The continuing adventures of Ramzan Kadyrov and Aiden McGeady: Russian Premier League 2011/12

The 2011–12 Russian Premier League is the 20th season of the Russian football championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and 10th under the current Russian Premier League name. The season began on 12 March 2011. The last matches will be played in spring 2012, as the league will switch to a autumn-spring rhythm. Zenit are the defending champions.

http://www.tlaxcala.es/images/gal_1118.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_maKT27rDtvs/ShBLxPaQnGI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/zZCh_Spp8Mk/s400/v%C3%A1gner+love.JPG

http://i.imgur.com/Hv9d0.jpg

http://www.spartak.com/thefiles/osnova/aiden1.jpg

Tough start for Gullit against Zenit and Rubin. The match against Tomsk tomorrow will be interesting.

gullit is a terrible man for the mercenariness

are you a regla rpl follower? i usually only watch the odd game in high summer when western europe is done

I never watch Russian football.

Marc 'the bishop' crosas tweets about playing for newly promoted fc volga.

XP, i used to follow it pretty regularly (my ex-girlfriend was a huge CSKA fan). Now it's a bit more on-and-off but i try to keep up.

I know it's Ukraine and not Russia, but Eduardo just pulled a Van Persie in the Ukrainian Cup final - i.e., was shown a second yellow and dismissed for finishing after being blown by offside. This is disappointing to me because it required the defensive-minded substitution of Willian, who is awesome.

Eduardo did score the only goal so far: Dynamo Kyiv 0-1 Shakhtar Donetsk.

Shevchenko nearly tied it for Dynamo but his shot hit both posts, then Shakhtar scored a great counterattacking goal. They're fantastic to watch. 2-0 final.

This Georgian 18yrold on Spartak is my favorite of all the new Messis. More of a Modric/Cruyff in the looks dept. though. Currently running the midfield vs. Lokomotiv.

http://fratria.ru/download2/fratria_1__26_.38590.source.jpg

i think spartak have the best strip in the rpl this season

Also featuring this evening:

On 10 March 2010 Maicon joined Lokomotiv Moscow in 4.5 year contract, and would wore number 90.[2] In 2009, Fluminense also sold 50% rights of Maicon along with other players in different ratio to Traffic Group.[3] he also scores loads of goals on football manager for Jordan Sandford and George Griffin, most recently netting 32 goals in 30 games for inter

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Ananidze_Zhano.jpg/200px-Ananidze_Zhano.jpg

Never grow up ჯანო, it's not worth it.

Jano's a great prospect. He looks even more slight than Modric at the moment but his vision and passing are excellent. Also so adorable!

I see Terek are on course for a post-Gullit win, even if it is only against Krylya Sovetov.

What's that spray in the first pic? Is he taking a divot?

h8r

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14498496.stm

Former Chelsea midfielder Yuri Zhirkov has been heckled by Russia fans during a friendly match against Serbia in Moscow.

Last week, Zhirkov, who can also play at left-back, moved to Anzhi, a club from North Caucasus.

The player was booed by fans almost every time he touched the ball and even pelted with a cigarette packet near the corner area.

Deeply upset, he was substitued after 68 minutes. After that, fans began chanting some offensive - unprintable - words.

Even Russia manager Dick Advocaat urged the supporters to stop their barracking - and when that failed, he buried his head in his hands.

ppl not loving anzhi huh

By Rafael Saakov, BBC Russian Service

^ this guy beats nult hands down btw, sign him up

Is this the season they are playing in midwinter? Because o_O at that.

Hearing chatter of Zenit coming in with a £27m bid for McGeady...

(kerching sell-on clause!)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxM1LXJEuWk&feature=player_detailpage#t=224s

welliton gets a six match ban for this foul on akinfeev

Akinfeev's going to be out until the middle of next year so it's likely Russia will have to play Malafeev who's nowhere near as good at the Euros if they get there.

It looks pretty innocuous but Welliton has history of injuring keepers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/sep/29/anzhi-makhachkala-coach-roberto-carlos

lol

This is going to be great! I give him three matches.

Zenit St Petersburg have signed Hulk from Porto and Axel Witsel from Benfica, both on five-year deals, for a reported fee €80 million, according to the Russian club's website.

The 26-year-old Hulk will wear the No.29 shirt for Luciano Spalletti's side, who currently sit top of the Russian Premier League after seven games.

Hours after announcing a deal for the Brazilian, Zenit also confirmed the signing of Belgian midfielder Witsel, who will take the No.28 jersey.

"It's now official. Both players had signed five-year deals," Zenit spokesman Dmitry Tsimmerman was reported as saying by Rueters.

haha nice dn.

hulk yes, what a world. spalletti should have fun with him i suppose. i read that hulk, falcao and lisandro lopez cost porto a total of €11m and have now been sold for just about €115m. it's a bit absurd really.

heh

i think these two might be zenit's first black/mixed-race players, after advocaat said their fans would never accept it

whatevs re hulk but whoa 30m for witsel

idg why only benfica were the only ones to come in for him last summer in the first place, i know that foul he did was horrific but since when did clubs start caring

There were reports that the Hulk and Witsel fees were both 40m Euro, but that seems excessive for the latter.

