This week on the pod, Richard takes over hosting duties and he is joined by Football Radar's Anna Konovalova. Anna is a Moscow-native Spartak fan and an expert in Russian, German and Austrian football. Follow Anna on Twitter: @iamanch @FRFussballAnna @HexenkesselPod - Anna's pod on German football in Russian Thus, the pair discuss the swathes of German specialists taking over at RPL clubs, discuss parallels between Austrian & Russian football and evaluate the Hypercube reforms suggesting following that of the Austrian Bundesliga, and finish off with evaluating all the big events of the past week including; Rui Vitoria's sacking, Paolo Vanoli's arrival at Spartak and all the action from the Dynamo - Zenit match at the top of the table. RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

This week on the pod, it's a red & white takeover as James is joined by Hanu & Alexey to discuss Spartak's second-ever European Group Table-Topping campaign before checking out the rest of the midweek European results. Hanu - @H4nuu & @PodcastWTI Alexey - @loonyspectre Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 04:15 - Spartak's Table-Topping European Campaign 32:34 - Zenit's draw against Chelsea 50:40 - Lokomotiv's Disappointing Campaign 1:06:35 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

On David's last pod before his Christmas vacation, we take a look at what to expect from Tomas Zorn in his "new" role at Lokomotiv and ask whether or not Ralf Rangnick still exerts his influence at the club from afar. We also review all the latest in the RPL and take a look back at the FNL Winter part of the season as a whole with their break already underway. Timestamps: 01:24 - Zorn's "New" Role 20:48 - FNL Winter Review 37:02 - RPL Action 37:10 - Khimki 3-3 Krasnodar 40:13 - Arsenal 3-1 Lokomotiv 45:08 - Rubin 2-3 Dynamo 52:13 - News in Brief 57:03 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

This week, Rich returns as we all dissect the midweek European games involving Russian sides as Spartak defeat Napoli again. Then, we quickly look at Russia's opponents in the WC 2022 Playoffs draw before delving deep into Ralf Rangnick's time at Lokomotiv & impending move to Manchester United. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 03:05 - Malmo 1-1 Zenit 14:11 - Spartak 2-1 Napoli 33:06 - Lokomotiv 0-3 Lazio 37:00 - 2022 World Cup Playoff Draw 40:18 - Rangnick to Manchester United 58:51 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

James & David focus on the Sbornaya Senior, U21 & U19 squads in an International Football special. We do dive into the RPL right at the end but as the last game week was almost 2 weeks ago now that is old hat, as David stans Karpin & Gladyshev for 20 minutes instead. Timestamps: Intro - 00:00 Sbornaya - 01:10 U21s - 18:17 U19s - 37:18 RPL Catch-Up - 43:49 Outro - 55:51 RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

It was a mixed week in Europe this time out, as Zenit lost to Juve while Lokomotiv and Spartak drew with Galatasary and Leicester respectively away from home. We also take another look at the upcoming Russia squad and recap all of the RPL Round 13 Action from the last week. Also, apologies for James' sore throat this week, blame him for going to two away games and shouting at Sunderland for losing 5-1 & 3-0 in them... Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 00:50 - European Matches Roundup 02:10 - Juve 4-2 Zenit 09:01 - Galatasary 1-1 Lokomotiv 15:33 - Leicester 1-1 Spartak 25:40 - League Coefficients 30:24 - Karpin's Russia Squad Reduced to 30 37:48 - RPL Round 13 38:36 - Rubin 1-0 CSKA 41:30 - Arsenal 1-2 Sochi 45:16 - Krasnodar 0-1 Krylia 49:02 - Zenit 4-1 Dynamo 52:34 - News in Brief 54:51 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

James & Richard deep-dive into the big game of the weekend as Zenit defeated Spartak 7-1 & covered the rest of the RPL games before exploring the gargantuan 41-man Russia squad. Timestamps: 00:57 - Zenit 7-1 Spartak 25:01 - CSKA 3-1 Krylia 34:50 - Akhmat 1-0 Ural 38:59 - Dinamo v Zenit Preview 47:06 - Karpin's 41-man Squad 59:51 - Russian Cup Next Round 01:00:30 - "Shomurodov" Controversy 01:02:17 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

We look back at a d disappointing week in Europe as Spartak lost 4-3 to Leicester, Zenit fell 1-0 to a late Dejan Kulusevski goal for Juve and Lokomotiv also conceded late in a 1-0 loss against Galatasary. We also unpack all the RPL action from last weekend. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 01:31 - Spartak 3-4 Leicester 19:18 - Zenit 0-1 Juventus 33:36 - Lokomotiv 0-1 Galatasary 49:40 - RPL Round 11 01:13:02 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

This week, we discuss the Russia games, Richard writes a biography of Markus Gisdol, David waxes lyrical about some players nobody has heard of before and James forgets how league tables work in a hectic end to the pod. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 02:20 - Russia 1-0 Slovakia 14:34 - Slovenia 1-2 Russia 25:02 - Russia U21 Matches 32:38 - Markus Gisdol in at Lokomotiv 48:47 - Latest FNL Action 59:03 - PFL Broken Website 01:02:02 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

James & David cover all the latest goings-on in Russian Football, mainly Lokomotiv & Marko Nikolic parting ways, analysing a weekend of upsets in the RPL before discussing the cavalcade of changes that engulfed Valery Karpin's Russia squad in the past two weeks. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 01:18 - Nikolic Leaves Loko 23:03 - Loko 1-2 Rostov 28:27 - Rubin 0-1 Nizhny 35:50 - Dynamo 0-1 Krylia 42:23 - CSKA 0-0 Krasnodar 48:39 - Zenit 1-2 Sochi 57:28 - Russia Squad Changes 01:08:50 - Pryadkin Resigns as RPL President 01:12:24 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]

This week, James & David are joined by Hanu from the Whatever This Is Podcast to discuss all the midweek European games involving Russian clubs. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 02:10 - Zenit 4-0 Malmo 18:05 - Napoli 2-3 Spartak 43:18 - Lazio 2-0 Loko 01:00:46 - Russia U21s & RPL Keepers 01:10:00 - Outro RFN Socials: Twitter - @RusFootballNews Instagram - rusfootballnews Youtube - Russian Football News Email - [email protected]