Galaktionov against Nizhny Novgorod

The coaching transfer, which has been discussed for so long and to which there were so many questions, has come true – Mikhail Galaktionov has headed the capital’s railway workers. But more on that at the post-match press conference. Cup of Russia. Cherkizovo. Group stage. Lokomotiv 3:1 Nizhny Novgorod. Goals: Tiknizyan, 30, Kamano, 33, Isidor 81, Suleymanov, 90+5.

The dank November weather did not become an obstacle for the spectators who came to watch the first game of the new coach at the home stadium. Loko’s debut game with Galaktionov took place in the south, where Krasnodar derailed the railroad workers at the 12th second.

On the home lawn, the locomotives started actively and did not let Nizhny Novgorod rest for almost the entire match. Nikita Goylo, the guests’ goalkeeper, worked tirelessly. The hosts already in the debut organized the moment with the efforts of Kirk, Miranchuk and Tiknizyan. But the defense of Nizhny Novgorod coped.

Lokomotiv tried to quickly switch from defense to attack, but the guests managed for the time being. And in the 30th minute, Anton Miranchuk received a pass from Tiknizyan and made a pass to Maradishvili. The latter sent the ball in touch to Nair, who opened the scoring in the match. This goal was the debut for Tiknizyan for the railroads.

The locomotives did not shelve the matter and immediately converted another scoring chance. The hero of the previous goal scored by Nizhny Novgorod, Tiknizyan, fought back with Kerk, who gave it to Maradishvili. Konstantin scored the second point for an assist, rolling the ball to Camano: Francois took a touch from outside the penalty area and the ball perfectly found its way into the near corner of Goylo’s goal.

The Red-Greens continued to insist on the advantage, and in the 42nd minute, Kerk almost scored, but the defender of the guests Alexandrov, it seems, is not in vain “eating his bread” – he managed at the last moment in a perfect tackle to knock out the ball, which would definitely fly into the net of Nizhny Novgorod . And a cross from a corner, which Kamano tried to close at the far post, led to the fact that Goylo once again demonstrated his goalkeeping skills.

After the break, the guests began to play more actively, which allowed Lokomotiv to use free zones more often and more. Brother Miranchuk had an ideal chance, but he foolishly, as in the daytime match Smolov, ruined it. And then came the exit two for two, but the Guinean Kamano was greedy and did not give to Maradishvili, thereby allowing the guests’ goalkeeper to be vigilant again.

In the 59th minute, Kamano gave a pass to Tiknizyan, who burst into the penalty area, but Nair’s kick from the ribbon was taken out by the defender of Pari NN. And in the 64th minute, Daniil Khudyakov really entered the game for the first time: it was Momo Yansane who tried to return one ball, but the fists of the locomotive keeper were against it.

The third hole in the fortress of the Lower made Isidor: Kamano dispersed the attack, moved closer to the center and gave it to Maradishvili, and Konstantin already gave it to the far post, where the Frenchman of the Moscow club fussed. Two more rescues followed. Goylo, and in the end Nizhny Novgorod converted a penalty, which was quite controversial. Nenakhov allegedly broke the rules on Suleymanov. Nizhny Novgorod Timur was accurate from eleven meters.

Lokomotiv scored 11 points and was able to reach the upper bracket of the playoffs of the Russian Cup. Nizhny Novgorod took the third place in Quartet A with 10 and will go to the lower bracket of the tournament.

Lokomotiv deservedly won. But, in my opinion, today we met with a slightly different team than we saw in summer and autumn. It is changing for the better, and changing very quickly. We started well, but conceded simple goals in the first half. Affected forced replacement Masoero. During the break, they told the guys that not everything is lost, that we pulled out games already this season from a score of 0:2. In the second half we went ahead, but began to miss quick response attacks. Before this match, everything was in our hands, but in the end we have what we have, ”summed up the match and. about. head coach Anton Khazov.

The traditional two questions from the correspondent of our publication to the coach of Lokomotiv:

— This is your second game in Lokomotiv. Why such a difference between the first and second?

– Firstly, after the arrival from the national team, as soon as we started to prepare for the first game in Krasnodar, we gathered a large group of players, in fact, only at the station, the collections arrived. There was a large group of injured players. The microcycle we did was very small. Again, as I said, there were a lot of mistakes in Krasnodar, there were a lot of individual mistakes that should be removed. But there were also good segments from which we pushed off. Today we have tried to remove all these shortcomings. We had a lot of individual conversations, conducted a certain training cycle after our arrival and set certain tasks for the team. It is clear that not everything was completed. But we have seen, at least, attempts to speed up the speed of thinking, attempts to play the ball, play from oneself, press, cover the opponent in various zones. We have all seen this. Another question is that the level of readiness today does not allow, unfortunately, to do all this throughout the whole match. We are absolutely sure that we will prepare the team for the winter.

– You signed a contract with Lokomotiv before the last two matches of the year. Was it your initiative or did it come from the club?
— In an interview with club TV I have already said that when there were consultations, there were dialogues, we agreed with the leaders of Nizhny Novgorod, with the management, with the governor that there would be the last game of the championship, and then we would make a definite decision. The game was over, we beat Akhmat, and then announced the result at a press conference. It is clear that today’s game, as a background for the change, is probably more interesting. I have already said that we are friends behind the field, but on the field we are rivals. Today we have other tasks, they must be fulfilled, approached without emotions and solved in the future.

We are waiting for the beginning of March, when football will return to green lawns.

Vladimir Sabadash.

Photo by Sergey Vinogradov and Ekaterina Konkina.