2013-14 Matchweek 19 Recap: Slimmest of margins in title chase as winter break begins

Results this past weekend drew the chase for the league title down to the finest of margins, with both Lokomotiv and Zenit level on points but separated by 1 goal difference going into the winter break. Spartak are also right in the battle, trailing the leading two by a single point. Be sure to check back here over the coming weeks as there will be some reviews of the first half of the season and previews for what to expect when the Russian Premier League returns in March.

Krasnodar 1-0 CSKA
CSKA exerted heavy pressure on Krasnodar early in the match, but were forced to relent when Keisuke Honda sustained an injury in the dying minutes. The hosts came out swinging after the interval and Artur Jedrzejczyk got what proved to be the winner at the end of a fast and well-worked build up play, however the goal should have been called offside. The visitors returned to the forefront of the match late on, with Alan Dzagoev coming close to a winner, but the solid Krasnodar defence held on for the win.

Zenit 2-1 Ural
Zenit was dominant early on in this match and it paid off in the 12th minute, when Denis Tumasyan tried to clear a cross from Domenico Criscito, but the ball fell to Hulk, who finished coolly. Strangely, it was Hulk who also gave Ural their best chance of the first half, losing the ball in his own box to allow Aleksandr Stchanitsin to fire a shot across the face of goal. The second half started in much the same manner that the first had ended, with Ural pushing forward in search of a goal, and they finally succeeded in the 55th minute. After a foul on the edge of the Zenit box, Aleksandr Erokhin took a quick free kick, flicking the ball over Zenit's stunned defence for Spartak Gogniev, who rounded the keeper and equalised. Despite Ural forcing themselves back into the match, it was Zenit who had the final say, as Hubocan finished well from within the box from an Axel Witsel cross to take the three points.

Volga 1-2 Krylia
Initially, Volga appeared to have bounced back from their devastating 6-1 loss to Spartak last week, taking the lead via Marcin Kowalczyk and effectively controlling the match. However, as the match progressed, Krylia hit back on counter-attacks, first equalising through the excellent Luis Caballero, before substitute Artem Delkin hit the winner in the final minute of regular time.

Anzhi 0-0 Kuban
Once again, Anzhi were abjectly poor, allowing Kuban to control the match before the hosts missed the simplest of chances to pick up their first win of the season. In stoppage time, Roman Bugaev gave away a penalty for fouling Ilya Maksimov, an action which also resulted in Bugaev receiving a yellow. In the resulting uproar from the Kuban players, Bugaev received his second yellow, as did Charles Kabore, both for dissent. Now with a penalty and their opponents down to nine men, Anzhi had the perfect chance to grab a win, but Maksimov missed the penalty and Kuban were able to hold on for a draw.

Lokomotiv 0-0 Rubin
Neither side were particularly threatening in this match, with not a single shot on target coming from either side. Lokomotiv held the ball well, but had Lassana Diarra sent off for two yellows in stoppage time. That's about all there is to say about this match.

Rostov 0-1 Spartak
Despite two of their best players, Artem Dzyuba and Zhano Ananidze, being ineligible for this match as loanees from Spartak, Rostov matched the Moscow side blow for blow for the majority of the match. With the match winding down, it looked as though Rostov would again get a good result against top opposition, before Waris Majeed got his first goal for Spartak off a corner to snatch a win in the dying minutes.

Dynamo 2-0 Amkar
Amkar were impressively even with Dynamo for the majority of the match, but were punished by Kevin Kuranyi on several counter-attacks. First it was a header off a Yuri Zhirkov cross, before the German's excellent penalty resigned the visitors to a loss in a match that they arguably deserved a point from.

Terek 2-0 Tom
Terek looked confident for perhaps the first time this season, going ahead through Jeremy Bokila's tap-in in the 20th minute. Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Vladimir Kisenkov was sent off for a second yellow. With the game winding down, Tom Tomsk's misery was compounded when Petr Vasek was sent off and a penalty was awarded to the hosts. Vladimir Rykov, forced to deputise at keeper as Tom had no substitutions available, was unable to save Ailton's good penalty and the match ended with Terek's second victory of the season.