Still, Gazprom, so idk, maybe.

assume zenit just went "you hev release clause yes?" and can't particularly remember the price themselves now

Not a great week for Russian football. Anton Shunin, the Dinamo Moscow keeper, was hit in the face by a firecracker thrown by Zenit fans. On the same day an Anzhi fan was arrested for celebratory gunfire within the stadium after their win. It looks like both incidents are being taken pretty seriously this time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2PLPbJfaNN8#!

I didn't know where to put that so i'm putting it here.

Yura Movsisyan looks pretty interesting. Armenian-American striker, formerly of Real Salt Lake, who spent some time at Krasnodar and stuck three past Terek on his debut for Spartak Moscow last week.

It was the 83rd minute of Sunday evening's game between Terek Grozny and Tatarstan's Rubin Kazan at the Akhmat-Arena when Fifa referee Mikhail Vilkov sent off Utsyev for a second yellow card.

The reaction from Mr Kadyrov was swift and furious. A voice boomed over the PA system exclaiming: "The referee's been bought off! You jerk!"

The outburst triggered loud cheers from the Terek fans.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium, Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruthless leader of Chechnya, took to Instagram, his favourite medium,

"It's actually a very useful thing," Ramzan Kadyrov said of Instagram in the Chechen capital, Grozny, on Monday. "I now have the opportunity to monitor public opinion in real time."

http://instagram.com/p/WZotjsCRvG/#

http://instagram.com/p/YFQw-liRga/

heil tigger

sorry, i'm drunk

McGeady scored and set one up to put Spartak 2-0 up in the derby. Vagner Love has just missed a penalty. It's s great game.

Dzagoev scores a penalty to equalise with the last kick off the game!

McGeady got a straight red yesterday, left the field and kicked in the dressing room door.

http://i.imgur.com/57dDKbk.jpg

In other news, a linesman called Kadyrov ran on to the pitch during a Terek Grozny youth game and started beating up one of the opposition players. It's being hinted that he might be related to the great man, but nothing is confirmed.

The Everton vacancy might be coming up at a good time for Bilic. Lokomotiv looked pretty hopeless at home to CSKA at home today, particularly in the first half, and ended up losing 4-1. They'll win a couple of games and then lose / draw six or seven in a row. Of the ten half-decent teams in the Premier League, they currently look the worst. It's difficult to see Bilic going anywhere better than Everton if he does leave, atm.

Kadyrov is considering deleting his Instagram account, apparently.

Meanwhile, Yuri Zhirkov is busy teaching his kids to smoke.

http://i.imgur.com/HMLG1IC.png?1

CSKA should wrap up the title this weekend. Terrific season for them - particularly considering Doumbia has barely featured.

yuri zhirkov is the most irish looking russian person

how has dzagoev been this season

also keisuke honda is supposedly out of contract

Dzagoev has been good. Playing really well with Musa and Love in recent weeks.

Honda's contract finishes in December, I think. CSKA want to keep him but he had been holding off signing a new deal. He has been linked to Lazio for a while.

i thought he was better than lazio, and i'd be very surprised if a mid ranking serie a team offer the best bosman contract to an at least europa league level midfielder with uhm valuable commercial prospects

CSKA completed the double today, beating Anzhi on penalties.

Despite bringing in Hiddink, Willian, Lass and Traore, there's still a pretty significant gulf in quality between them and the top two.

CSKA won the supercup comfortably today - beating Zenit 3-0 (two scored by Honda who'll be staying put until the winter break).

The only vaguely interesting transfer involving either club, so far, has been Tymoschuk back to Zenit. Anzhi, on the other hand have spent £45m on Kokorin, Denisov, Ionov and Chris Samba. idk why they keep buying midfielders and strikers rather than a decent defence.

The Ukrainian league has started too. Looking forward to seeing the new generation of Shakhtar imports tomorrow. Fred might be the one to watch but Fernando, Ferreyra and Wellington Nem all look interesting.

Anzhi seem to be one of the more boring nouveau riche clubs around.

Is Shakhtar's cadre of Brazilians just an easy work permit thing or is there a more interesting relation going on?

I think it's a combination of a good scouting network, easy work permits and more financial muscle than the Dutch clubs these players would probably have started their European careers with ten years ago. The club made a huge effort to accommodate Matuzalem when he was there - buying Brazilians they thought would fit in with his style and getting the coaching staff to learn Portuguese. I guess the young players know it's going to be easier to acclimatise there.

Spartak Moscow are doing something similar now.

Looks like Hulk might be getting a six match suspension for pushing the ref (albeit fairly gently) after getting two yellows for dissent. Zenit beat Volga 3-1 in the end, Danny getting a hat-trick.

