Nikolic: After Kazan we lacked freshness
Lokomotiv’s head coach Marco Nikolic reflects on the game against Krylia Sovetov (1-1) in Gameweek 25 of the Russian Premier League.
- As I expected before the match, the game turned out to be difficult. Krylia replaced the head coach and arrived ready to fight. They played really well in defence and tried to catch us on counter attacks. The mistake we made led to their goal. I am not satisfied with the energy of the team in the first half of the match. Maybe there was not enough freshness, because we played only two days later after Kazan.
In the second half we were more energetic. Created chances, especially in the last 20-25 minutes. Unfortunately, we could not use all of moments we had. It is very important that in the end we managed to score and get one point. Of course, we wanted all three points, but as the game was progressing, a draw looks like a good result. I also want to thank the fans for their support until the last minute. We felt it. Now we get ready for the next game.
- What’s up with Guilherme?
- I hope nothing serious, and he will be ready for the next match.
- It looked like Lokomotiv was not ready for the counter attacking game of Krylia.
- We were ready, but played too nervously in the first half, made positional errors. Today, it was not even the tactical ideas that mattered, it was all about energy. Almost all the bounces went to their players, and it looked like that they were more fresh. Also, Krylia had an extra day to recover.
- In July there will be two matches per week. Where will the team get freshness from?
- When you have to play two matches per week, each additional day of rest matters. I hope that for the next game I will have more players available. We are waiting for Magkeev, Rybus and Farfan.
- What’s happening with Lokomotiv finishing?
- Yes, at the moment only Miranchuk scores for us. Today, many players could not finish their chances. We need to support the guys. I think they will show everything what they are capable of in the next matches.
- How do you like the general level of the Russian Premier League?
- I would not say that I was surprised by the way Krylia played. If you watch the game against Zenit, you would notice that there was a similar situation - Zenit also scored at the end of the match. This once again suggests that the Russian league is very strong. In games against the teams from the bottom of the table you can not add points to yourself beforehand. Everyone plays, everyone fights. But this is a global trend, new realities due to the coronavirus. The teams have not reached their peak of form yet, so their game is not sustainable for 90 minutes, it breaks up into episodes. This is happening all over the world.
- What can you say about the episode when Krylia goalkeeper caught the ball outside the box?
- It is possible to complain, but in order to say exactly what happened, we need to check the replay.
