After the change of head coach in “Spartak “It is still difficult to predict how and with what composition the “red-whites” will play in St. Petersburg, the head coach told “Zenith » Sergey Semak .
On Wednesday, Zenit will host Spartak in the second leg of the 1/2 finals of the RPL FONBET Russian Football Cup. The match starts at 7:30 p.m. In the first meeting in Moscow, the St. Petersburg team turned out to be stronger (2:1). On Sunday, Spartak announced his dismissal Guillermo Abascala . The Spaniard’s assistant was named the team’s interim head coach. Vladimir Slishkovich .
— How will the long round trip to Krasnodar affect the training process?
— The road is not easy, but we are used to this route, it poses no problem. The main thing now is to recover and understand who is in what condition, including in terms of injuries, in order to choose the team that will participate in the Cup match against Spartak.
— How much does a one-goal advantage allow the team to save energy and you to experiment with the alignment?
– This does not allow it. Neither save energy, nor experiment. 2:1 is the minimum advantage. Of course, it exists, but it is so small that there is no need to talk about any serious superiority.
— Yesterday we learned that Guillermo Abascal had been fired. How surprised was this news to you and how did you react to it?
“It is up to the Spartak leadership to make certain decisions. The head coach must be prepared to resign or be fired at any time. We are people forced in this sense. As for Guillermo’s work, he is a good specialist, he worked well. Training camp matches and some championship matches proved to be successful. Perhaps his team lacked the stability and results that managers always demand. Everyone still expects Spartak to fight for the highest places.
— Who will definitely not participate in the match against Spartak, and who is doubtful?
— Now we can only speak with confidence about the absence of Mario Fernández, who will soon begin his rehabilitation. We’ll see how long it lasts. The rest of the players have the opportunity to play to one degree or another. The last match was quite difficult and some of our players suffered damage.
— The squad rotation before the first cup match against Spartak was serious. Can we expect the same in the next game?
— Let’s look at the state of the players. We need to understand who is in what state and choose the optimal composition. There will probably be some rotation. Whether this is significant or not depends on the condition of the players.
— Could the resignation of the head coach affect the game of Spartak?
— It’s always difficult to guess. A new coach always means new emotions. It will be more difficult for us to prepare for the match, because we do not know which formation the new coach prefers, which players he will trust more. Players who were previously less involved have a better chance of shining in such situations. As a rule, in such situations the team experiences an emotional outburst. It’s very difficult to guess, but we know one thing: this is a cup match in which everything will take second place. “Only the game and what happens on the football field are important,” Semak was quoted as saying by a correspondent.
The match will be broadcast live on the and MATCH PREMIER channels, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.
Source : MatchTV
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