"There is no excitement, there is a waste": Karpin about dissatisfaction with a draw, the starting lineup and Zakharyan's debut with Samoshnikov

After the first match at the head of the team, the head coach of the Russian national team Valery Karpin admitted that he was dissatisfied with the draw with Croatia, but still there was satisfaction from such a result.

He noted that now he is waiting for victories in the next two September matches.

“I cannot say that I am satisfied with the result.

I cannot say that I am satisfied with the game either.

There is some satisfaction.

Okay, one point, let's move on.

I will be satisfied if we beat Cyprus and Malta, we have to think about these teams.

There is no excitement anymore, there is a waste of time, "Sport-Express quotes Karpin.

Before the game, the fans could be surprised by the choice of the squad, in which there was not a single pronounced striker.

Karpin explained that this decision was made after the coaching staff analyzed the games in Croatia.

“We planned to play with a false nine, so that the central defenders of Croatia would be pulled out after Aleksey Miranchuk. Had to exploit these gaps between center and full-backs. There was such an idea, but not everything worked out. For pressure - what is the central striker, what Lyosha Miranchuk can perform. In the second half, he released Anton Zabolotny, and not Fyodor Smolov, to push the game away from our half of the field. We understood that it would be difficult. When we studied Croatia, an idea came up with Miranchuk. I don't know if she was first, second or third, but there were several line-up options. We stopped at this ", - quotes the words of the coach" Championship ".

One of the notable events of the meeting was the debut of Arsen Zakharyan, who at the age of 18 became the youngest field player of the Russian national team.

Karpin positively assessed his game, and attributed his mistakes to a desire to prove himself.

“Regarding Zakharyan, I think that it is more than worthy for an 18-year-old footballer.

Until the 60th minute, while there were forces, absolutely did not fall out.

There was no confusion, I didn’t shake it up, everything was on business.

There were losses, and not only for him, from a great desire.

Perhaps some kind of pause was missing for the whole team.

The desire to play ahead quickly sometimes fails, so there were a lot of ball losses, "Karpin said.

Also, the coach of the national team explained the choice of Marinato Guilherme as the goalkeeper.

He confirmed that this issue follows the opinion of goalkeeping coach Vitaly Kafanov.

“I did not ask Kafanov for an explanation why he chose Guilherme.

Before Vitalievich said that there would be Guilherme, we discussed the pros and cons of all goalkeepers.

But as far as I understand, the experience of such matches played a big role, ”said the head coach.

Karpin also commented on the episode with another debutant of the national team, Ilya Samoshnikov.

The defender, playing on the right flank, took it up after coming on as a substitute, although the coach assumed that he would play on the left.

“Samoshnikov came out very well.

His debut today, like Zakharyan, did not hesitate.

I played at my good level.

On the right flank, he first came out in the zapara.

I'm also to blame.

At all trainings, they played him on the left flank.

I told him: you go out to your position, he fled to the right.

But this is my fault, it was necessary for him to indicate which flank he goes to, "admitted Karpin.

In the match with Croatia, Alexander Golovin played in the center of midfield and practically did not join the flank attacks.

Karpin explained that this was exactly what he demanded from the Monaco footballer, and added that he expects an even better game from him in the future.

“Golovin dropped him to the center of the field, because, in my opinion, he is a central midfielder, not a flank player.

Alexey Ionov and Zakharyan are constantly playing in flank positions.

Golovin in the center of the field should have helped, especially with its volume.

Plus, of course, as a player of this level, he can establish positional attacks, control, counterattacks.

Anything at all.

I'm satisfied with Golovin.

He can play even better.

I have no doubt about it, ”said the coach of the national team.

Karpin also explained why he used certain players in midfield, where he had a wide range of different players. According to him, in the match with Croatia, the Russians could not refuse to play in deep defense because of the high class of opponents.

“The three had to play in a line, Dmitry Barinov sometimes moved higher. Daniil Fomin plays more to the right or to the left of Nikola Moro, defensive skills in this position are developed precisely in this position. There were also Alexander Erokhin, Roman Zobnin, Fomin, it was necessary to choose. We chose Golovin and Daler Kuzyaev, who are in good physical shape, in addition to their skill. Croats, just in case, are in the top 8 of the FIFA rankings. They are good footballers who are hard to play against. No matter how you resist, whether you like it or not, you have to go down, no matter how much you want to put pressure. This is due to the high individual skill. We were more tired in the second half than in the first half, ”the coach said.

Karpin ended the conversation about the match with Croatia by assessing the atmosphere at the Luzhniki stadium. He was also surprised that before the game, scarves with his image were sold for 900 rubles, in which the journalists saw the cultivation of his image.

“900 rubles each? They would unfasten me on a sotochka - then it was generally normal, then let him cultivate. Otherwise, you don't need to cultivate anything. The game of the national team must cultivate love for this team, for the players. This is all artificial, it does not work for a long time. I personally need to think about the game of the national team so that they cheer for it. And about the use of image rights - the question is not for me. The atmosphere at the stadium was awesome, thanks to the huge fans. For a long time, neither the clubs nor the national team played in such an atmosphere. I think it helped the guys, when they had little strength, to fight, fight and achieve such a result, ”the specialist admitted.

The Russian national team will play the next match against Cyprus at his place. Karpin admitted that he was surprised by the devastating defeat of this team from Malta, and also noted that he would not specifically prepare his players for the hot weather predicted in Nicosia.

“The first reaction when you hear about 3: 0 in favor of Malta is surprise. When it turned out that the Cypriots had a removal in the first half, everything can be, and there is less surprise. A draw in the match Slovenia - Slovakia shows that we have an even group. The words that we are neither weaker nor stronger here are confirmed by the results. Preparations will proceed as planned, regardless of the weather. We knew it would be hot there. Tomorrow is a recovery day, the day after tomorrow is a pre-game training, where all that is possible is to shake up a little, sweat, feel the pitch. In such conditions, it is ridiculous to talk about some kind of preparation, ”said Karpin.