The Russian Premier League season has just started, but now we can see an interesting picture in the standings. While Zenit, CSKA and Dynamo stagnate, Spartak Moscow wins all the official matches of the season. In an exclusive interview with Sovetsky Sport, Andrey Chervichenko, former president of the rojiblancos, doubted the team’s chances of imposing a fight on Saint Petersburg in the championship, criticized the club’s transfer campaign and named a possible reason for Medina’s disappearance Of the template.
– How do you rate the quick start of Spartak? How long do you think the team’s “white streak” will last?– I do not see anything playful and charming in this beginning. In my opinion, there are too many drawbacks – in general, we beat the outsider from the last season and the team from the first league. And a tense win, barely with a margin of one goal. In the first game we lost twice in a row and, in principle, we equalized a ball thanks to a rebound, well, we could have missed a lot. Therefore, although you are lucky, because a weak opponent. And as for the game, these rivals have a lot of chances, in principle, the lack of skill only in these two matches saved Spartak. The opponents’ abilities, I mean, at the end of the attacks, and Spartak provided a huge number of opportunities.
Photo source: Soviet sport
-Is it still premature to talk about the rojiblancos being able to break the hegemony of “Zenith” and proclaim themselves champions this season?– In my opinion, bullshit. “Zenith” is also not very good. But the fact that Spartak is in such a form, in which Baltika comes out and 4 times one on one, the players simply cannot score. I think all this euphoria depends on the first serious opponent.
– Many experts say that Spartak now has a stronger squad than Zenit. Do you agree with this?– Yes, why take Zenit, only Barcelona, Bayern and Manchester City were left behind. Why be modest?
Photo source: RIA Novosti
– Malcolm left Zenit this summer, Wendel is sitting on his bags.– In general, take any position and say what is stronger there. I don’t think there is such a position.
– Abascal this season began to put more emphasis on attack. In the match with Baltika, with a score of 1: 0, he removed the only defensive midfielder and replaced him with another striker. Do you think this new model is viable?– With teams like Baltika, probably yes. And with people like CSKA, Rostov, Zenit, I think with this model they will get at least a couple of goals in 10 minutes. I think that this season Abascal proves himself more as an artist than as a coach: everything is so pathetic, he escapes somewhere, all of him is a “trembling doe”.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
– At first, Theo Bongonda pleasantly surprises. Did you expect him to show results so quickly?– Honestly, I did not expect it, but I will tell you that 3 million is its real value. A good player, a good one. Again, the problem is that they paid 2 times as much. But I think that for Spartak this is not money down the drain, as it was with Til. At least there is a reward here. But he looks at the last game, it turned out that he cannot play on the right foot, he plays on the right wing. On the other hand, he scored a goal. But after that, no one saw him except Abaskal, he just merged with the grass. You know what they say: “The Moor has done his work, the Moor can rest.” If this continues, I think it will be enough for 2-3 games, and then we’ll see those issues, so it will then merge in a couple of years.
Photo source: Soviet sport
– Another big summer transition remains a mystery. Paid by Medina Decent money, but he has not played for Spartak yet. What are your expectations about it?– I think that the army team is not such a fool to take and give a good player, especially a direct competitor. I highly doubt this signing, I’m still waiting for some kind of hit. It seems to me that everything is not so good there, as it seems to the Spartak leadership. Well, it is unlikely that a good player would have been released even for that kind of money in CSKA. It is possible that something chronic has aggravated in him.
– Spartak now has one of the most difficult segments on the calendar. For 12 days, the team played first at home with Baltika, then two trips to Kazan and Yekaterinburg. How much do you think the rojiblancos will be able to cope with such a load?– Well, let’s see how strong they are, because Kazan looks very decent. Rubin may not forgive those defensive slip-ups that Spartak commits. Ural, meanwhile, has always been a difficult team for Spartak, especially on a long-distance journey. But the situation here is 50/50, Spartak can turn out well, or maybe completely tragic. The question of judging will also be important. “Spartak”, despite their “whining”, was the leader at the start of the championship in terms of errors by the judges in their favor, so refereeing moments must be taken into account. The referees work in their matches very comfortably.
– There is a lot of talk about the possible signing of two players. Still, he returned to Ryabchik from Olympiakos and perhaps signed Ozdoev. How do you assess this possible reinforcement of the team?– I don’t know anything about this Olympiacos thing, so I can’t comment. I read him as a good defender, again, 25 years old, Russian-speaking, but we have to see how he joins the team. And Ozdoev is already on the decline of his career. Spartak is a fan of buying those that are already close to completion. The team is trying to squeeze everything out of them. Apparently, the previous bitter experience was not enough, but the Pole simply did not show anything. This one, like him, Mateusz (Maciej Rybus). Usually zero. Now they are dragging Ozdoev. An odd choice, but perhaps still transfer period gossip.
Photo Source: Getty Images
– If you could, which RPL player would you sign for Spartak?– Whose?
– From RPL players, any position.– There are many players. Well, Dynamo’s Tyukavin suggests forward, I don’t know if Rostov’s Osipenko can defend himself, there are a lot of smart defenders. There are a lot of players and there are a lot of holes in Spartak, more problem areas than closed questions. Except for the position of the goalkeeper and a more or less good line of attack, everything else is a problem. In defense there is only one normal player facing Jikia, he closes his position 100%. And everything else can be removed, 8 out of 11 people are of very dubious quality.
