“Why didn’t Giner kick Slutsky out of CSKA? Apparently he doesn’t know football very well’ – ex-player of Rubin Popov

Former Amkar and Rubin footballer Alexei Popov told that the titles Leonid Slutsky won with CSKA Moscow, are above all the merit of the players.

Rubin reported Tuesday that Slutsky decided to leave the team of his own free will. The specialist worked with CSKA from 2009 to 2016, with the team he became three-time champion of Russia, twice won the Cup and the country’s Super Cup.

Does Slutsky’s decision to step down command respect? Or does he seem to be afraid of something?

I think he has nothing to fear. He was in different situations: both at the bottom and at the top, and coached children, achieved excellent results, worked with great football players, including in the national team. I think this decision was long overdue. This should shake up the team. They have the strongest roster in the league which can deliver positive results. But now Yuri Utkulbaev will play in Rubin. It seems to me that it is not very good, ”Popov told .

– After CSKA, Slutsky no longer had serious success. What happened?

– He believed in himself too much and stopped developing. It is important for a person not to close in on themselves, not to think that you have accomplished everything and that there is nowhere else to grow. I think that’s the problem. Slutsky didn’t realize it. He probably only now began to understand what a wonderful team he had at CSKA, where everyone knew what to do.

– Is it the merit of Slutsky?

– To a greater extent, it is the merit of the players themselves, who believed in the coach.

– Moreover, Slutsky repeatedly tried to leave CSKA, wrote a statement, but Evgeny Giner did not let him go.

– Apparently, Giner doesn’t know football very well either. So maybe he accepted the resignation. In our country, a lot of footballers don’t do what they should. Someone was manager of a collective farm, then became general manager of a football club and thinks he knows everything. Maybe Giner, over time, is starting to realize he did something wrong. But that comes with experience. I can’t say why he didn’t accept Slutsky’s resignation.

– Slutsky – a strong coach or an overrated figure?

– I think Slutsky is one of the strongest coaches in Russia, but that doesn’t mean he’s a top specialist. It seems to me that now Sergey Semak is much better. To connect such a team as at Zenit, and for the fifth consecutive season to deliver results is worth a lot. I know Semak well as a person. Apparently, he is a very good specialist. This is where it all came together. I think as a coach he is better than Slutsky.

Where will we see Slutsky now? RPL? Premier League? Or maybe near abroad?

– He needs to rest, to read intelligent books, to manage. If he goes, maybe in a year we will have another strong specialist in him. It is not worth burying his career. If a person is serious, he wants to work and develop all his life. So in a year, everything should be fine with Slutsky.