was unexpected, but such matches happen once a year. I can't say that we had unbelievable luck but it is rare to score so many goals.
