Alexander Shmurnov and Alexei Andronov are talking with Sergei Juran, one of the most original Russian forwards of the 1990s, now the coach of the Estonian club TVMK.
- Let's start with the most pressing topic - the national team. What is your mood in connection with the draw of the team of Guus Hiddink with Israel? After all, before a match, they considered a draw equal to defeat?
- There is some disappointment, of course. I, like many fans, expected victory from our team: if you do not get points in home matches, then where? .. But, I think, nothing bad happened. Everyone understands that a high-level specialist has arrived and working conditions are necessary for the result.
Hiddink spoke about this in an interview, and I agree with him. It seems to me that the team is on the right track, and excessive criticism of the players and the coach is now inappropriate. It can be seen that everyone is trying, they want to win, but so far this is not working out.
- But if the team is on the right track, then aren't the substitutions Hiddink made during the match strange? In the second half, to remove from the field an attacker who was noticeable and active in the first, is this correct?
- I think he was based on the potential of the players, knowing well what they are capable of. By releasing two midfielders of the attacking plan, he wanted to catch Israel on a counterattack.
- And as a result, the Israeli team caught the Russian team in a counterattack ... However, we will not throw stones at the Hiddink garden. Journalists are partly to blame for the situation. Often our main enemy becomes a stereotype. It seems to many that a ball scored in the first minutes is very useful. They recall, for example, how Lobanovsky said: “A quick goal is good.” But this is good for 20-25% of the teams in the world, and for others, a quick goal is harmful. Is not it?
- Yes, I agree with you. For the Italian national team, a quick goal is almost a victory, Italians change tactics, build zone defense, which is almost impossible to overcome. And our football players are not psychologically ripe for quick goals. Scoring at the beginning of the game, you should know what to do next so as not to lose. I am sure that many of our players in the game with Israel decided after the first goal that the game was done.
Underestimating the opponent generally played a bad joke with our team. Many seem to have forgotten that the Israeli team has not lost official matches for several years.
- In my opinion, the problem of our team is also the lack of experienced players. There is no one else besides Smertin.
- Then we need to return to the personnel decision of Hiddink, who did not take Loskov, Radimov to the national team and did not release Titov on the field.
- I agree. Smertin and Aldonin largely duplicate each other, the team needs a defensive midfielder focused on the attack - such as Radimov, Titov or Loskov. Maybe in the match with Israel this was the coach’s mistake, because the team lacked a point guard “intellectual” who could give the last pass and earn a free kick. But it is already pleasing that in the match with Estonia the lesson was taken into account.
- Vladimir Beschastnykh said in a similar conversation that only Spartak’s style can save Russian football, and if we try to play modern European football, it will be a copy, and it’s bad. What system needs to be created in Russian football, which is dominated by midfielders, so that it becomes competitive?- Duplicate any system - just crazy. The national team is played by football players from different clubs, accustomed to different tactical schemes, and they are united by a coach with his vision of the game. It seems to me that the universal system does not exist within the national team.
- Talk about the reserve. The youth team defeated the Portuguese in one of two qualifying matches, showing a very good game. It is annoying that it was not possible to enter the European Championship, but that match should not be forgotten. These guys deserve constant attention. Especially when you consider that the former good youth teams of the eighties, for example, later disappeared into the routine of average football ...
- Maybe someone will not like my answer, but in youth and youth football the law often works for us: the coach takes a player to the team not for football qualities, but for money. Igor Kolyvanov took a different path and was able to achieve a result. His youth team won the European Championship. He selected the guys himself, taking into account only their physical and football form, and not the financial capabilities of the family or agents. And if in the future the coaches will work the same way in the selection of players, then there will be more talented guys in both the youth and adult teams. In the meantime, most often the situation develops as follows: a boy appears in the national team, and around him five or six agents revolve, each of whom, in their own way, promises the young guy golden mountains. And he loses his head, thinking not about football and training, but about money and bright prospects. So the guys disappear.
In theory, the agent should be the second father for the player and take care not of momentary benefits, but of prospects.
- But now, whether we want it or not, football is becoming a business.- Yes, but in Germany and Portugal, for example, boys are protected from the football business, their job is to play football, study, work and grow.
- Back to the style. How did the youth team of Kolyvanov manage to win the European Championship, and the youth team got into the top 16 and almost beat the first-rated European team of their age? How can we win?- Firstly, due to the dedication of the players, and secondly, due to the fact that no one perceives the Russian team as a serious rival. And, in the end, due to the serious and successful work of a coach who could convey his tactical scheme to the guys. In modern football, the schemes are not the main thing, in my opinion, there are only a few of them, and two of them dominate: 4 + 5 + 1 and 4 + 4 + 2. The main thing is not the scheme, but how well the team performs the installation of the coach and how skilled the players in the squad are.
