Semin told why the management of Lokomotiv should apologize to the fans

Within the framework of the created “MK” together with the Association of Domestic Trainers, we discussed the rubric with the most authoritative trainer Yuri Semin how to play against Zenit, found out what Spartak lacks for victories in the championship and found out what mark he gave Talalaev for his work at Akhmat.

– The ninth round of the RPL has ended. Many interesting matches were played. What was the most unexpected result for you personally?

– For me, there were no special surprises in this round. A surprise was the result with which the match between CSKA and Krasnodar ended. Zenit scored too many. Everything else is natural. Teams that play better today won.

– After the start of the championship, after the first and second rounds, some experts said that more time is needed to understand the state of the teams for the season. Is it possible to give such an assessment now?

– These are all excuses. There is a start of the championship, and the teams must be in the best shape. Who was not ready – probably did the preparatory work wrong. After all, the points lost at the start cannot be replenished. The standings are quite clear after nine rounds. Those who are on top of it have more advantages of their own. Those at the bottom have their faults. The championship is on its way. The only thing that is not very high quality football. Only Zenit and CSKA stand out. And emotionally the teams play quite well.

– Did you have any recipes of your own, secrets of preparing for the start of the season? Some of the coaches sometimes say that they want to bring the team to the peak of form by the middle of the season, someone immediately gives full loads from the very first matches.

– The start of the championship is very important. Even for the psychological state of the players. If you lose the start, then you may not be in the best position at the finish of the tournament. Moreover, this season there are no European competitions. Therefore, good preparation should be already for the first games. Who is better prepared, he is in the lead today. Moreover, training in all respects, including selection.

– On September 8, the first transfer window ended in the RPL, when teams could buy new players. How do you assess the quality of foreign players who came to our clubs?

– Leaders stand out here. Zenit did a very good job. Strengthened positions that needed strengthening. CSKA had a very good selection. I like their centre-back Willian Rocha. I also like Dynamo central defender Roberto Fernandez. These are good purchases.

Sochi – Dynamo

– What are the reasons for the defeat of Dynamo?

– It was Dynamo’s first defeat of the season. Sochi continues to operate as it was under Fedotov. Improved matching game. Plays well. Dynamo are not gaining points yet, the team has not entered the season as brightly as it was last year. There were changes in the team, a number of players left. Szymanski is a big loss.

– What do you think, if the media constantly write about young players, what good fellows they are, that leading foreign clubs are interested in them – can this make your head spin?

– Now the players don’t really read the press. Maybe they are doing it right. Today it is very difficult to make a good transfer, because our League is not paid much attention. There was only interest in Arsen Zakharyan. I don’t know how true this is. And there was nothing else. Mostly foreigners leave. But they will leave because they offer better conditions. If we have better conditions, they will stay. They have simple logic. As do the coaches.

CSKA – Krasnodar

– CSKA defeated Krasnodar. Was the result of this match expected for you, or did such a big score surprise you?

– No, it was unexpected for me. I really like the way Krasnodar plays. A big loss was the injury of Alexander Chernikov for them. He cemented the central axis.

CSKA must be given credit. First, they acquired good players. Secondly, they are gradually building a high-level game. So the victory was not surprising, I was surprised by the big score because of these penalties.

– What was Fedotov able to bring to the game of CSKA that was not there under previous coaches?

– There is discipline. This time. Secondly, the defense is now well built. The game scheme is the same as he had in Sochi, with three central defenders. He also uses it in CSKA. Newcomers to the team are progressing, playing well. It is very important that the players progress, then the work of the coach is visible.

Zenit – Orenburg

– The victory of “Zenith” with a score of 8:0, if I’m not mistaken, was the largest for “Zenith” in our championship. To be honest, the game of the St. Petersburg team is sometimes difficult to disassemble, because it is clear that the team is the strongest. For you, as a specialist, what is interesting in the Zenith game? Especially in these matches?

