English top flight is a chip off the old Bloc, says Wilkshire

Stewart Fisher

Sports Writer

Thursday 2 August 2012

THE Russian League is as demanding a division as the Barclays Premier League and is improving every year.

Dinamo Moscow trained in Dundee last night

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Stewart Fisher

That was the warning shot fired by Luke Wilkshire, Dinamo Moscow's former Middlesbrough and Bristol City full-back, as the millionaire Muscovites prepared to take on Dundee United tonight.

The Australian, part of the Dinamo squad which lost to Tony Mowbray's Celtic side in August 2009, has watched the Russian top flight increase in quality on an annual basis since arriving at the club in 2008. Just for good measure Dinamo, who only finished fourth last season, flexed their financial muscle this season by splashing €19m on Balazs Dzsudzsak, the Hungarian winger, and another tidy sum on Gordon Schildenfeld, the Croatian centre-back. "Physically it is a very demanding league, very similar to the Premier League," Wilkshire said. "It has a quick pace and a physical style. There are some top players in the Russian league and it is only getting stronger."

Wilkshire was speaking ahead of Dinamo's training session at Tannadice last night, which began amid a torrential downpour. The intrusion of the elements was rather appropriate because the Russian club also brought a few dark clouds of their own with them. With the Russian league moving to a more conventional season, Dinamo have lost both of their matches to date, and the latest gossip on the Eastern bloc suggests that head coach Sergei Silkin must win this tie if he is to keep his job.Silkin said last night he was unconcerned about such matters, leaving it to Wilkshire to do his talking for him. The man from Wollongong, who will be back in Scotland in a fortnight's time with the Socceroos, said his side were targeting an away goal. "For us it has been a disappointing first couple of results but it is the beginning of the season and it is a long way to go," he said. "I don't know a great deal about Scottish football, although I did play against Celtic a few years back and I do know a few Scottish players. I am well aware it is going to be a very tough game, particularly here. On their home ground they are going to be flying but we also have a good team. Obviously when you come away from home you want to get an away goal and hopefully we can manage to get one of those to take back to Moscow."We finished fourth last season but if we had had a better last week of the season we could have finished in third or even second but it wasn't to be," he added. "There are big expectations at the club and we hope to be there or thereabouts again this season."Ironically for the club from the old Soviet interior ministry, Silkin admitted the club had neglected to go on any spying missions. "We didn't see the last two games," he said. "All the information we have is from last year."

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English top flight is a chip off the old Bloc, says Wilkshire

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