Former “Spartak » Alexei Kovalev in an interview with , he explained how the team plans to use a striker Ilya Kovalchuk .
On Sunday, 40-year-old Kovalchuk played his first game for Spartak in the KHL. His team beat Kunlun (5:2) in Luzhniki, and Kovalchuk himself scored into an empty net and spent 14.5 minutes on the ice, playing in a trio with Andrei Loktionov and Maxim Tsyplakov.
— How did the match with Kunlun go?
— We were expecting warm, soft ice cream in Luzhniki. The game will therefore be difficult. But we had been training on this ice rink for the last few days, so we had an advantage. And the team played well. After the break, the guys rested. It is clear that the movement is different. Of course, we continue to make the same mistakes we get paid to make. But we are working on it.
— How did you think about integrating Kovalchuk into the team? Why did they leave him in the group of three with Loktionov and Tsyplakov?
“I don’t think there’s anything difficult about it.” Ilyukha himself understood perfectly well that in the first match he would not be able to show the game that he demonstrated before. So we tried this combination. But there is still a lot of work to do. We will try in other units. I don’t think it has much impact on other players. The guys, on the contrary, are happy. Because they play with a talented striker who has a lot of experience. He can suggest something, explain certain points, restart the game somewhere. The partners are happy with it, and there is nothing like now everyone stops and looks at it. We have a good team and all the guys play for each other.
— Why did you transfer Kovalchuk from the second to the first majority brigade?
— When I worked in Kunlun, the situation was different: we were right-handed. And in Spartak we only have left-handers. Sometimes you want to perform certain simulated situations. But without right-handers, it’s difficult. Therefore, you have to combine and see with which group you can play certain moments,” Kovalev told .
Spartak occupies first place in the KHL standings, gaining 62 points in 44 matches.
Watch live broadcasts of the Fonbet KHL championship matches on the channel, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.
Source : MatchTV
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