Zenit Regroup For Samara After Dynamo Flop

Zenit St Petersburg manager Sergei Semak has told his Russian Premier League table-toppers there is no time to mourn last week's defeat at Dynamo Moscow when they travel to lowly Samara on Monday.

Moscow, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Oct, 2018 ) :Zenit St Petersburg manager Sergei Semak has told his Russian Premier League table-toppers there is no time to mourn last week's defeat at Dynamo Moscow when they travel to lowly Samara on Monday.

Despite the weekend 1-0 slump Zenit have a six-point lead at the top over second-placed Krasnodar, who will have to pass a tough test to their title hopes when they take on third-placed CSKA Moscow on Sunday.

Semak blamed the defeat to Dynamo on a lapse of concentration insisting that his men put the slip-up behind them.

Zenit showed obvious signs of recovery on Thursday when they came back from a goal down to claim a morale-boosting 2-1 win over the French side Bordeaux in their Europa League clash.

"We've made a mistake but we have no time to mourn it. We should forget it as there are plenty of important matches ahead," Semak said. "Now we need to focus on the match at Samara completely. A win there will maintain our lead in domestic league." Kranodar, who also suffered a 1-0 defeat in their previous Premier League encounter with Akhmat Grozny, prepare for a tough clash with the Red Army side, who are also in contention for the Russian title.

But the club from the southern city suffered another blow on Thursday when they were beaten 2-1 in Europa League Group J by Belgian side Standard Liege.

"We've failed to show our best football against Akhmat," Krasnodar boss Oleg Fomenko said. "We played too slowly and it was convenient for our opponents.

"But against Liege we looked much better. We created plenty of chances but scored only once. Liege meanwhile converted all of their rare chances. It's an annoying defeat and we need to make the right conclusions to avoid these mistakes in the future." Meanwhile, CSKA, who were thrashed 3-0 in their meeting with Italy's Serie A giants AS Roma in the Champions League Group G match, are also set to draw a lesson from their defeat.

"I don't have a bitter disappointment after the defeat at Rome," CSKA head coach Viktor Gancharenko said. "We've got a very useful experience there. Now we need to analyse this game to draw the right conclusions that will help us in the future.

"The match with Krasnodar will show whether we've learned our lesson quick enough."