Syomin: It’s time to raise to a new level

Lokomotiv’s head coach Yuriy Syomin comments on the victory against Spartak (1:1, 4:2 pen.) at the Parimatch Premier Cup.

- You didn’t make many substitutions this time.

- At this stage of the preparation period, it’s time for the players to raise to a new level. That’s why they got more playing time, some played full time.

- Why was the start of the second half so bad?

- Spartak made ten substitutions and were fresh in the second half. They were faster and more aggressive but we broke the run of play. The second half was equal.

- What happened in the episode with the conceded goal?

- We have issues with defending free kicks at this stage. We’ll pay more attention to it.

- When we scored, Joao Mario, a left winger, moved to the right side, while right full-back Ignatyev found himself in the centre of the penalty area.

- It’s improvisation. Vlad squeezed everything from the episode. There was a good pass, we manned the penalty area. Before that, Eder had an opportunity.

- In the second half, it was Zhemaletdinov who played as the centre-forward.

- We’ll try to utilize him there. I think he has the abilities to play in the centre. We’ll see, there are three more games ahead. We need to compensate for the losses. We’ll tap into our inner reserves and see how it goes - too difficult to foretell.

- What’s with Anton Miranchuk?

- A hard and painful hit of the part that had suffered fracture before. There is no new fracture.

- Will you field the same squad for the game against Rostov?

- We chose to prepare through games at this stage. We’ll give more time to the players from the main squad.

- Why did Medvedev tend the goal at the penalty shootout? Is this your reaction to Kochenkov’s last performance?

- Our goalkeeper coach Zaur Khapov has a gut feeling for the keepers. Kochenkov is good at saving penalties but last time he did not save once. We decided to change something. Medvedev is always fresh and eager to play. Speaking about Guilherme, probably he will have his 45 minutes in the next game. Medvedev deserved to play too.

- What’s your opinion about the organization of the tournament?

- The organization is actually at a very high level. There is much comfortable time for practice, and serious friendlies.