- If you believe your definition, it turns out a paradox: CSKA, our only team that has achieved success in Europe, plays according to a rare 3 + 5 + 2 scheme. And it plays well. And in the national team, coaches always add to these three defenders from CSKA a fourth player with whom they are not used to interact. Gazzaev deliberately chooses a three-defender circuit, arguing that playing with two central defenders generates irresponsibility. What are the considerations on this subject by coach Sergei Juran?- It all depends on the players. In this case, I’m not trying to maneuver between the coaches of different teams, I’ll only say for myself. For my current team there is a home 3 + 5 + 2 - with this scheme it is easier to impose your game, and away 4 + 5 + 1 - in this case, the emphasis is on the center line and its effectiveness.
- Why are few Russian players leaving for Europe now?- No offense they will be told, this is due to the low level of the current generation of players. Take the example of Germany, where I happened to play. If a foreign player is selected in a German club, he must be a cut above the future teammates. German breeders are quite scrupulous about the choice. Even heredity, diseases in the second, third generation are taken into account. The Germans have been watching the football player for a long time. In Germany, players are not bought in two weeks, as in many Russian clubs. In this sense, I support the position of CSKA, Valery Gazzayev and the club’s president Giner, who select a football player and then follow him for a year or two before signing the contract.
- The Russian championship has become quite attractive for the players themselves, so many do not leave ...- Yes, but, unfortunately, our clubs have become hostages of the situation. Excessive salaries of football players and the budgets of the clubs themselves are to their detriment. And many would like to stop this race, but it is very difficult.
- What is happening in Baltic football now?- There is development, there are fans, but everything is going at a slow pace.
- Not annoyed to work at that speed?- I deliberately agreed to the position of coach of the Latvian club. He wanted to have a coaching practice, and not to sit and wait for me to be invited, for example, to Spartak. I clearly understand how difficult coaching is: giving up family, personal time ... Only by completely immersing yourself in the profession can you achieve results. After finishing my career as a football player, I tried myself as a functionary in Spartak, but quickly realized that it was not mine. Having worked as a trainer in Latvia, I gained experience, and then received an invitation from the team - the champion of Estonia, TVMK. This is very nice, despite the relative weakness of the championship. A novice coach, like a novice player, must pass a certain ladder, relatively speaking, from the second league through the first to the highest. As soon as I received a coaching diploma, I talked with Boris Petrovich Ignatiev, and he said: "Do not go, look around, start climbing gradually." Now I already have certain achievements: championship in the second league with Stavropol, for example.
- Does the Juran coach look like a Juran player?- Many expect from me the former stormy emotions during the match, but I'm different now. I think it’s wrong to scream from the coaching bench, to run, to wave arms. You gave the installation - now watch whether you are well understood. During the break, something can be changed, but not earlier.
- Would it be easy for a Juran coach to a Juran player?- In Stavropol, I had a player very similar to me. I found an approach to him, and we got along well. At one time, I also needed to find an approach. Ericsson, for example, in Benfica talked a lot with me, as a result he understood me, and I did. I was ready to fight for him.
- And the story with Klaus Topmeeller? ..- He did not want to let me go to the national team. He said that Russia still won’t win anything, and that he offended me as a citizen of the country. It's funny that now he leads the Georgian team, which is unlikely to win anything. I wonder how he would react to the fact that the Schalke coach, for example, would not let Levan Kobiashvili join the national team? ..
- Coaches are often expected to repeat their football style. Suppose if Gazzayev was a striker, his team should play open football ...- I do not agree with this. While still in school coaches, I did not want to adhere to the tactics of attacking football. The game should be practical and rational. In our time, almost the only team manages to play pure attacking football - Barcelona.
- Which of the coaches influenced you, who laid the foundation of the current football thinking?“I think Bobby Robson.” It was he who laid the foundations of professionalism in me, although I was already 25 years old when I got into his team. At first, it surprised me that after the training, the guys went separately to an individual trainer, and to a physical training coach. In Porto, Robson directed me in many ways, he said: “Don't live only today, think about the future - about who you want to be in the future.”
- Then you decided to become a coach?- No, it happened much later. About 30 years old, I guess. I played in Germany at that time, I understood that my career was coming to an end, and without football I can’t imagine my life. And at the age of 25-26 he was just starting to get accustomed to an outstanding coach, outlined for him.
- How do you assess the result of the Ukrainian national team at the World Cup?- The Ukrainian team did not have a burden of responsibility: reaching the final of the World Cup for her was already a great achievement. In addition, Blokhin works with the team - an excellent specialist, in the past he is an outstanding player, and this is very important. He feels the team from the inside, the footballer’s gait can tell a lot about his mood. And the contact and relationships in the team - I was convinced of this myself - are very important.
- Did you root for Ukraine?- Yes, since Russia did not participate in the tournament.
- All the cycles of the Russian team from 1994 to 2002 were remembered for the most part not by games, but by scandals ...- In my opinion, we have high self-esteem and excessive expectation of victories. Often players, arriving at the final stages of the World and European Championships, are inflated like a balloon with their ambitions. Often they forget about their professional duties. They completely lack concentration on football. I hope that much in this regard will be able to change Hiddink. In any case, the cycle began difficult, but without scandals. And this inspires optimism. From him we should expect not so much results as a new philosophy. Although, of course, if there are no results, his work can hardly be called successful.
Alexander Shmurnov, Alexey Andronov