After a short break due to national team matches, the Russian Premier League has finally returned to us. Although there weren’t many big signs in the eighth round, it gave us more of a hot finish. Paris NN and Orenburg sensationally managed to take points from the Muscovites, and the matches between CSKA and Rostov turned into real thrillers. In an exclusive interview with “Soviet Sport”, former footballer of the USSR national team Evgeny Lovchev summed up the results of the tour.
— Five games out of eight ended in a draw. Didn’t you find the last round the most boring since the beginning of the championship?— I have said before that out of eight matches on the circuit I fall asleep in six, I wake up in one and I watch the last one with interest. Now I’m talking about entertainment. For example, Spartak, who scores in the last minutes. Now I am interested in watching all the games. The phrase of the past “they parked a bus at their door” is gradually moving away from Russian football with the arrival of Lichka to Orenburg, with Fakel’s team, and Krasnodar. This sentence simply evaporated. It became interesting to watch. On this day, draws were even achieved in the last minutes of the matches and many goals were scored.
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— Don’t you get the impression that the break for national team matches relaxed the big clubs too much?— I really like Lichka. With the arrival of him, Orenburg began to play, this coach stirred up our football swamp. He said a very important phrase when mentioning that almost all coaches answer this question: “Of course I do. The players just came back.” It’s like nothing changed because they worked with these players for months, but when they left for two days that’s it, it’s a tragedy. Lichka responded: “Guys, have you ever heard that Real Madrid complains that their players are going to the national teams? What can we say about this, if we need to adapt to it? This happens every year. It’s an excuse, that’s all. It is absolutely clear to me that nothing should change during this pause. And if after several months or even years of hard and systematic work everything can change in a week, then you are worthless as a coach.
— In terms of the intensity of passions, there were two brilliant matches: “Baltika” – “Rostov”, CSKA – “Wings of the Soviets”. Name the main thriller of the tour. — Probably the main thriller will be the match between CSKA and Krylya Sovetov. Attention must be paid to all teams, not only technique and physical preparation are important, but also the moral component. Running can be taught, but psychological stability is difficult to obtain. When a team wins 2:0, in this case “Wings”, destroys the army team, CSKA is expelled. Here it was necessary to crush the opponent 11 against 10, and the “Wings” retreated to their half of the field and began to try to maintain this result. They themselves revived CSKA, the army team came to life and began to play. It all depends on morale, and this is very difficult in many of our teams, because in general those who win must be able to finish the finals. Nobody here knows how to do this. Teams that win eventually back off and start buying time in every way possible instead of playing football, scoring more, and finishing the game. They are cowards. And this depends on the coaches. This psychology is the most important thing that needs to change now in teams.
PFC “Wings of the Soviets”
— Sochi hasn’t been playing consistently lately, but Spartak could barely score late in the match. Didn’t the red and white victory seem forced to you?— Spartak’s victory may have been forced, but in terms of play the red and whites were definitely stronger. And Sochi and Spartak always play pretty well. Muscovites know how to play fast football, but they are absolutely incapable of defeating a team that is close to their own area. And this is also a coach’s mistake, which means he must teach it. Or he can’t teach it. In this I agree with Alexander Mostov, who is not liked because of his statements about Abascal. He says something simple: “All this happens because he himself did not play football at a high level.” That’s all. Therefore, it is necessary to listen to it. It’s not that I don’t like how Spartak plays. I love it, I love seeing this club and these endings when it explodes. I watch football because it gives me emotions. Spartak does this. But behind this are the lines in the standings, in the history of the team, how much they have won. Here Spartak, of course, lags behind. But it is interesting to watch them, and even in the match against Sochi they were stronger, there is no doubt about that. In the end, the residents of Sochi realized that they were the most guilty, and not Khokhlov. Apparently, when they went to the game they already knew that if the team lost, Khokhlov would be fired. This is what happened. The boys fought for their coach. Furthermore, for a good person and a very outstanding footballer in his time.
“Spartak” achieved victory. Babic scored in added time
“Abaskal clowned on the sidelines again. Aren’t you tired of his tantrums?– This is today’s moment. One coach runs, the other does something else, Lobanovsky sat down and rocked. That was the fashion. We sat on the reserve bench. Today it looks a little different. He didn’t fix anything. A coach must be who he is. Is that why Yuri Pavlovich Semin was loved by all Lokomotiv players? Because he was decent to them. He always behaved correctly. Where it was necessary to push, he pushed, where it was necessary to praise, he praised. That’s all. And Abaskal is the same.
