RPL March Manager of the Month vote open

After three Russian Premier Liga matchdays since the winter break the following five managers have been nominated for RPL Manager of the Month for March. You can place your vote via the official RPL group on VKontakte - or on the widget below - as long as you have a VKontakte account.

Yury Semin

Lokomotiv Moscow (7 points in 3 matches)

After the winter break Lokomotiv were left with one nominal forward after Fedor Smolov’s loan to Celta Vigo, but still managed to rise to second place. They took one point from runaway leaders Zenit St. Petersburg, beat Akhmat Grozny thanks to Guilherme’s penalty heroics, and blew FC Rostov away in an eight-minute blast.

Despite the importance of results, Semin has managed to trust the club's youth. In all three March games 20-year-old Stanislav Magkeev was on the field, while also being named Man of the Match against Zenit.

Sergey Matveev

FC Krasnodar (6 points in 3 matches)

Krasnodar returned with a bang as they cut Zenit St. Petersburg’s lead from 10 to six points after the first two games back. They had previously won just once in seven RPL matches to fall off the pace but extended their unbeaten run to 11 matches.

Although Matveev was the only manager to beat Spartak Moscow or FC Ufa in March, the picture was spoiled on the last matchday when they lost in Sochi. The damaging defeat cost them second place in the table as they conceded twice for only the second time since last September.

Kirill Novikov

Dynamo Moscow (6 points in 3 matches)

Dynamo's autumn surge under the 39-year-old was marred by a major defeat against Zenit. Although Novikov was then out-thought in the derby against Spartak in the first game of the spring, he responded with back-to-back wins against FC Tambov and Akhmat Grozny.

Even in the 2-0 home defeat to Domenico Tedesco’s side new signing Nikolay Komlichenko twice hit the woodwork, not to mention having a goal ruled out against FC Tambov before opening his account later in that game. With fellow new boy Dmitry Skopintsev also scoring Dynamo are hovering just outside the Europa League places.

Domenico Tedesco

Spartak (6 points in 3 matches)

Tedesco has imbued Spartak with a real confidence after two derby wins - away to Dynamo in the RPL and also against CSKA in the Russian Cup - and a comeback win against a stubborn FC Orenburg side on the road.

The 1-0 home defeat to FC Krasnodar was a setback, but there are further positives to be taken from the spring season so far. Aleksandr Sobolev may not have scored since his move from Krylia Sovetov Samara, but he has registered two assists already while his partnership with Ezequiel Ponce has already proven to be gelling.

Vladimir Fedotov

FC Sochi (9 points in 4 games)

When Fedotov arrived at FC Sochi during the winter break the team was rock-bottom of the RPL, but thanks to three wins in four spring games Sochi have shot out of the relegation playoff zone. After an unfortunate defeat to Arsenal, Sochi confidently beat FC Ural, FC Orenburg and FC Krasnodar at home.

Fedotov immediately integrated Alexander Kokorin, and was rewarded with an impressive return from the on-loan Zenit forward. Kokorin has scored three of the team’s 10 goals this spring, as well as winning two Man of the Match awards.