Anzi continue to be awful - losing 1-0 against Rostov at home last night, which apparently prompted a bunch of local kids to throw rocks through the windows of coaches carrying visiting fans.

There's speculation that Rene Meulensteen has been sacked after two weeks and the entire Anzhi squad has been put up for sale.

http://rt.com/news/russian-football-anzhi-sell-134/

result for willian. good bet for spurs now i should imagine once the inevitable happens. could do worse than lacina traore too possibly?

think we all know where big chrissy is going

Kokorin might be useful too.

The selling continues. Denisov, Kokorin and Zhirkov sold in a package deal of 45m euros to Dynamo Moscow. Shatov was sold yesterday iirc.

shartov

Eto'o's agent has said that he's not leaving unless he finds someone else who'll pay him £300,000 a week. It's at least four times more than he should be getting atm.

Boussoufa is off to Lokomotiv.

The RPL should actually be stronger this season with the stockpile of handy midfielders Anzhi amassed being scattered to the winds.

What's their masterplan though? Sell every expensive/big player and do it solely with own youth? What's the deal?

I think they'll probably try to keep some of their mid-range players (Samba, Jucilei, maybe Traore) but youth / players who really want to be there seems to be the angle they're taking. It has always been a strange set-up - all the players live and train in Moscow (1800km away) and just fly in for games. Maybe they'll aim for more of a local emphasis.

Yes, that last bit is certainly true.

Shaping up to be a really interesting season. CSKA were shocking early on but have rediscovered a bit of form just as Zenit have fallen apart. Zenit are still top but they have taken two points from four games. Spartak are looking great with Movsisyan up front and Lokomotiv are vastly more reliable than last season. Should be close all the way.

McGeady has been barred from training with the first team which will intensify the rumours about him leaving in January. He had been in good form but still has disciplinary issues.

http://i.imgur.com/0XkIoGu.jpg

where else to post this tribute to a hero of soviet labour and race relations

ShariVari, is this a fair assessment of Aleksandr Kokorin?

How do you rate him?

I thought that Anji had overpaid for him at the time but I am starting to think that I may have been wrong. He is fast, creative and a fine finisher. He has been very good for Dinamo this session but I think it's a little early to talk about him moving to a 'top' European club just yet. He is not quite at that level but has the potential to reach it.

Cheers mate.

Pav has just scored twice in eight minutes to bring Lokomotiv back into the title race. They drew nil nil with Anji last week and were trailing at home to Terek.

If it stays like this, they're two points ahead of Zenit and four ahead of CSKA, having played a game more than both. CSKA are arguably in the best form but AVB should probably win the title in his first season.

Rondon scores to make it 1-0 to Zenit. Fairly even match so far.

Spaletti's last seven games saw Zenit win once. If it stays like this, AVB's record will be eight wins out of eight.

Pavlyucheno rises from the bench...

Equaliser! Tkachyov. Season back on. Lokomotiv need another though.

Zenit, who were ahead of Loko by a point with two matches to play, have just gone 2-1 down at home to Dinamo with half an hour to go. Will be interesting to see if AVB throws on Arshavin, who is currently on the bench wearing what looks like a Slanket. Or if he's got a plan b at all, actually.

Lol. 3-1. AVB has brought Spurs' comedy defending with him.

Kuranyi makes it four. This is crazy.

Players have been taken off after a pitch invasion. Arshavin trundles off, still in his Slanket.

Not sure that they can restart. Stewards are outnumbered about eight to one.

The feed has gone black. At least one of the Dinamo players was punched by a Zenit fan and a couple from both teams had to be restrained from fighting back. Order has been restored and there was a line of riot police between the stand with the Zenit ultras and the pitch but there are so many hardcore mentalists in that end, it would be a risk to restart.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd118/embarchie/slanket.jpg

Lokomotiv are bottling it as well. Rostov 2-0 up now.

Looks like a draw vs Loko will be enough for CSKA to get a third successive title. CSKA are nominally my team and their run of nine consecutive wins to come from nowhere has been great but I feel for Lokomotiv.

Final round of the season kicks off at 15:30 today. If CSKA beat Lokomotiv, they're champions. If CSKA and Lokomotiv draw and Zenit beat Kuban, Zenit are champions. If Zenit fail to win and Lokomotiv beat CSKA, Lokomotiv are champions. To make things more fun, there are only two CL places up for grabs so one team that could be within 90 minutes of winning the title will definitely be in the Europa League.

was villas-boas expected to win the league when he was appointed?

Not really, but he has been for the last couple of weeks. He put them in a position where they should really have won but the draw with Loko and getting routed by Dinamo, combined with CSKA's form, put paid to that. Second is probably where they were expecting to finish but it'll still be bitter given where they were.

You can stream the RPL for free via their YouTube channel now, though with the state of the league at the moment, it’s not always clear why you would wish to.