Anzhi coach Guus Hiddink said Friday he hopes Roman Pavlyuchenko's quiet form on the pitch continues into Sunday's match against Lokomotiv Moscow.
Hiddink takes his two-game unbeaten run to the capital looking to lift Anzhi to joint third in the Russian Premier League table, and is hoping Lokomotiv striker Pavlyuchenko lives up to his nickname as the "Sleeping Giant."
"I have big respect for the Sleeping Giant, but I hope that he'll sleep for at least one more weekend and wait for the end of winter," Hiddink quipped.
Pavlyuchenko hasn't scored in either of his two games since joining Lokomotiv from Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window; neither in a 2-0 win over Dan Petrescu's FC Kuban nor a 0-0 draw at Rubin Kazan.
As coach of the Russian national side from 2006 to 2010, Hiddink worked closely with Pavlyuchenko, whom he picked regularly, and also with Lokomotiv midfielder Dmitry Torbinsky.
"Torby reminds me of [Barcelona forward Lionel] Messi with his fighting spirit," Hiddink said.
Hiddink won his first game with Anzhi, a 1-0 away defeat of Dynamo Moscow, and drew his second match 0-0 at home to Spartak Moscow.
He said the team's main deficiency was up front.
"Of course, we're not trying to play like Barcelona, our task is just to play in an organized way. We started with the defense. And in our first games we've had very few chances, and that's one of our chief problems at the moment."
