- What thoughts come to your mind in the first minutes after the end of the match?

- We scored three points as planned.

I liked the first half more.

And not only because we scored two goals, but also because we acted in a more organized manner.

The second started not as it should be, and passed.

After that they again seized the initiative, distinguished themselves for the third time and brought the match to victory.

It is clear there were roughnesses.

We haven't played together for a long time.

The same Alexander Golovin, Alexey Miranchuk, Alexander Zhirov and Fyodor Kudryashov just appeared at the location of the national team.

They were not at the training camp in Sochi and at tactical training, so we had certain problems in the organization.

Again, the most important thing is that we took three points and moved up to first place in the group.

Now we are preparing for a home meeting with Slovenia.

- How would you rate the game of the Malta national team?

Was your opponent able to surprise you with something?

- I said at the pre-match press conference that we are carefully studying our opponents.

Fans do not have enough information: they only know that Malta is low in the FIFA rankings.

Meanwhile, the team has a new coach, Italian Davis Mangia, who has introduced certain changes.

We watched several matches of the opponent.

We knew that this is an organized team, which has several individually strong players.

They immediately said that we are waiting for a difficult match.

Now you are convinced of this.

In the middle of the meeting, we ourselves helped the hosts, allowing ourselves some liberties in the development of attacks.

In response, we received a couple of counter-attacks and a goal.

The score 2: 1 was slippery.

We made several substitutions, seized the initiative and brought the matter to victory.

Again, this is a tournament strategy.

We took three points, and our opponents lost them.

Now we will fight the Slovenes, one might say, for six points.

- Why didn't you dare to play two strikers and released Alexander Sobolev on the field only in the 83rd minute?

- We are watching how the match develops.

We considered it necessary to play in this way, especially through a meeting with Malta we are preparing for a confrontation with Slovenia.

It is clear that there were some other ideas, but the game did not allow them to be realized.

- Which of the pair of defensive midfielders Daniil Fomin - Ilzat Akhmetov is closer to retaining a place in the first team?

Two goals of the Russian national team were born after a touchdown of the Dynamo player.

Can we say that he took his chance?

- I would not like to discuss the guys now.

We still need to watch the meeting.

Someone saw two transmissions by Fomin, and someone saw shortcomings in defensive actions and in the development of attacks.

We are not discussing footballers.

Again, you need to calmly review the match and talk to them, find out who felt how in a given situation.

On the other hand, we are talking about one meeting.

We haven't played for a long time, especially with the Fomin - Akhmetov duet in the support zone.

They also need time to feel each other.

We are carefully watching all the fights, but now I cannot say which of them is closer to the base, and which is further.

- Golovin played most of the second half in the support zone, and Miranchuk - in the top ten.

So it happened according to the situation?

- We planned to give Sasha a little less playing time - around 70 minutes.

But the second half was not going the way we would like, so we had to change their ideas.

Lyosha entered the position in which we plan to use him.

Again, both played from sight.

This is not as easy as it seems from the outside, because partners need to be understood.

And Golovin played for the national team for the last time a year and a half ago.

Before each match, certain nuances arise, which we try to make out whenever possible.

- Do you feel the progress of Miranchuk after leaving for Italy, and did it affect the game with Malta?

- He gets some experience.

Naturally, they had not yet spoken to Alexey, since the legionnaires had recently arrived, and they needed to rest quietly.

We will still have a dialogue, because he is able to play in several positions.

On the one hand, it is good that Miranchuk, like Golovin, is a versatile footballer.

On the other hand, both the one and the second in the national team will need to determine the places where they will show their best qualities.

- How do Alexey Ionov feel, who pulled the muscle of the thigh, and Mario Fernandez, who limped in the end?

- During the game, bruises occur.

As far as I know, Fernandez is fine.

In the end, we have two days to understand how ready he is.

By the way, another defender Kudryashov came to the national team in excellent psychological condition, because he and Antalyaspor reached the Turkish Cup final.

It's just that in seven days we have to play three matches, and we need to strategically calculate everything so that in each meeting the Russian players remain fresh and are ready to achieve results.

- The opponents of the national team have unanimously lost points.

Croatia lost to Slovenia, and the Slovaks parted with Cyprus.

Are these results surprising?

- When the draw took place, they immediately said that we had a fairly even group. It may seem easy to someone only from the outside. We beat Malta, and I am sure that many teams will experience difficulties here. Once again, we were convinced that it is necessary to prepare for each opponent as correctly as possible in order to achieve results on the right day. Yes, Serbia defeated Russia in the League of Nations, but we are going to the European Championship, because we were ready when it was necessary, like on Wednesday. We have a victory in our pocket with our pros and cons. It is clear that the meeting was not completely successful and I liked it.