— Hokhlov left the position of head coach of Sochi. Who do you see to replace him? How do you assess the possible appointment of Cherchesov? You believe it?– Don’t know. In our football anything can happen. Nowadays, the value of a coach lies in one thing: whether the team wins or loses the game. I won two games. Oh, what a great coach! And he lost, that’s all. People who invest money in football have only one goal: win or lose. They don’t look at whether he’s a good specialist, what his makeup is, or whether he needs to be given some time to adjust. I have worked with many great coaches when they had been in a coaching position for twenty-five years or more. They had successful and unsuccessful seasons. All was. Now what? We are seeing the same thing. Here is Shalimov, here is Rakhimov, here is Khokhlov. They are driven from here to there. But no one wants to work and help like Starostin did. For example, Romantsev became a wonderful coach. The most prolific for Spartak, you could say, because no one won more championships than him.
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— Rostov simply missed the victory in the match against an outsider from the league. Can we say that Karpin is losing the team?—Do you mean that Karpin is merging the team? Wow. Karpin has the best coaching job he has ever worked in. Before they were not even allowed to work. Last year he squeezed everything out of all these guys. They can’t do more. There it is necessary to change half of the team and bring in higher class players. That these guys gave up a little, it always happens. They reached a peak and then descended somewhere. And what happened in the last minutes? Is it only in Rostov or what? Well, Spartak also won in the last minutes and the same goes for Dynamo. There’s not even any talk of Karpin leaking himself or anyone leaking him. This is his main job. You know, I was once named head coach of the country’s indoor soccer team. There was a press conference in which a journalist congratulated me. I then asked him what exactly he was complimenting. He replied that with the quote. Then I replied: “Guys, from today the counting of time begins until the moment when you retire me.” There is no other way, this is coaching. You can’t be first all the time. Even if you consistently win gold in the national championship, you will be fired for not winning the Champions League.
—What is the potential of Ignashevich’s accusations? Can Baltika become the new Orenburg this year?— Well, I wouldn’t say that this is directly the second place of “Orenburg”. They play a different football. The team there is very young, Ignashevich is a young coach who is just at the beginning of his career. In general, they are only now realizing that the squad that was in the First League is not capable of fighting for high positions. Only now have they started to hire good foreign players, there is a good Chilean there. Unfortunately, just look at the statistics: the team has risen, which means that at the end of the season the RPL will face relegation or will be relegated. The level is completely different, consciousness comes only after a year.
— Lokomotiv unexpectedly lost to Orenburg 0-2. Last year it seemed like the railways had restarted. What went wrong at Galaktionov’s Lokomotiv?—Something in Lokomotiv this outbreak, which occurred with the arrival of Pinyaev, Dzyuba and Glushenkov, began to die down. You should always throw up on the soccer field. Fight for the club, for the country. But I keep in mind that everyone is constantly changing clubs, this disappears. They just come in and are tuned in for the first month, and then it’s quieter, quieter, quieter. I watched the game and saw that Dziuba was no longer the same, these guys were no longer the same. It takes some kind of strong hand from a coach to streamline all of this. But this is not seen in Lokomotiv.
Photo: Mikhail Shapaev / RFU
— Dziuba started tearing his uniform during the game…– Remember how it started. There they first ripped off his uniform. From this arises an enormous claim against the judges. Remember the Spartak match. There, the Sochi players already in the 20th minute kicked everyone in the legs. And the judges, apparently, have never played at this level, so they don’t know what it is. I decided to put myself above everyone else and, most importantly, the ball, the field and the players. The referee is only with them. In this case it is the same. Dziuba testified that his uniform was torn. And then he tore it apart, so to speak. At the beginning, the Orenburg defender started everything. They should have given him a card, but nothing. Referees will soon admit that defenders will start pulling everything out, including hair from their heads. The referees broke up our football. These gang people. As soon as someone starts winning, they immediately start buying time and die at the slightest touch. In my time, the judge came up and said: “Get up, otherwise you will catch a cold.” They go to play soccer and score goals. It has become disgusting to watch our league, they constantly lie down and complain. Judges, I ask you that you have ruined all football, world football and, most importantly, Russian football. The RPL management must come together and convince the players that this is first and foremost a show. People shouldn’t have to pay for the type of football we see now.
Dziuba, furious, tore his shirt during the match. “Orenburg” responded with goals
—How do you rate Izidor’s performance? Did he go out and score? How much does Lokomotiv miss him?— Galaktionov, apparently, did not see him as a main player. We decided to bet on Pinyaev and Glushenkov. When he came on as a substitute earlier in the season, he still showed the class he had. So he had no doubt that a very high-level player had arrived in St. Petersburg. Even higher level than Sergeev or Cassier himself. But you have to understand that this is not Malcolm, nor a superstar. He performed well and scored a goal. While he is fine at the moment, we will see what happens next. But for Zenit it is a good deal, there is no doubt.
