Sardar Azmoun @ Zenit St Petersburg | 2019

[Dortmund]

Zenit go second on tie breakers. 3 more games and two are at home.

[TM4LIFE]

I think Zenit's midfield didn't play ANY accurate balls forward this game, their only gameplan was to try and hoof it up and hope that Dzyuba/Azmoun could get through off a headed flick. There were several instances where Sardar was making really good runs and the midfielders just made the wrong decisions.

Benfica result is great for the group, and now Zenit have 2 home games ahead of them which I think they will take advantage of. I still see them going through, possibly as the second team.

[inarsenewetrust]

I guess we have very different takes on this game. To me both Azmoun and that other forward Dzyuba did very little in terms of pressing, chasing dead balls (Azmoun had one good chase in the first half where he messed up a cross), and getting into proper defensive positions on defense.

I'm still not fully sold on Zenit as anything beyond a round of 16 team. They just lack pace, stamina, and creativity that it takes to be a main play on the European stage.

dzyuba did little chasing. He is the knock down guy and orban and upamacano knew that and attacked him before he had chance to even set up his jump, and physically they were some of the first players I have seen that were able to actually deal with him. Azmoun did plenty of chasing. The cross you mentioned was one instance. The cross that set up the attack of the goal (after a fantastic body feint) was another one. There was 2-3 other ones in first half of as well, that he was either very close to getting, or got but touch wasnt towards goal. So thats already 4-5 good chases in one half, thats pretty much all you can ask when the service is poor.

Obv zenit shortcomings are there for all to see. They lack creativity in the middle of the park. Without a guy like malcom to add new dimension to attack by way of speed and dribbling ability, they are too heavily reliant on azmoun dzyuba 1-2 punch. Lyon and Benfica cannot deal with that, bc their cb's are quite weak both technically and/or physically, they are out of position, dont read danger well, and their respective midfields werent able to get to loose balls first. However, Leipzieg was different bc of the high quality CBs they have at their disposal. Zenit are still likely to beat benfica and lyon and advance I think, if they keep their nerve. As you say past that, there are only 2-3 teams I can really see them beating in next round.

Defensively the first half they were in good control, but Semak wasnt able to anticipate that Leipzieg could jump a gear in second half. Their ball movement and speed was so much better, and they isolated Santos zenit LB a Lot. An additional CB next to him would have covered that space and allowed him to push higher up and influence attack. That was a failure tactically by semak, which he only addressed after second goal.

[Dubxl152]

dzyuba did little chasing. He is the knock down guy and orban and upamacano knew that and attacked him before he had chance to even set up his jump, and physically they were some of the first players I have seen that were able to actually deal with him. Azmoun did plenty of chasing. The cross you mentioned was one instance. The cross that set up the attack of the goal (after a fantastic body feint) was another one. There was 2-3 other ones in first half of as well, that he was either very close to getting, or got but touch wasnt towards goal. So thats already 4-5 good chases in one half, thats pretty much all you can ask when the service is poor.

Obv zenit shortcomings are there for all to see. They lack creativity in the middle of the park. Without a guy like malcom to add new dimension to attack by way of speed and dribbling ability, they are too heavily reliant on azmoun dzyuba 1-2 punch. Lyon and Benfica cannot deal with that, bc their cb's are quite weak both technically and/or physically, they are out of position, dont read danger well, and their respective midfields werent able to get to loose balls first. However, Leipzieg was different bc of the high quality CBs they have at their disposal. Zenit are still likely to beat benfica and lyon and advance I think, if they keep their nerve. As you say past that, there are only 2-3 teams I can really see them beating in next round.

Defensively the first half they were in good control, but Semak wasnt able to anticipate that Leipzieg could jump a gear in second half. Their ball movement and speed was so much better, and they isolated Santos zenit LB a Lot. An additional CB next to him would have covered that space and allowed him to push higher up and influence attack. That was a failure tactically by semak, which he only addressed after second goal.

Well Said! Also Malcom will be back in January will significantly improve their midfield play.

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[KeonKish]

Zenit did very well in the first half.

However, the Dzyuba--- Azmoun partership was well analyzed by Leipzig.

Leipzig players were manhandling Dzyuba, so much so that he wasn't even able to get any knockdowns/headers to sardar.

Sardar was also marked heavily by upemecano but managed to make some good runs using his acceleration/speed alone.


I think Leipzigs goals both came from a lack of concentration by Zenit LB douglas santos, and the midfielder responsible for the Left side of the pitch.


Rakitsky, Ivanovic, Karavaev, Azmoun, and Druissi were all great.


Even after going down, Zenit were still able to create enough chances to equalize, but Osorio royally screwed that one up by blasting it over the crossbar.

However, considering that sheer quality of players that leipzig have, this is a pretty decent result for an away game by zenit standards.

I still think Zenit will advance from the group. I'm pretty confident that they will get 3 points at home from both lyon and leipzig. I also see them beating Benfica away, benfica really looked poor vs zenit.

[diz]

Zenit dodged a potential bullet with beneficas win today. However, it leaves the group wide open. They have to score more in the next 3 games and put some points on the board.

[Medzdidz]

Yup.. lets hope the team who have yet to win a game defeat Lyon. :-(

That win meant Zenit stayed in second place and Lyon didn’t go three points clear.

[inarsenewetrust]

It will be hard for zenit to beat leipzig even at home. I expect them to play higher line and more proactive, which they definitely need to do, but at same time will play into leipzig's hand by leaving space for lightning quick counters that the germans are famous for.

With crowd behind them, I can see them getting a point. Expecting worst case scenario, lyon beat benfica at home and go 2 points clear. The following match in st petersburg will be a must win for zenit vs lyon, if they are able to get the three points, which I put them as slight favorites, that would see them overtake lyon by a point. Going into final match day regardless of what leipzig do away at lyon, a zenit win away to benfica would guarantee progression.

[inarsenewetrust]

https://totalfootballanalysis.com/ma...alysis-tactics

detailed tactical analysis of the match for those interested. Reached conclusion that Azmoun had a decent game given circumstances but could have been utilized better by Semak. Also hit on some the stuff I mentioned, Zenit defense being too deep and susceptible to overloads (esp LB) and upamacano's complete domination of Dzyuba, nullifying zenits main offensive threat.

Good to see that Azmouns reputation, even in a defeat where he did not play particularly well, is still on the rise especially in the eyes of those that are watching as more than casual observers.

[Milux]

Hello guys, do you have a thread with all games of the day ? With our legionaires

[PSGman#19]

Hello guys, do you have a thread with all games of the day ? With our legionaires

I used to do one but most of our legionaires were benched, suspended, excluded from squad, injuried or out of form. So I stopped it

[Milux]

I used to do one but most of our legionaires were benched, suspended, excluded from squad, injuried or out of form. So I stopped it

A ok. Merci

[ehsan singapore]

any link to game youtube link

[ehsan singapore]

sardar had few good chances, miss them, but second half will score

[Medzdidz]

http://www.hesgoal.com/news/54813/Kr...etersburg.html

Only caught the last five mins. They are winning 1-0, looks like Zirkhov got the goal, Dzyuba is being rested . Sardar had a couple of good chances at the end and should have done better.