Vyacheslav Malafeev has analyzed the causes of their massive defeat in the away match of the Champions League against Malaga CF
The 33-year-old witnessed three goals against his side, two in the first-half and one in the second-half, in their 3-0 defeat in the UEFA Champions League group stage match against Malaga CF.
And while several Russian football analysts are blaming Zenit St. Petersburg’s attackers for their worst performance that led to their latest defeat, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vyacheslav-Malafeev-c36502 has blamed the defenders, insisting that the back four struggled
to stop the ramping Spanish side.
Luciano Spalletti made a couple of changes in defence ahead of their first group stage match, playing http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandar-Lukovic-c4481 for Domenico Criscito and Tomas Hubocan respectively.
Malafeev admitted that the St. Petersburg club’s defence struggled to stop Malaga’s attackers, insisting that they need to do a lot of hard work defensively if they are to reach the later stages of the continental tournament.
“We did not expect such a game. They put a lot of pressure right from the start and were very active for the first 15-20 minutes. We failed to cope up with the pressure and conceded two quick goals in the first-half. In the second
half, we started to play attacking football but could not get anything.”
“Opponent played very well in defence. We now have something to discuss within the team. We should take measure to avoid defensive mistakes that have been in the match. If we would have started the match on a high, the result would
have been different.” The UEFA Cup winner was quoted as saying.
Malafeev is of the belief that Zenit tried to play better in attack during the second-half of the match. However, he urged http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandr-Kerzhakov-c4569 to be more precise in front of the goal next time around.
Zenit have lost three of their last four matches including their latest defeat. Malafeev said they managed to reach the later stages of the tournament despite having a poor start to the Champions League campaign.
The defending Russian Premier League champions suffered a 2-1 defeat against Apoel FC last year.
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