The Lokomotiv Kuban head coach analysed the reasons for recent upsets in Samara and Perm.
- Welcome back to the home arena! Today, Lokomotiv will finally play in front of their fans. Is the team ready for the game?
- You're right, we haven't played at home for a month. We returned from a long trip, played 4 away games, beat some pretty strong opponents and lost to teams we shouldn't have lost to. What are the reasons? I think, first of all, it's due to emotional and physical fatigue which resulted in a loss of concentration. We had no proper training because of constant micro-injuries and the need to put players in shape after another journey. Short breaks between games and the lack of training ultimately affected the result, especially in the game against PARMA. After returning to Krasnodar, we had about a week to prepare for the home games. Let's see, how will it go.
- Loko looked like a clear favourite against Samara and PARMA, but lost. What is the main reason?
- In my opinion, these two defeats had different reasons. Against PARMA, as I already said, fatigue played the main role role. Plus, the opponent was great in attack that evening, and we, in turn, could not stop their momentum. Against Samara, the reason for the defeat was the underestimation of the opponent, who had significant losses in the lineup the day before. No matter how hard we tried to motivate the team, we did not succeed. The feeling of our superiority played a cruel joke on us. Nevertheless, at the end of these two games we had real chances to win. But in the decisive minutes, we played too predictably. We will work on these situations.
- Did you hold some kind of meeting with the team about this?
- Communication with the team is part of our work, and today before the game there will be another one. We always say that each opponent must be respected. The VTB United League is a competitive tournament, in which you can win no game in advance. The disrespect to any opponent is immediately punished. We underestimated Samara, and after a good game against Uralmash, we probably decided that we could handle it in Perm. But PARMA was on fire, and we could not stop this pressure.
- Is MBA-MAI able to be as much on fire as PARMA was?
- MBA-MAI is a good team. If you let them a feel for their game, they can surprise you. We must not allow ourselves to defend half-heartedly, not to give 100%. I hope that after two away losses our guys got it.
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