Table:
1 - Lokomotiv
2 - Zenit
3 - Spartak
4 - Dynamo
5 - CSKA
6 - Krasnodar
7 - Amkar
8 - Rubin
9 - Kuban
10 - Rostov
11 - Krylia
12 - Volga
13 - Tom
14 - Terek
15 - Ural
16 - Anzhi

Dynamo 2-0 Amkar: Visitors punished on counters

Dynamo pulled away to a 2-0 home victory over Amkar, dragging their table position up to fourth going into the winter break.


Dynamo lined up with no major surprises, the only change from last week's 3-0 win over Ural being the inclusion of Christopher Samba over Alan Kasaev, pushing Vladimir Granat to left back and Yuri Zhirkov up to Kasaev's left wing spot. Amkar were also largely unchanged, the only difference from their loss to Rubin on Monday being the inclusion of Ivan Cherenchikov at centre back due to Dmitri Belorukov's suspension.

The opening half an hour was a rather dull affair, with neither side willing to push forward and risk an opposing counter-attack. As a result, possession was even and shots were fairly limited before the match really started to open up in the 35th minute. Balazs Dzsudzsak had a good free kick deflected wide for a goal kick, despite coming off an Amkar player before going out. Mere minutes later, Yuri Zhirkov played an excellent ball in for Aleksandr Kokorin, yet the ball got caught up in his feet before a finish could be applied, allowing Thomas Phibel to clear the danger. This was immediately followed by Kevin Kuranyi being sent through on goal by a fantastic pass from Christian Noboa, but it was given as offside in an extremely questionable decision. Regardless, it proved to be the last chance of the half for either side.

The only change at the half was the removal of Kokorin in favour of Vladimir Dyadyun, a decision that paid off almost immediately. A defensive blunder sent both Dyadyun and Kuranyi into the box mere seconds into the half, but Dyadyun was unable to control Kuranyi's flick-on, and the chance came to nothing. The following minutes went the complete other way however, as Amkar pressured well. Maksim Kannunikov played an excellent cross for Georgi Peev, who was only inches away from getting a touch on it and potentially directing it goalwards. It was at this point that Dynamo finally took advantage of Amkar's large numbers in attack, starting a very fast counter-attack that ultimately had the ball end up with Zhirkov on the left wing. The Russian international played a lofted cross in for the onrushing Kuranyi, who headed down past Sergei Narubin to give Dynamo the lead. The goal gave Dynamo the confidence to push forward, and Amkar were forced firmly onto the back foot, struggling to effectively build up attacks or withstand the pressure from the hosts. Amkar finally got back into the game about 10 minutes later, pushing forward well but lacking the final ball time and time again. After a spell of sustained pressure from the visitors, a Dynamo counter led to Martin Jakubko giving away a penalty, which Kuranyi converted excellently to take his brace and close out the scoring.

Notes:
 - Despite playing four at the back, Dynamo quite often looked like they were playing three centre backs, due to Luke Wilkshire's constant (and poorly executed) bombing up the right flank and Vladimir Granat's disposition to drift centrally.
- Aleksandr Kokorin was absolutely battered in the first half, soaking up foul after foul. I suspect this is a large reason why he was very ineffective and looked off the pace.
- Contrastingly, upon being substituted on, Vladimir Dyadyun was incredibly effective. Rather than sitting behind Kuranyi and constantly coming deep for the ball like Kokorin, Dyadyun pushed up alongside the German and pressured the Amkar defence.
- Speaking of the Amkar defence, they were really confident in dribbling out of the back. While it sometimes came back to bite them (such as for Dzsudzsak's excellent free kick in the 35th minute), it also paid off as they were able to maintain possession for extended periods.

Man of the Match: Kevin Kuranyi
Opened the scoring with an excellent header past Sergei Narubin, before killing off the match with an excellent penalty into the top left corner. Kuranyi was always dangerous, making several runs in behind the defence to latch onto through balls from Christian Noboa and Igor Denisov.

Honourable Mentions:
Christian Noboa - Certainly the most creative player on the pitch for either side, he was constantly looking for the perfect ball to start a counter or break through Amkar's defence, and succeeded on numerous occasions.
Thomas Phibel - A rock at the heart of Amkar's defence, he distributed well from the back. However, he did look shaky in the air and could have been sent of for an "accidental" hit on Balazs Dzsudzsak in the second half.

