Igor Cherevchenko: Our guys did everything to win

Lokomotiv’s head coach Igor Cherevchenko has summed up the Gameweek 22 encounter versus Rubin FC (1:0) of the ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Football Championship.

- Did you expect Rubin to pursue a goalless draw?

- Yes, we had suggested Rubin would want to secure one point. We analysed their play and changed tactics a bit: Mykhalyk remained in defensive midfield alone, Tarasov supported attack alongside Samedov.

- Did Tarasov cope with the job?

- Everyone coped. Dima got a hefty blow at the back and had to be subbed off. The doctors attended to him during the entire break.

- How would you assess Skuletic’ play since he wasted a couple of chances in the first half but potted the winner?

- Petar has been out for long. Yet, he looked good from my point of view. The main thing is that he was at the right spot at the right time and scored an extremely important goal. Actually, I am pleased with the whole team and thank them for the victory. The international pause was a bit of a headache for us, footballers returning in different conditions. So we gave some serious thought to this starting eleven. But our success means we picked the right options.

- What’s with Corluka?

- A stud raked across Vedran’ knee. Hopefully, it is nothing serious – we will know tomorrow.

- If it weren’t for the wounded Corluka, would you have substituted Skuletic?

- Frankly speaking, we had a number of ideas. We thought of playing Fernandes in attacking midfield. But replacing Skuletic with Henty was not a priority.

- What made you drop Henty in favour of Skuletic today?

- You have to be on the team and know the details of the training process. That is what we base our decisions on. We looked at who was in better shape before the match. Ezekiel is a new signing – he has yet to get used to it. The Russian League differs from the Slovenian. Paces are different. But he will adapt – there's enough time.