MOSCOW, Aug 10 Sergei Semak, head coach of the St. Petersburg football club Zenit said that if there were no limit on foreign players in the Russian Premier League (RPL), it would be much easier, but noted that the rules do not create problems for his team. The match of the fifth round of the Russian championship against CSKA Moscow will be held on August 13. From the 2022/23 season, the limit on foreign players in the RPL has been relaxed: no more than 13 foreigners in the club’s application for the season and no more than eight at the same time on the field.
"We have players who can play in several positions, we can rebuild during the match. We always have spare options. There is still some time, we think. Of course, there are always personnel problems. It is a pity that we lost Claudinho for a certain period of time, but this is an opportunity for other players to prove themselves. Of course, it would be much easier if there were no limit on foreign players at all, but the rules are the rules, and so far they do not create problems for us. We have enough Russians in the squad who can come out and play. I do not see global problems in our game — there are individual errors, but they will always be. The option when (Matteo) Cassierra and (Ivan) Sergeev can play together is possible. You need to think and understand how much this bundle is necessary. I’m not yet ready to say whether they are ready to go out together and whether they will come out in this combination in the next match", Semak said at a press conference published on the official Youtube channel"Zenith".
“We have not yet decided on a goalkeeper for the game with CSKA. We still have a few training sessions. Naturally, we will monitor the condition and decide closer to the match who will start it in the starting lineup,” the coach said.