President “Samarah” Kamo Pogosyan told that he had a conversation with the team after Astana’s defeat in the last VTB United League match and hoped for a more serious attitude in the next meeting with Lokomotiv -Kuban.
Samara is in seventh place in the VTB United League standings. On Wednesday, Samara suffered a home defeat against Astana (66:78). On Sunday, the Volga team will face Lokomotiv-Kuban in Krasnodar. The match starts at 15:00 (Moscow time).
— Do you think you will enter the top six at the end of the first stage of the United League regular season and directly qualify for the playoffs?
– There is still a chance. To do this, we need to win against Lokomotiv and Parma in the remaining matches of the first stage. I always expect a winning match from my team, including in the next match in Krasnodar. We’ll see what happens later.
All matches this season are quite unpredictable: we beat Paris Nizhny Novgorod twice, but Nizhny won at home against Lokomotiv. It happened that CSKA lost in Perm, and UNICS failed at home. We had one last failed match against Astana. The way we played this game is simply not possible on the field. I talked to them about it, we had a meeting. Reminds players that it’s best to enter right away [в плей‑офф]than fighting for the two remaining tickets later. The guys themselves understand all this perfectly.
I really hope for the same atmosphere during the match with Lokomotiv. There was no such attitude with Astana and after three consecutive victories we lost. Going into this game we were underprepared, then the game just didn’t go well and we started to get nervous. Poor setup is the main problem, and this should not be allowed under any circumstances: you cannot underestimate your opponents.
As for the opponent for the upcoming match, Lokomotiv plays well against the leaders – CSKA, UNICS, Zenit. Nevertheless, they lost to Nizhny and Astana. Of course, such a serious team can only be defeated when the whole team is committed and believes in its game. I hope that after the home defeat against Astana the guys will listen and show the game that fans and management expect of them. Matches like the one against Astana, with which the head coach and I are dissatisfied, should not take place. It would have been possible to approach the end of the first stage more comfortably and have a greater chance of reaching the playoffs. And now we are on the brink. To find a way out, you should not wait for your opponent to stumble, but take your own points, ”Pogosyan told the correspondent.
The official also noted Samara’s progress compared to last season.
— It is clear that if we compare our current performance with last year, that season we achieved 13 victories in two stages of the championship, and this year we already have 13 victories. It is clear that there is some change. But we have to set ourselves goals,” added the official.
Watch VTB United League matches on the TV channels of the Match holding and on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV
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