"I am 90% sure that the youth team will leave the group": Grishin about confidence in Zakharyan, Maksimenko's nerves and the absence of Maradishvili

- The Russian national team will take part in the finals of the European Youth Championship for the first time in a long time.

What premonitions do you have before the tournament?

- First, it is necessary to remind that domestic footballers have not won the youth championship of the continent since 1990.

Then the USSR national team in the final was stronger than Yugoslavia.

It was a very good team with Alexander Mostov, Igor Shalimov, Andrey Kanchelskis, Dmitry Kharin and other stars in the lineup.

Since then - silence.

But the current team is also strong enough.

Almost all of them are involved in the leading RPL clubs and are consistently gaining playing practice.

I hope Mikhail Galaktionov's charges will perform successfully.

On the other hand, very strong teams made their way to the final stage: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal, England, France will play in our group.

By the way, in the UEFA Youth League, CSKA met regularly with English and French teams and beat them more than once.

These teams always have a very good selection of players, as they select all over the world.

Talented youth, including Africans who are physically strong, are given citizenship.

God willing, our guys will take gold medals, but it will not be easy.

First you need to leave the group.

Further, you can set yourself the maximum tasks.

It makes no sense to simply fight for the top three in this case.

- The Danes and Icelanders, at first glance, seem to be quite passable rivals.

Is this fair, or shouldn't you underestimate them?

- I think both of these teams are weaker than Russia.

But in Denmark, football is actively developing, and some members of the local youth team are already playing abroad.

In my opinion, Galaktionov's wards will act from a position of strength in matches with these opponents.

The northerners need to be beaten in order to compete with France for the first place in the group.

I am 90% sure that the national youth team will make it to the playoffs.

Nevertheless, any opponent should be treated with respect and in no case should you overestimate your own capabilities.

- Will it be much harder in the match with the French?

- And, on the contrary, there is no need to be afraid of them.

In the UEFA Youth League, CSKA and I were stronger than both Manchester City and Manchester United, we beat Monaco.

Some of those who then opposed the army team will come to Euro 2021.

A lot will depend on the psychological mood of the guys, especially for the key match with the tricolors.

If the game goes well, we can leave them with nothing.

- There is an opinion that the current generation of young Russian footballers is the best in the country after the one that made itself known in the 2000s.

- That galaxy was still stronger.

The backbone of the youth team, which did not make it to Euro in 2005, as part of CSKA and Zenit, then twice won the UEFA Cup and Super Cup, took bronze in the European Championship.

But we do not know what success the guys of Galaktionov will achieve in the future.

If there is no result, they will say: we overestimated them.

- Nikolay Rasskazov and Dmitry Rybchinsky, who are able to close the right flank of the defense, were not included in the application of the Russian national team.

Doesn't their absence seem to you a mistake?

- By and large, the coaching staff made the right choice.

All key players of the youth team regularly receive practice in the leading RPL clubs.

Rasskazov was not summoned, since there is Pavel Maslov, who is the main footballer of Spartak.

He will take a place on the right flank of the defense on an uncontested basis.

Although Rybchinsky's non-challenge was surprising, since he can close two positions at once: on the edge of defense and attack.

Dmitry could have been taken easily, because he is making significant progress in Lokomotiv.

- The goalkeeper line was considered the strongest, because the goalkeepers of Krasnodar and Spartak Matvey Safonov and Alexander Maksimenko fought for a place in the base.

How will the absence of a competitor affect the latter?

- Of course, if Safonov was healthy, he would have taken his place at the last line.

Some goalkeepers love competition, others get nervous.

Therefore, to some extent, it's even good that Maksimenko turned out to be the first number of the team without an alternative - this will save Alexander from unnecessary worries.

You need to calmly go out and show your level.

And the fact that he is stronger than Denis Adamov from Sochi and Ivan Lomaev from Wings of the Soviets is not even discussed.

- For a couple of central defenders Igor Diveev - Roman Evgeniev, you can not worry?

- Yes, but there is one problem: both have no good speed at all.

I know what I'm talking about, because I worked with Igor and Roman in the youth team born in 1999.

For this reason, the Russian national team will definitely not play high, especially with the French.

In the case of tricolors, all performers in the attack line are incredibly fast.

So Diveev and Evgeniev will have to reinsure themselves.

Maslov as the third center-back?

Galaktionov is not an adherent of this scheme.

Knowing how Mikhail works, I am sure he will continue to bet on the 4-2-3-1 formation.

Actually, performers were selected for it, for example, Ivan Oblyakov and Nail Umyarov in the support zone.

- Can Russia play with France in three defensive midfielders, given the presence of Daniil Kulikov in the team, who is already indispensable in Lokomotiv?

- I think he will just keep the company of Oblyakov and Umyarov.

These guys have proven their worth in the Premier League, although, perhaps, Galaktionov will understand from the training process that another person will take the place of one of them.

The question is, how will the coach turn these three.

- On the eve of the Euro, the national team was left without one of its key performers, Konstantin Kuchaev.

Who will replace him in the top ten?

- In my opinion, Oblyakov will be located a little higher, since he possesses both a high-quality pass and a delivered blow.

