April Update
My first month at Zenit started fantastic but had a lackluster finish. We had 4 Russian Premier League games, 2 Europa League games, and a Russian Cup Game.
My first game in charge was against Krylja Sovetov. The first goal in my tenure came in the 7th minute when Lukovic slotted it past the keeper. The 2nd and last goal came in the 86th minute when Kerzhakov scored on a breakaway. We dominated the match and had 56% possession and 28 shots.
The next game was against Metalist in the Europa league. My predecessor already gave me a 3-2 lead and all we didn't need much to go through at home. The game was relatively boring, Kerzhakov scored the only goal in the 86th minute once more. We had 56& possession and 22 shots and we went through to play Schalke in the semis. The series ended 4-2 on aggregate.
Our third game was against Terek and it was a massacre. 7 goals were put behind their keeper, Hulk was responsible for 4 of those goals while Kerzhakov scored a hat trick. Hulk ended the game with a 9.9 match rating. We had 23 shots and 51% possession.
Our 4th game this month was against Ural in the Russian Cup quaterfinals. We were very comfortable in possession from the beginning and 2 strikes in the 12th and 16th minute were enough to get us through to the semis against CSKA Moscow. Hullk and Kerzhakov scored the goals. We had the ball 70% percent of the time and we had had 17 shots.
Here, we started to falter. THe game was in the Russian Premier League against Lokomotiv Moscow and was a pretty boring game and we just could not finish, besides for 1 goal. The goal came in the 64th minute by Kerzhakov, it followed a 23rd minute N'Doye Goal from Moscow. WE had the ball 57% of the time and 16 shots.
The 6th game this month was the 1st leg of Europa Leauge semifinal match against Schalke and we just never got going. The game was a big disappointing and was my first loss at Zenit. Joel Matip beat our keeper in the 3rd minute while Pilatsikas put a 2nd in during the 88th minute. We had 56% possession and 11 shots.
Our final game this month was against Dinamo Moscow at home. Again, an unstatisfactory result. The first goal of the game was in the 9th minute when Hulk put one past the keeper. The 2nd goal was a powerful finish from Kevin Kuranyi in the 48th minute. We made it 2-1 in the 56th minute with a Bystrov goal but our hopes of 3 points were shattered by a 71st minute goal by Omar Bakkal. We had control of the ball 54% of the time and we had 15 shots this match.
We are still in 1st in the Russian Premier League and have a 6 point lead over 2nd place Anji.
Our player of the month is.....
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Hulk, the Brazilian had 6 goals and 1 assist this month. That's one goal created per game. Also, he had a 9.9 match rating against Terek.