Alexander Kanishchev is of the view that the defending Russian Premier League champions are lacking confidence on the pitch under Luciano Spalletti
Former Zenit St. Petersburg striker, Alexander Kanishchev, has shared his opinion on the causes of the defeat of the St. Petersburg club in the UEFA Champions League group stage match against Malaga CF at Estadio
La Rosaleda on Tuesday.
It looks like Luciano Spalletti’s men have adopted a habit of losing their opening European game. The Meshki managed to reach the round-of-16 of the continental tournament despite suffering a 2-1 defeat in the first group stage
match against Apoel FC last term.
Zenit defeated the likes of FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk on their European voyage to reach the pre quarter-finals of the tournament last term.
And while football analyst rate Spalletti’s men as the favourites to reach the later stages of the tournament after signing Hulk and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/SL-Benfica-c40542 respectively, Kanishchev believes that the new signings
will take time to adjust to the playing style.
Kanishchev insisted that the Petrograders were not up to the mark in their latest group stage match against the Spanish outfit despite bolstering their attacking ranks during the summer transfer window.
Malaga, on the other hand, parted company with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roque-Santa-Cruz-c31778 from Benfica and Manchester City on a season long loan spell.
“All this lack of respect from the opponent comes when they see someone has signed high profile players. Zenit have invested 100 million, to acquire good players, but they should not be separate from the team. While the Russian
league has 90 per cent of second-class players, I rank http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hulk-c16436 way above them.”
“I still think that Zenit can beat any team in the world and I think they can progress from the group stages of the European tournament with ease.” The former Soviet footballer was quoted as saying.
Zenit will now play the second group stage match against AC Milan after locking horns with FC Krylia Sovetov Samara and Lokomotiv Moscow in the Russian Championship.
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