Ruslan Nigmatullin, former goalkeeper of the Russian national team
About hard choices
- It was too risky and not quite right to choose such a strong team as rivals for a friendly match. I’m not sure that this match will benefit the Russian team. What is left after him? Neither a good mood, nor some kind of proven ideas ... Negative emotions and nothing more. Perhaps Hiddink has his own opinion on all this. I can only understand this as a coach’s psychological move: they say guys need to be rehabilitated in the next match. Of course, meeting with a weak opponent, the players would be relaxed, especially at such a time.
About black february
- I remember myself. In February, I was always in bad shape, made mistakes in sparring, was inattentive. At Russian clubs, pre-season training is structured so that the player reaches peak form after only two months of training. And now the two teams were in unequal conditions: ours arrived after heavy loads at the training camp, and the Dutch were in good shape.
About low forwards
- Sayenko’s exit can be explained by the fact that he, unlike the others, has already spent half a season in the Bundesliga. He plays regularly for Nuremberg, and well, he recently scored Bayern. But Arshavin is the leader of the team, and it is difficult to imagine a team without him today, although he is only from training camps. Perhaps Hiddink’s idea was for the small forwards to tear apart the tall defenders. Sayenko tried, and it was clear that he had strength. But he did not succeed in interacting with partners. Basically, he took the game upon himself. Plus, the Dutch defenders played especially reliably against him. It can be seen that Hiddink forms the composition according to the principle of physical readiness of the players. But at the same time it is not clear why from the first minutes Pavlyuchenko did not get a place on the field. He played excellently on the Channel One Cup. And, it seems to me, a forward of such a plan would have looked more logical in a pair with Saenko or Arshavin.
About the opornik game
- Semshov as an opornik was good against the Macedonians. And in this match, at first he coped with his tasks. And when the clean reference midfielder Aldonin came out, we immediately got four goals ... I hope this is just a coincidence. It is strange that the game of the national team with the release of Aldonin is so weakened. After all, it was through the central zone that the Dutch scored attacks. I think the team just ran out of steam by the end of the game.
On the fidelity of the assessment
“This game cannot be taken too seriously.” Call it a failure, for example. Still, the forces were unequal - for objective reasons, which have already been mentioned. Apart from the goal, ours created one and a half dangerous moments: Kolodin's long-range strike and Saenko’s attempt to strike from an acute angle do not say anything. We already understand that the team played poorly. I hope that in a month the players will get in shape and we will see them different. Although the Dutch had personnel problems. And Hiddink could take advantage of this.
On the merits of defense
- Before the first goal, the Dutch did not create anything special. It seems that there was only one half-moment: Snyder’s simple blow for Akinfeev from afar. That is, one and a half times, the team skillfully coped with the attacks of the opponent. By the end, we sat down. Plus, successful replacements by van Basten - and all the successes of the defenders went downhill. The team was torn.
About defender Zhirkova
- In my opinion, Zhirkov is more useful in attack. But this time there were not enough defenders, and Hiddink sacrificed attacking capabilities of Yuri.
About Akinfeev's game
- Before the first goal he played reliably, as Akinfeev should play. But, like others, he had not yet scored the ideal form: he was late with throws, was mistaken at the exits. In general, there was no freshness and lightness in it. In all three cases, when scored from the game, he could save. When Babel hit, Igor was clearly late with a throw. Although three defenders were located around the Dutchman at the time of the strike, and our goalkeeper saw a ball flying into the goal, probably only in the vicinity of the penalty point. Snyder scored into the near corner from an acute angle by an unexpected blow. Let's not get hung up on the fact that the neighbor is the corner of the goalkeeper. But in this case, Akinfeev did not guess with the position and stance. He didn’t even react. When they scored after a corner, Akinfeev had to go out and catch. But it’s not his fault alone - the defenders also missed Mataisen.
Igor Kolyvanov, head coach of the youth team of Russia
About a good start and a sad end
- In the first half, ours played very tightly with the Dutch strikers, did not let them run away. They well covered the flanks through which the Dutch traditionally play the game. In the second half, the team was tired after the loads in the clubs. Do you know what football players say? February is the hardest month for us. When less than 20 minutes were left, it was worth cuddling closer to your goal to keep zeros. But the Dutch are a cool team. They found players who can suddenly break into a corner, break through. Therefore, in the end, the defense fell apart. But I will not call it a failure. For most of the match, the team showed decent football. Hiddink wanted to see who in what form, to make connections.
About training sparring
- In the game of Bilyaletdinov and Kolodin, it was especially noticeable that at the training camp they held control matches against weak clubs. And here you are released against an upscale team, for the players of which you do not even have time to run. Arshavin after his training is also not yet in good shape. In matches with the Macedonians and the Dutch, two different Arshavins played.
About Hiddink's experiments
- The starting lineup surprised me. I think that ahead of a couple to Arshavin needed a powerful high striker. For example, Pavlyuchenko, who could catch on the ball and make it easier for Andrei to play. This would allow the use of gear on horseback and win the fight against high Dutch defenders. Hiddink gave Pavlyuchenko too little time. This footballer should go out from the very beginning. Such attackers are difficult to enter the game for 15-20 minutes. It was also impossible to leave Arshavin on the bench - Hiddink needed to see from the first minutes what condition one of his best players was in. I think the game was experimental. Let's put it simpler: Hiddink wanted to try what happens if you play this way or that.
