Zhirkov backs Guus Hiddink

At the beginning of 2016, Guus Hiddink started to take control of Chelsea as he replaced Jose Mourinho who was sacked due to a string of poor results. Upon his arrival to Stamford Bridge, Hiddink has a huge mountain to climb as Chelsea was in shambles.

During the last few months of Mourinho in charge of Chelsea, the team was performing disastrously with successive disappointing results and they were even in danger of getting relegated as Chelsea was dangerously slipping down the bottom spots of the Premier League.

When Guus Hiddink arrived to Stamford Bridge, there were doubts if the Dutch manager could repair the state of the squad as they were just discouraged and looked like a completely different squad than the one which won the Premier League title in the previous season but Guus Hiddink has managed to spark life to the English club.

The Dutch coach has managed to keep Chelsea in the middle section of the Premier League standings and despite all of the obstacles that he had to overcome after being selected as the coach of Chelsea, Yuri Zhirkov always had his support from the start.

Speaking to a football ticketing website he spoke of his adulation for Hiddink, and why he thought he had done such a good job at Stamford Bridge.

“I know Hiddink and I have no doubt that once he took over, the atmosphere at Chelsea became so much better and more relaxed than it had been before. The reason for the recent poor run is psychological. A year ago, Chelsea won the championship and this has had a bearing on the next season. When you win the title, it is also difficult to defend it and to play at the highest level. I think with Guus, Chelsea will ride out the crisis and next season will be back at the top of the table.”

This was the statement released by Dinamo Moscow’s Yuri Zhirkov back on January of the ongoing year as the Russian defender outlined his confidence towards Guus Hiddink and Zhirkov was correct in his prediction as things did indeed turn out well for the Dutch coach.

Yuri Zhirkov set to leave Dynamo Moscow

The former Chelsea player, Yuri Zhirkov is set to leave Dynamo Moscow and join FC Zenit Saint Petersburg on a two-year contract.

The player who was playing with Dynamo Moscow for three seasons was set to join Zenit on a free transfer at the end of his contract, but the two clubs managed to find a transfer agreement that will allow Zhirkov to make the move before the contract expire.

The left-sided midfielder will be a wonderful addition to FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, who looks to strengthen their team to become more competitive not only in Russia but also on the European side.

Yuri Zhirkov has been quite successful with Dynamo Moscow. After having made 48 appearances with the Premier League club Chelsea, the Russian player moved back to his home country where he signed for FC Anzhi Makhachkala. During his team in England, the midfielder managed to score only one goal with England. In terms of trophies, he won the Premier League as well as the FA Cup for the London team.

Once back to Russia in 2011, he made 50 appearances with Anzhi where he managed three goals. In his last game with Anzhi, he played in the Russian Cup final where his team, unfortunately, lost to CSKA Moscow.

Following Anzhi financial problems, Yuri Zhirkov left the team and made the switch to Dynamo Moscow where he played 14 league matches for his first season. He would score three goals during his debut season. He stayed two more seasons with Dynamo Moscow where he managed another 53 more appearances for the Moscow team. He will score two more goals during this period. Both goals came in the Europa League. In total, he will make 67 appearances for Dynamo Moscow and scored five goals in all.

Axel Witsel has once again reiterated to Leave Zenit St Petersburg

Axel Witsel has once again reiterated his desire to leave Zenit St Petersburg in the summer.

The former Benfica midfielder is one of the stars in the Russian Premier League. However, he has been unhappy with life at Zenit St Petersburg for quite a while. He moved to the Russian club in 2012 amidst several offers from top European clubs. He chose to enjoy the riches of Zenit St Petersburg, who recently signed Yuri Zhirkov, rather than the possibility of playing at a club where winning the Champions League is a possibility. The 27-year-old has finally admitted that he would like to play in a league where there is prominence.

Juventus and Manchester United have been previously linked with his services, but it remains to be seen if they will come in with a concrete offer given that he is almost about to enter into his 30s.Witsel has the chance to impress potential suitors by performing well for Belgium at the upcoming Euro 2016. Since his debut for the national team in 2008,Witsel has been a key figure and has made more than 60 appearances. Aware that securing a move at this time in his career will be difficult,Witsel also claimed that he is not 100% sure about his departure from the club.