– We must pay tribute to the head coach Sergei Semak. He has a very difficult task – it is not so easy to motivate players for matches in which they are initially much stronger than the opponent. But he motivates them. And they may not show all the possibilities, but they play ninety percent. And that’s enough. To motivate Brazilians for such matches so that they seriously prepare and play seriously is not an easy task. Semak is all motivated. Therefore, with such a score, they win.

To be honest, I did not like Orenburg’s tactics at all. You need to be realistic about your chances. And they were very bad defensively. Zenit is very difficult to attack on their territory. Because large areas open up in defense. Zenit clearly thinks faster, and its players are faster. Therefore, Orenburg’s tactics for this match were losing from the first minutes.

– Today you can play against Zenit only from defense?

– Why only from defense? Just defense is one of the factors that allows you to win. If a team plays well defensively, it will score points. And to fly “headless” to the attack – there will be no victories.

Rostov – Spartak

– “Spartak” suffered an away defeat from the Rostovites…

– Spartak plays unevenly. There were good matches in the first rounds. Compared to the previous season, he began to play better in attack. But worse on defense. A coherent game in Spartak is not visible so that it can be said that this team claims high places. Today there is absolutely no such stability. They have very big problems in defense.

– Based on the number of players that Spartak has today, is it possible to somehow rebuild the game in order to correct the situation?

– The new coach and so rebuilt it. They used to play with three centre-backs, now they play with two. Full-backs began to attack more. And they do not always have time to return to the defense. So the game has been rebuilt. She’s just unstable.

Akhmat – Nizhny Novgorod

– Akhmat lost at home to Nizhny, and after this match, the team’s head coach Andrey Talalaev was dismissed or left himself. Did he really not succeed or is it more of an emotion?

– I would give Talalaev a fat four for his work at Akhmat! The team has become recognizable. Maybe not quite stable, but recognizable. It was clear that this was the team of Talalaev, who himself was emotional and aggressive by nature. And Akhmat looked like him. So he deserved a four for his work at Akhmat.

– And what then can be put to Mikhail Galaktionov on the basis of nine rounds in Nizhny?

– Let’s not rush. For today it works well. And the team fulfills all his tasks. Apparently, he is doing such training work that the players understand him.

Torch – Lokomotiv

– What is your impression of this game? You have already commented on this match in the media, and yet?

– The comments here are very simple. Lokomotiv plays below its level than it can. And this match was no exception. Not because Lokomotiv was unlucky. No. If you break this game into separate episodes and see how many Lokomotiv players made passes between themselves, you won’t get even five or seven. So that they can at least hold the ball a little. Of course, the players tried hard, were emotional. They fought. They fought. But Fakel needed it. Still, the Lokomotiv players are more skillful. But they did not show their “trump cards” on the football field at all. They tuned in to the Torch. And the Voronezh team played their “trump cards”, they are quite strong. They fought a lot and won a lot of martial arts. And the fans helped them. Therefore, the victory of the “Torch” is natural.

– After the match, Lokomotiv captain Barinov apologized to the fans for the bad game. In your opinion, how necessary are such things for the team and for the fans?

– Before the fans, probably, it is necessary to apologize to the leaders of the club to a greater extent, and not to the players. They took a large group of players, and they are all foreigners. And almost no one plays. Racognats, Mampassi… There are a lot of players, but they are also reserve players.

Lokomotiv has a strange history. By what criteria do people get there to manage the club, to develop Russian football? After all, it is clear to the naked eye that the players and the club are degrading!

Ural – Torpedo

– Is the last place of the Torpedo team after nine rounds natural? Or did you expect more from car manufacturers this season?

– Naturally. “Torpedo” began to play better, but the result is natural. The team is not very well strengthened before the season. The transition from the first league to the highest is quite serious. And the level of play here is clearly stronger than what Torpedo showed in the first league. Weakly strengthened. But now they started playing better, there are chances. With “Rostov” in the eighth round there was a chance if the penalty was scored. In the match against Ural, there was also a good chance to score points. Hope everything works out.