MOSCOW, May 15, Oleg Bogatov. There is hope that Serbian football specialist Marko Nikolic, if he joins Dynamo Moscow, will be able to show the result no worse than in the capital's Lokomotiv, said the former head coach of the national teams of Cameroon and Uzbekistan Valery Nepomnyashchiy.
On Sunday, Dynamo lost at home to Grozny Akhmat in the match of the 27th round of the Russian Championship — 0:3. After the game, a member of the board of directors of Dynamo, Dmitry Gafin, told reporters that a new head coach would prepare the team for the next match. Sport-Express later reported that Serb ex-coach Slavisa Jokanovic will be replaced by his compatriot Marko Nikolic, who worked at Lokomotiv in 2020-2021. In the first season, the «red-greens» became the second in the Russian championship, and in the next season they won the Russian Cup and took third place in the championship.
““ Nikolic, judging by his work at Lokomotiv, he manages to quickly understand the situation,” said Nepomniachtchi. “In general, quite qualified players have been assembled in Dynamo. But the team has recently lost its face, ( coaches) failed to improve the game neither in defense nor in attack. For example, in defense there was no optimal line-up until the last game. And yesterday there was a disaster with the central defenders, both were replaced due to injuries. I hope that Nikolic if he comes to Dynamo, he will be able to work no worse than in Lokomotiv.
“Still, it’s a shame, because Dynamo is historically one of our main teams. And suddenly she found herself in such a difficult situation. When I talk about losing face, I mean that the game that was lost under (the former head coach) Sandro Schwartz. But you have to be objective, after all, Schwartz had a playing squad, and it was different from what it is now. Under Schwartz, good and experienced players were in key positions, «the expert noted.
Negative criteriaThe interlocutor of the agency stressed that under Schwartz the team showed a completely different football.
“And he managed to build a game with good movement and ball control at high speeds,” Nepomniachtchi continued. “It seemed to me then that Dynamo had the ball moving faster than other teams. And the players were inspired and played good mood. It shows that Schwartz was able to improve the atmosphere in the team. And now it's a lineup of players who are really playing with dull eyes.»
«What criteria are used when determining the quality of a coach's work? The first is the result, the second is whether the team is improving in the game, and the third is whether the players are progressing. And now Dynamo has all three criteria with a minus sign,» the specialist concluded .