"Shinnik" will not be hacking "

Alexander Starkov - The newspaper The most eminent club in the history of Russian championships is close to solving the problem set before the season. In order to take the second place, which allows you to break through to the group stage of the Champions League through a sieve qualification, Spartak does not have to look back at competitors. It is enough to win three victories in the three remaining matches. The chief coach of the red and white Alexander Starkov told about the possible difficulties along the path to the correspondent of the newspaper Alexander Ustoev.

- Alexander Petrovich, did something bothered in preparation for the nearest match with Shinnik?

- If only the weather. Already late autumn in the yard, you see, the snow fell. We are used to it, and last year the winter was cold. I am more worried about how the Argentines and Yugoslavs adapt to this.

- Will you go to Yaroslavl by bus?

- Yes, we will do everything according to plan. Snow is not the natural disasters that can prevent us from changing the schedule.

- A lot of injured in the team?

- We have the opportunity to replace anyone. Now Bazhenov and Kovalchuk cannot play, the latter is our main player. The rest are all ready, but how ready are it? There is also competition. Suppose Kovtun and Partenov are ready, but we must also maintain competition in order to appear on the field.

- Does Alenichev withstand such competition?

- He just began to gain shape after an injury. I do not think that it will appear in the main composition, but he is able to make a replacement and strengthen the game.

- “Shinnik” now takes a place in the middle of the table, in such cases it is customary to say that the opponent “does not need anything”. Will this imprint on the course of the meeting?

- Personally, I do not agree with such a term. What does it mean - "nothing is needed"? Players will be hacking? I don't think it will be so. There are practically no predictable results in the Premier League. Take at least the last tour - Terek also seemed to be “nothing”, and they beat Dynamo. The player personally needs him to be in demand and the opportunity to sign a new contract, the coach needs confidence from the fans and the leadership. So the “shinnik” will be the same motivated team as everyone else.

- How do you feel about the conversations that, at the finish of the season, non -release factors are becoming increasingly important?

- Probably, there are always such factors. Maybe at the end of the season they appear more clearly. But personally, we do not face it. Honestly, I am not ready to talk on this topic. Today we are busy setting up players and ourselves in a heavy duel. Shinnik is a complex team for any Premier League club, so we need to make maximum efforts and patience on the field in order to take a positive result with us. And we need it, since both the team and the fans are configured to the highest places. Which? Only the finish of the season will show, but we must do everything in our power.

- Spartak must win three victories in three matches. This presses on the team or, conversely, mobilizes everyone?

- Let's see, the game will show. After all, we have a large team, try to look into the soul of everyone. I hope that a working environment is created that should not be calm. It should be in a good way stressful so that every player understands that fate is being decided and an assessment of our work for the whole year is being made. I don’t know how it turns out. No one can guarantee one hundred percent result.

- As I understand it, the leadership has already appreciated your work. There were reports that you definitely stay in Spartak for the next season.

- We did not consider another option among ourselves. Of course, there were different periods during the season. And when we won some victories in a row, and when we could not score points for a long time. But the leadership never raised the question in this way: either a victory in the next match, or my resignation. The fact that now someone is raising this topic somewhere ... It is a little nervous, but does not affect my relationship with players and leaders.

- And the fact that in some periods the fans were tuned against you affected work?

- Part of the fans. I emphasize, not the largest part. I myself and the whole team feel the support of the mass of our fans.

- Many believe that Spartak is like a new house. Everything is beautiful and remarkable, but the true fortress is not enough, the bricks still did not cake properly.

- I think you are exaggerating, these feelings are only to us. Here is Lokomotiv - a strong house, isn't it? It has long been built, and what a hesitation! CSKA, Zenit - teams built in three to four years, strong teams that all passed. And then they are chatting: winnings, and draws, and defeats - everything is. Another thing is that a strong team gets up after failure.

- How do you feel about the common football truth - “to build a good team, you need three years”?

- Someone, perhaps, is more. Someone, perhaps, will not be able to do this at all. There are a lot of factors. This truth is invented before us, we can only accept or reject it.

“ But if you accept, you even go with some schedule.”

- I would not like the grades to be put up now. Firstly, the season has not yet been completed. The future will show whether we are going on schedule or not.

10/27/2005 / Alexander Ustev, the material was published in the newspaper No. 205 dated 10.28.2005.