“I still have a contract for one more year come June and the club know how I feel. I would like to play in a bigger league.I cannot say that I will 100 percent leave, but we have not held talks over a new deal and my intention is to leave this summer. I want to focus on finishing the season on a high, then there’s the Euros and then we will see what happens.I spoke to a number of clubs last summer, but it was not about money for Zenit. They wanted to keep me because of the Champions League,” said Witsel.

Slutsky Calls for Freedom

Leonid Slutsky believes a coach should always try to build a light environment among the players and shouldn’t try and impose too much of disciplinary rules and regulations on them.

According to Slutsky, soccer is an innovative trade and those who are involved in it have to be spontaneous. If they are in tough surroundings, that will not get the best out of them.
Slutsky had become a manager only in his early twenties as his playing career had been cut short by a horrendous injury. He was a goalkeeper by trade.

He has begun his Russia stint with some back-to-back wins and has overseen the team into the Euros.

The main difference that he is believed to have done to Russia is that he has started to coach them in a slightly calmer and lighter way and has not put as much pressure on them as Fabio Capello was putting.

But, according to Slutsky, the results dominate everything. If there are positive results, the coach’s methods are appreciated, otherwise, there are contrary views coming in from everywhere.

Whilst Russia are one of the favourites at StanJames for the World Cup that is set to be held in their own country in 2018, so far the focus for Slutsky has been on getting the players to relax, work the ball, and make the right runs.

Speaking in an interview, Slutsky said, “Personally, I believe you have to keep it simple and light and let everybody be himself and be in an easy frame of mind because it’s a highly innovative industry and having too much of harshness all around is not helpful.”

“However, it’s a result oriented business to be honest and you will draw the response according to the results that you produce.”

“At the moment you see it’s going well and people’s view is that this is the right way to go about it, but, if it had not been the same, some would be ruing the lack of discipline as well. So, the reactions are based on results.”

Chelsea’s form has substantially improved

Chelsea’s form has substantially improved after the appointment of Guus Hiddink on an interim basis.

The club are on an unbeaten run of more than five matches in their latest success came at the Emirates stadium following a 1-0 win over arch rivals Arsenal. This was yet another season in which the blues have managed a double over Arsenal. However, a major portion of the success comes about because of the Dutchman. Hiddink has been a breath of fresh air since he has been able to keep the club out of the headlines while silently managing to get results.

Even though the club has to make up 14 points in order to return to the top four, the Dutchman remains confident about qualifying for the Champions League next season. This will be the priority for the club between now and the end of the campaign, although there will be a tendency to focus on the league title. Yuri Zhirkov played for the club for a few years before departing to Russian football with Anzhi in 2011. He was part of the team that won the FA Cup under Hiddink. Now, Zhirkov has watched the progress that the club has made under the Dutchman.

He has showered praise on the 62-year-old says that he has the ability to transform any team.”I know Hiddink and I have no doubt that once he took over, the atmosphere at Chelsea became so much better and more relaxed than it had been before.The reason for the recent poor run is psychological. A year ago, Chelsea won the championship and this has had a bearing on the next season.When you win the title, it is also difficult to defend it and to play at the highest level. I think with Guus, Chelsea will ride out the crisis and next season will be back at the top of the table,” said Zhirkov.

Dmitry Alenichev has accepted that he has received a request

Dmitry Alenichev has accepted that he has received a request of transfer from the Armenia international Aras Ozbiliz and the midfielder would make an away move soon.

According to Alenichev, Aras believes that he would be playing more if he joins some other club and that’s something which the Spartak coaching Staff agrees to as well. So, by mutual consent, the player and the club would disassociate.

A website quoted the boss as saying, “Aras has not been able to play as many games as he believes he should have after coming back from injury.”

“He himself and we too are of the view that there would be more opportunities for him somewhere else where he can hopefully find his rhythm that he has been struggling for of late.”

Alenichev then revealed that apart from Ozbiliz, there are some others players too who would be on their way out.