2013-14 Matchweek 18 Recap: Loko go top of table while Spartak score 6

I miscalculated the times of the matches this week, so there won't be a match report unfortunately. In actual news, Lokomotiv have finally moved to first place in the league, Spartak obliterated Volga and CSKA were held to a draw by Rostov.

Dynamo 3-0 Ural
Dynamo and Ural were mostly even in terms of possession, but the hosts were certainly the more attacking of the two sides. After a goalless half hour, Vladimir Granat put Dynamo in front off a corner, however this was the only goal of the half. It didn't take nearly as long after the break for Dynamo to score their second, as Kevin Kuranyi extended their lead after just 12 minutes. Just 9 minutes later, Ural gave away a penalty but Kokorin's effort was saved by replacement keeper Aleksei Solosin. Regardless, Kokorin made up for his error with a tricky finish 3 minutes later to close out the scoring.

Terek 1-1 Zenit
With a surprisingly weak effort going forward from Zenit in the first half, the game went into the interval scoreless, but it didn't remain that way for long after the break. Igor Lebedenko put Terek ahead in the 51st minute with a wonderful (and deflected) strike off a corner that fell to him at the edge of the box. Zenit struggled for an equaliser and it took Axel Witsel's excellent shot from the edge of the box 12 minutes from time to bring the scores level and salvage a point.

Krylia 1-0 Krasnodar
Although neither side was particularly limp in attack, this match remained scoreless for over an hour, due in part to both excellent goalkeeping and bad luck. With the clock running down, it was Krylia who struck via Stanislav Dragun, who slotted away coolly when Aleksandr Filtsov's attempt at a clearance fell to him. Krylia were then able to shut up shop and hold their lead to take what can only be seen as an impressive victory.

Spartak 6-1 Volga
This one progressed just as the scoreline suggests, with complete and total dominance from Spartak. Jose Jurado scored the first two goals, including opening the scoring within 3 minutes. Lucas Barrios followed up, scoring his first for Spartak just before half time, while Aras Ozbiliz was up next, scoring the fourth and putting the game well beyond doubt. Dmitri Bulykin missed a penalty, before Matija Dvornekovic finally pulled one back for the visitors. Nonetheless, Spartak continued scoring as Ozbiliz grabbed his second before Denis Kolodin finished the scoring with an own goal to give Spartak a fantastic five goal win.

Anzhi 0-2 Tom
Anzhi's hopeless run continued although they looked significantly better than they have thus far this season. After dominating the possession and chances for most of the first half, the hosts went behind as Kirill Panchenko finished well from the edge of the box. It was Mikhail Komkov who killed off the game just 2 minutes after being substituted on with a powerful low shot.

Rostov 0-0 CSKA
Rostov were the better side for the majority of the match, controlling possession and having more chances, yet they were unable to find a way through. The most interesting feature of this match was actually the returns of Zhano Ananidze and Alan Dzagoev from injury.

Kuban 1-3 Lokomotiv
Lokomotiv had an excellent opening 30 minutes to go up by three goals. Maicon opened the scoring for Loko after just 4 minutes, finishing coolly, before Vedran Corluka extended the lead with a header 10 minutes later. Mbark Boussoufa finished off the scoring for the visitors after an excellent build up play, and Loko were more than happy to sit back and defend for the rest of the match. Djibril Cisse pulled one back in the final minutes, but it was far too little, far too late for the hosts.

Rubin 3-0 Amkar
Bibras Natkho opened the scoring just before half time for the hosts, but it was the substitutions that really made a difference for Rubin. Salomon Rondon and Oleg Kuzmin were introduced off the bench at different points in the second half, and they each scored less than 2 minutes after coming on to take a solid home win.

Table:
1 - Lokomotiv
2 - Zenit
3 - Spartak
4 - CSKA
5 - Dynamo
6 - Krasnodar
7 - Amkar
8 - Rostov
9 - Kuban
10 - Rubin
11 - Krylia
12 - Volga
13 - Tom
14 - Ural
15 - Terek
16 - Anzhi