In this case, his hands will be untied, and a minimum of time will have to be devoted to defensive work.

Yes, in CSKA he acts in the support zone, but we perfectly understand that Ivan is not a typical destroyer like Pontus Wernbloom.

On the contrary, he is a creator with a good left leg.

- Are Nair Tiknizyan or Danil Krugovoy more likely to play on the left in defense?

- I don't know Krugnoy very well, but I worked with Tiknizyan.

He is a footballer with a good left foot and a lot of work.

Actually, at the club, he almost always played on the edge of defense.

The choice is to be made by Galaktionov, because he will look at the wards in the training process and receive all the data about their condition in his hands.

But, of course, the fact that both are sitting on the bench in clubs is not encouraging, since every footballer must receive playing practice at least once a week.

For this reason, I do not exclude the option in which in the matches with Denmark and Iceland the nominal midfielder Alexander Lomovitsky will go down in defense, and Daniil Lesovoy will remain higher.

But rather, this position will still be closed by Tiknizyan.

- Arsen Zakharyan was called up to the youth team at the age of 17.

In your opinion, can Galaktionov confide in him, or is the coach more likely to take a step forward?

- Why not, if the boy played four games in a row in the RPL very brightly?

And he was not invited to meet.

Since Galaktionov summoned Arsen, it means that he is counting on him.

And if he shows in training that he is stronger than competitors, he will enter the field.

It is difficult to say whether Zakharyan will be able to replace Kuchaev in the top ten position.

I liked more how he looked from the right in the attack.

- Another Dynamo player Konstantin Tyukavin received a call to the national team at the last moment.

How difficult is it for such young footballers in youth tournaments?

- Physically, they risk being weaker than most rivals.

An illustrative example is Dmitry Khomukha, who led the Russian national team born in 1996.

to victory in the U17 European Championship and to silver medals in the U19 continental championship.

Then he took his players to the youth team, but he failed there, because his players were corny younger than their opponents.

In football, a lot is decided by the struggle and the speed.

But Galaktionov's team does not consist of 17-year-olds alone.

And if Zakharyan is on equal terms with the men in the RPL, he should not have any problems at the Euro.

- Is it surprising that even Konstantin Maradishvili, who regularly enters the CSKA main squad, was not even included in the application?

- In the midfield line, Galaktionov has enough good players, but questions remain about Maradishvili, because in the current season he practically does not fall out of the base of the army team.

Each coach makes a choice, including on the basis of questions of team chemistry, harmony.

Sometimes purely human qualities come to the fore.

Galaktionov has been heading the national team born in 1998 since 2014 and knows the players well.

The coach just needs to trust.

- With the appearance of Zakharyan on the right flank, three players can play at once.

Which of them do you think will become the main one?

- In my opinion, everything is very clear.

This position should be closed by Denis Makarov.

He plays great in Rubin and even turned into one of the key performers of Kazan, making a result there.

Yes, in the qualifying cycle, he practically did not enter the field, but last year Denis still did not look so bright.

Accordingly, Magomed Shapi Suleimanov and Zakharyan will most likely have to be content with the role of substitutes.

But it is possible that Galaktionov will decide otherwise and make the main player of Krasnodar, although it is foolish to argue that today Makarov is stronger.

Unfortunately, Suleimanov often remains on the bench.

- Will Tyukavin, who was summoned at the last moment instead of the injured Kuchaev, get his game minutes?

- Galaktionov has Fyodor Chalov and Vyacheslav Grulev in the attack line.

And the coach will make a choice, first of all, between them.

I suppose that the latter will be preferred, since in the spring he regularly gets into the base of Dynamo, while his rival at CSKA remains on the bench.

Tyukavin successfully substituted twice and scored three goals, but still does not spend 90 minutes on the field and does not make the weather in the team.

- But it was Chalov, not Grulev, who has always been the main striker of the youth team.

Will the coach put his leader in reserve because of a small recession?

- We proceed from the sports principle.

If one car is currently driving and the other is stopped, which one should you choose?

Fedor is a good striker, but now he is not having the best period, he practically does not play, and Grulev is in good shape.

- Dynamo won four victories in five matches in the spring, and Grulev, Lesovoy and Zakharyan look bright in the attacking line.

Can Galaktionov place a Euro bet on this club link?

- I can't say that the blue and white are playing so well after the season resumes.

And they are in sixth place, and not fighting for the championship.

The youth team already has its core.

One way or another, everything will depend on the training camp ahead of the Euro.

- Ivan Ignatiev did not get the application at all, although for a long time he was considered the star of the youth and youth teams.

Shouldn't you have taken him to the championship at least in the role of the old-timer of the team?

- He didn't deserve to go to Euro.

Understand, Ivan does not play in Rubin at all.

More precisely, the word "play" is inapplicable to his situation - he abides.

For six months he does not show the football that a striker of his level should show, does not score.

It is not surprising that Leonid Slutsky makes a choice in favor of the experienced George Despotovich.

You can be a star in the youth team, and disappear at the senior level.

There are a lot of such examples.

What is the reason for Suleimanov's regression?

It's better to ask him here.

But, unfortunately, it happens that young footballers have a feast for a year, while no one knows them, and then they dissolve.