Sergei Semak: "We've enjoyed the open training session as have the fans"

The Zenit manager spoke to us after the club's first open training session in front of the public in the centre of St. Petersburg.
Sergei Semak: "We've enjoyed the open training session as have the fans"

Why did you agree to Zenit training in front of the public?

We’ve already had our main training session at the base, so this is just a warm-up. We have enjoyed it as have the fans, especially with these beautiful views.

Whose idea was it?

I don't know, someone from the club, It wasn’t mine. 

And how did you react to the idea?

Positively, it’s interesting and I don't see anything wrong with it. The most important thing is no injuries and it’s no problem for us to move our training session here. 

The grass isn’t the best for football. Are there any risks associated with this?

We need to be careful of course, but it’s another opportunity for us to understand how good our normal conditions for training are. Sometimes the level of comfort needs to be lowered to show you how good you have it.  

The Bronze Horseman monument is nearby and it’s an anniversary for the city this year, do you have any favorite places in the city? 

I love to walk along the Moika embankment and I also like New Holland. There are a lot of places I like. 

Torpedo are your next match and they are newcomers to the RPL this season. It was a tough match against Khimki in the first round. How will you avoid something similar against Torpedo?

We feel it when we drop points and we have all lost points at some point and will do so in the future just like any other team. Our job is to lose as few as possible. Everyone drops points, Liverpool and other clubs too. There will be good and bad matches, but the main thing is that there are more good ones, that's it Torpedo made it to the Premier Liga this year and we need to be ready for each opponent like we usually are. It’s unfortunate that we lose more points in matches like this than against the top clubs. This is a very important match for us and we have to play our best to win it.

Is everyone ready to play, except Claudinho and Kuzyaev? 

Yes. Claudinho and Kuzyaev will not be available the rest will be. 

Spartak are top of the league at the moment, are you surprised by this as you beat them 4-0 in the Super Cup?

No, I’m not surprised. At the beginning of this season both Spartak and CSKA looked good and are at the top of the standings for a reason. The same for Sochi who despite two defeats, have nine points and are to close to us. Both Dynamo and Rostov are undefeated too. There are a lot of clubs who will be around the top of the table, we'll see. The more consistent club will be top.  

Zenit are still undefeated so are you dreaming of an invincible season like Wenger at Arsenal? 

We are far from both Wenger and Arsenal and we have our own aims. We must start from our game and take each game as it comes without thinking of anything else. We want to win every match, but how how many we do… like the match with CSKA showed, creating a huge number of chances might not win this game. This is football. 

After a recent win Jose Mourinho at Roma bought his players 60 pizzas. Are you ready to do something similar if you beat Torpedo? 

I don't need to buy pizzas, the club get us pizzas in the dressing room after every game.