The Loko’ newcomer has so far only played twice for the Krasnodar team, and during training sessions he usually works individually. We asked Maurice what does he think of his adaptation.
- – How is it going for you in Loko?
- – It's been great. It's a great group of guys that welcome me with open arms, been helping me to understand the system. Coaching stuff has been great with me, the medical stuff, I mean, everything is good. I'm taking things day by day, getting better, getting in shape, learning the plays so I can get into the mix.
- – How many percent are you ready now?
- – Oh, I'm 100% ready right now. I'm ready to play. Like I said, when I first got here, it was a little bit hard because I had to get used to the system, get in game shape again. But I think now I'm good. Most of the players that we run now, I'm familiar with them. I'm in that competitive mentality right now. So, I'm ready to compete.
- – The next game will be in Kazan. You’ve played there. Do you expect something special of this game?
- – Yeah, definitely, because, as you say, it's the first club that I played in when I came to Russia. And I had a good time over there. So, I'm expecting a little bit of emotions there. But at the end of the day, I'm trying to go there and win. That's the way my focus is. And I'm looking forward to that game.
- – How much did the league change since you were here?
- – I think there is not that much. The one thing that I can say, there’s a better quality of centers, better Russian big men. And I think they're developing. I can talk about Yelatontsev and Martyuk, and probably some of the other teams too. So, I think it's getting there slowly and surely. It's a lot of young faces also, people that I didn't play against when I was here five years ago. So, yeah, it's a lot of new faces.
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