It was a summer of dreary disappointment for Russian football fans. Their national team laboured through three Euro 2016 group stage games, winning none. Any expectation, even hope, that the team would use the tournament as springboard for their own World Cup, in 2018, was extinguished. The only notable impression Russia left in France was an element of their fanbase hitting lumps out of others in Marseille. It was, to all intents and purposes, a forgettable summer.
To many, the return of the Russian Premier League on Saturday will be a welcome development. At the bottom, yo-yo clubs Arsenal Tula and Tom Tomsk return to the league, while FC Orenburg are set for their first ever season in the top flight. But, these are strange times for some of Russia’s biggest clubs; many are in transition, with notable names leaving and less prestigious replacements coming in.
Zenit in Transition
The raft of departures and arrivals that accompanies every summer transfer window has had a particularly marked impact on Zenit St Petersburg. The club, embarrassingly, finished third last season, falling behind Rostov. This failing precipitated the departure of Hulk, the Russian Premier League’s highest rated player (8.06), who moved to China, damaging both Zenit’s and the league’s quality.
But, more than just Hulk, missing out on the Champions League has left a number of players expecting to leave. Axel Witsel, a constant since his arrival from Benfica, has touted himself to just about every club in Europe this summer, while Nicolas Lombaerts, who had difficulties with Andre Villas-Boas, looks set to return to Belgium. Zenit’s squad remains one of the best in Russia, but they continue to fall further behind even their own zenith: Luciano Spalletti’s back-to-back champions.
Yet, following the departure of Villas-Boas, Zenit now have a manager to surpass even Spalletti’s title-winning credentials. After 12 years and eight Ukrainian Premier League titles, Mircea Lucescu prized himself away from Shakhtar Donetsk, providing Zenit with the most gifted dynasty builder that they’ve ever had. At present, it looks like his presence is badly needed.
CSKA and Slutskiy bruised by Russia failings?
While Lucescu’s time at Zenit is in its infancy, Leonid Slutksiy is well established at CSKA Moskva. Three league titles in the last four seasons mark Slutskiy as the most gifted Russian coach of his generation, but the disappointment at Euro 2016 has left a scar. His usual rocking presence on the bench was much commented upon by pundits unfamiliar with his work but, in France, the tempo was more severe.
After the squad arrived back in Moscow, with Slutskiy looking downbeat, he gave a detailed and frank interview with Russian website sports.ru. In it, he revealed that after the elimination, a group of players came to his hotel room to analyse their failings, staying there until 9am the following morning. “All together we uttered the phrase ‘we’re s**t’”, he revealed, comparing that moment to the beginning of an alcoholic’s battle to overcome addiction. The first step towards solving the problem is admitting it, Slutskiy suggested.
Arriving back at CSKA, though, Slutskiy returns to a group of players that he knows how to push towards success. They have been damaged by the departure of Ahmed Musa to Leicester, the club’s top scorer last season (13), and, to a lesser extent, the retirement of Roman Shirokov, the most gifted Russian player of the last 10 years. The defensive pair of Sergei Ignashevich and Vasili Berezutskiy are yet another season older but remain solid. CSKA will expect another top-two finish at the very least.
A Rubin Resurgence
Moscow and St Petersburg’s dominance of the Russian Premier League is almost total. Rostov’s second-place finish last season, coming so close to the league title, provided hope that Russia would see its first champion from outside the two capitals since Rubin Kazan in 2009. Before that, you have to go back to 1995 and Alania Vladikavkaz.
Once again, the most likely outcome is that the champion will come from Moscow or St Petersburg and, even more narrowly, from the CSKA-Zenit duopoly. But, as Rostov illustrated last season, there is scope for a challenge, with Rubin Kazan perhaps the most likely candidates.
Rubin have had a strange time in recent seasons. From the Berdyev title-winning days of 2008 and 2009, they have fallen into slight disrepair. Berdyev, now at Rostov, left in 2013, and the club have trudged along ever since. But last season’s drop to 10th place seems to have jolted Rubin back into some sort of life.
Javi Gracia, the talented former Malaga head coach, has taken over and he has received substantial backing. The squad has been significantly reshaped to fit the new coach’s requirements. Ruben Rochina, Maxim Lestienne, Samu Garcia, Moritz Bauer, Carlos Zambrano, Sergio Sanchez and Alex Song have all arrived for a combined outlay of £27.75m. The sum, when compared to some of the overinflated transfers elsewhere, does not appear lavish, but the Rubin squad has finally received a badly needed injection of quality. If - though it is, admittedly, a big if - Gracia can use his considerable skill to weld together the arrivals with the existing players, Rubin may be able to escape mid-table drudgery. They could even be contenders.
Who do you think will come out on top in this season's Russian Premier League? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