About the three forwards
- For the first time under Hiddink on the field for a long time there were three nominal forwards. There are times in a match when you lose and forward three people in order to make long passes on them, so that they try to catch on the ball, throw it to each other and break through on goal. Our three forwards at the end of the game were located as follows: Pavlyuchenko was in the center, and Sychev and Saenko moved around Roma in the hope of getting a slight discount from him. Have not received.
About the penalty kick
“His judge might not have appointed.” The score was already 3: 1, Kolodin fell on the ball not intentionally, perhaps even stumbled. And the match is still friendly. In the rules, such episodes are left to the discretion of the judge.
Alexander Mostovoy, former Russian midfielder
About TV Preferences
- The first half turned out to be very boring. By the 30th minute I wanted to sleep. But I remembered that on a different channel they show England - Spain. And then I watched two games alternately, switching from channel to channel.
About unpleasant surprise
- Of course, it was clear that the Dutch were above class and that they would play the game. But the fact that in the first half nine of our players stood up in defense and did not leave their goal beyond thirty meters, I was unpleasantly surprised. Even against the background of almost no owners in the first half, the Russians looked very weak and constrained. Titov, Semshov and Arshavin were supposed to play the team, but they were absolutely invisible and a few times touched the ball.
About Titov
- But Yegor fell out altogether: in 60 minutes not a single sensible action in the attack. By no means do I want to say that Titov was the worst on the field. But everyone knows that he is able to hold the ball, sharpen the game, lead. Egor is a high-level player, which means that there is a great demand from him. And about this game he had better forget as soon as possible.
About the Zhirkov Dilemma
- It was evident that almost all of our players are only preparing for the season and therefore are in poor shape. Therefore, they were afraid to go forward. Particularly characteristic is the example of Zhirkov, who was completely unconnected with the attacks. Although he looked great at the Channel One Cup, he managed to defend and attack, changing flanks with Krasic. In short, he seemed ready for the season. And yesterday, in the first half, Zhirkov, in my opinion, has never crossed the center of the field. It seems to me that this is connected not so much with the form of Yuri himself, but with the unwillingness of our midfielders to insure the extreme players. At CSKA Zhirkov, knows that if he goes ahead, then Rakhimich or someone else will look after his position. Yesterday, no one secured Zhirkov, and he could not abandon van der Warth and run forward.
About account equity
- The Dutch team, even without a group of leading players, is a better team than ours. Therefore, such a result. Although, probably, the bill should not be so large. The Dutch did not play the three goals difference, and in the first half they generally created only one dangerous moment. Not upset, it’s okay. Upset the game. And if the score was not 1: 4, but, say, 1: 2, this would not improve the overall impression of the match.
About universal endeavor
- It is difficult to find positive points in the game of our team. After such matches, they usually say: they played of course, badly, but everyone tried, fought, lay in tackles. And so it was. But this is normal! If a player sees that he needs to join, he must go into it. This is his duty. And there is no heroism here. But football consists not only of diligence and struggle, but also of attacking actions, combinations. And ours was very bad with that. Unfortunately…
Ravil Sabitov, head coach of the youth team of Russia
About Essentials for Hiddink
- Of course, 1: 4 is an unpleasant result. But there is no tragedy in it. In this match for Hiddink, the main thing was to check the players who had hardly played for the national team before, and based on this game, draw conclusions on whom he can count on and not on whom. The game showed that not everyone is ready to play at such a high level.
About the weak link
- First of all, midfield played poorly. The Russian team used to have problems with defense, attack. But the middle line at all times remained the most stable and strong in the team. And in Amsterdam, she looked obscure. Semshov was spraying himself, who often threw his zone, shifted to the flanks and as a result did not have time anywhere. Titov was not marked by anything in a constructive way. Titov, Semshov and Arshavin spent all their forces on the ball. And when he turned out to be with them, there was no longer any energy left to build. When the Dutch began to put pressure on our players in two or three, they lost the ball.
About calendar adjustment
- In February, our players are just preparing for the season and are not ready to play on equal terms with serious rivals. Therefore, yesterday Alexei Berezutsky played unsuccessfully, whom I consider to be a very strong defender. Anyukov and Zhirkov were mistaken. In addition to dedication, Arshavin was not noted. But we know that these are good, capable football players. However, in February they are not ready to play against the Dutch, whose season is in full swing. This always happens when rivals have different degrees of functional readiness. For example, in February 2005, the youth team of Russia, which I train, played away with the team of England. We lost 0: 2, although we could have missed five or seven goals. And in the autumn of the same year we won 4-0 against the same English.
About the healing effect
- Do not make tragedies out of this defeat. I think it will bring the Russian team only benefit. A positive result could play a trick on us in Estonia. And so, after a healthy slap in the open, there will be no underestimation of the Estonians.
Prepared by Anton OTKIDACH and Eugene STATSENKO