Syomin: Nobody Wanted To Lose

Lokomotiv head coach Yuriy Syomin comments on the defeat from Baltika (1:1, 1:4 pen.) in the Round of 32 of the Olimp Russian Cup.

- It was a good game. An exciting fixture for supporters, nobody wanted to lose, that’s why it took 120 minutes to define the winner. I congratulate Baltika on their advance to the round of 16. They played well last year, and that victory cost us pretty much effort.

- Why did you sideline Krychowiak and what’s your assessment of Rybus’s performance today?

- We have sidelined many players. We allowed Krychowiak to take a rest and recover before the game with Zenit. We don’t have the right to risk, he has a micro injury and needs a normal playing tempo. Rybus played pretty well.

- You have fielded many young players. Don’t you think they were confused by the pressure coming from the stands?

- No, they were not. It was a good test for them – where to move on and how to improve. FNL is a difficult tournament, and many youngsters have only played as high as in PFL. So this game gave useful information both for us and them.

- How would you evaluate Titkov’s performance?

- We’ll do this in the Coaches Room at the base. Right now I can only say that if we lost, the mark is not positive.

- You got booked. What were you unhappy with?

- There was a good playing episode and the referee whistled a foul. That made me unhappy.