“I think a couple others would go too.” said Alenichev.

Although there were no particular names taken, it’s believed out of those “couple” mentioned, one is Yura Movsisyan.

Movsisyan would not be leaving on a permanent basis though, as per the reports, and would only be placed on loan to a Major League Soccer team.

An official confirmation regarding this is, however, yet to come out.

Movsisyan is another Armenia international who has been playing in Russian top tier for 4 years and has shined for Spartak Moscow, but, in parts, not consistently.
He has also gone through run of games where he has not played that well.

If you look at paper, Movsisyan’s numbers look better in comparison to those of Ozbiliz, but, he has had a lot more games to play and that too in the central position. So, making the comparison of him and Ozbiliz, who is a winger, would probably be a little unfair.

Yaya Toure will Retire from International career soon

Yaya Toure, like his sibling Kolo, might also bring the curtain down on his International career soon.

He did not get picked for the AFCON qualifying game versus Sierra Leone as he had made himself unavailable for the fixture.

He is contemplating the best way forward for him in the twilight of his career and it’s believed that a big announcement is just on the cards.

Yaya was in charge of the Ivory Coast side when they ended the 23-year drought and achieved the African glory earlier his year.

His workload has been immense in the recent years as he has been a regular for both his club and national squad and now that he is getting older, it might have become quite tough for him to soak all the physical stress.

The weariness had a bit of an effect on his game the previous season as he had looked jaded playing for City in the Premier League.

So, that could be the thing which might be prompting him to leave the international scene.

The new Elephants’ boss Michel Dussuyer has, however, longed for Yaya to continue.

He was quoted telling the press the other day, “Yaya’s currently reflecting on Ivory Coast future. Hopefully, he decides to play for a bit more time.”

Yaya had made his debut in the international Football in 2004 and is the 4th most capped Ivory Coast player at the moment.

Didier Zokora is topping that list of players with the most number of games for Ivory Coast. He has 123 to his name, while, the second is Kolo Toure (who retired just after AFCON 2015) trailing by 5.

Didier Drogba stands third with 104, while, Yaya is not too far behind him having played 100 already.

ZHIRKOV STILL SIDELINED

Yuri Zhirkov is still sidelined for Chelsea as his team struggles to cope with a number of injuries. The Blues have had an extra week to prepare for the match following the postponement of last weekend’s clash with Manchester United.

Frank Lampard, Alex, Yuri Zhirkov and Yossi Benayoun remain sidelined.

ZHIRKOV WANTS TO BE A REGULAR

Yuri Zhirkov has said that his ambition is to become a regular for Chelsea. The Russian has endured a miserable start to the season following his £18million summer move to Stamford Bridge after being sidelined by a persistent ankle injury he suffered in pre-season.

But Zhirkov finally ended his frustration last night when he made his debut in Chelsea’s 1-0 Carling Cup victory over QPR.

The left wing-back said: “This is Chelsea, I don’t think anything needs to be said about the club.

“Everything is done at the highest level here. You have the best players here and the best facilities at the training ground and now I have to prove I am at this level too.”

ZHIRKOV GOING NOWHERE

Carlo Ancelotti has denied reports that Yuri Zhirkov could leave Chelsea in the January transfer Window. The Russia international had previously claimed that he may have to quit the Stamford Bridge club in January in search of regular first team football. A number of free bets have been placed with bookies that Zhirkov will leave in January, on loan.

Yuri Zhirkov, who is comfortable playing at left full-back or on the left-hand-side of midfield, has struggled to make an impression in England since his move from CSKA Moscow back in the summer of 2009, largely due to the impressive form of Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda.

Although despite the Russian’s concerns with regards to his Chelsea future, Ancelotti is adamant that he won’t be allowed to leave the club.

“I don’t need to speak with him about the future,” Ancelotti told reporters. “That is because his future is here with Chelsea. He is a good player. He knows in this club, in the top teams, there is a lot of competition to play and for this reason, he has to improve.

“But I think that he will have the possibility to play a lot of games this year, because we are involved in a lot of competitions. We need to have all the players fit and ready to play.”