Ermakov: In Alexandria there are now 24-25 players

This season the main goalkeeper of Alexandria became 22 years old Georgy Ermakov. His reliable play in many ways allows Alexandria share first-second place in the national championship with Dynamo. In the 1/8 finals of the Ukrainian Cup Alexandria beat YUKSA quite easily with a score of 4:1.

— Georgy, the composition of Alexandria was quite seriously different from the championship game against Ingulets. Ruslan Rotan made nine changes to your team’s starting line-up. Were there any concerns about the final result?

— Now we have a rather busy calendar, games in two days on the third. Indeed, in the cup match the coaching staff entrusted the place to the guys who had less playing experience in the championship. But we all train together, we understand the requirements of the head coach, and I think this did not affect the quality of the game.

— What is your current pool of players?

— 24-25 football players.

— In the first half of the match with the YUKSA team, you scored four goals. Weren’t those goals too easy?

“I can’t say it was easy.” This is football. Everything we created in the first half was implemented.

— How was the second half for your team?

— We made some changes, and the opponents adapted a little to our football, they began to play differently. Of course, the quality of our play in each half is different, but still we won and now we switch to the game of the Ukrainian championship.

— On Sunday, Alexandria will host Polesie in its native walls. This will be a very important match for your team. What can you say about the Zhytomyr team?

— We are neighbors in the standings. I think that Polesie will come to us for victory. But we also want to achieve maximum results. I think it will be a tense match.

— Few people expected that Alexandria would be among the leaders of the current Ukrainian championship. What’s the secret?

“We go into every match with one goal – to win. We understand that the championship is very long – two thirds of the season is ahead. We are doing our job.

— What is the main change that occurred in Alexandria compared to last season?

— To say that something has changed globally is not the case. The requirements for us, the players, are the same. We have acquired quality in the final stages of attack, we started scoring goals that bring us victories.

— Which of the young guys added the most in skill?

— I won’t single out anyone. We are making progress as a team. Football is a team game. Individuals can no longer decide everything as they used to.