FC Terek Grozny coach Stanislav Cherchesov spoke to Sport-Express correspondent Aleksander Lvov about ongoing midseason preparations.
- Do you start the season early to follow the club’s traditions?
- Well, I actually have not thought about this when preparations were planned. I was proceeding from the fact that players had enough time to spend with their relatives and friends. But I am glad that this matches club traditions as traditions must be respected. The squad was to gather in Kislovodsk on 5 January. So everybody got together, exchanged New Year wishes and left for Antalya immediately.
- Some of the Premier League teams decided to change their winter travel schedule for UAE and Spain. Did not you have an idea of following their example?
- It does not make much sense to me. I always try to follow the good old saying that the best is the enemy of the good. Turkey offers excellent conditions and we have a comfortable hotel in Belek, several excellent fields and gym with water pool and rehabilitation center. The most important is that there is a wide choice of sparring partners for test games. I would like to give my credit to Enda Tour company which has cooperated with Terek for several years now.
- So what is your squad for the first camp?
- If nothing wrong happens, we have 24 field players and four goalkeepers. This is the best choice for effective work and test games.
- Nobody was late this time?
- Further to our agreement, the foreign players arrived in Antalya on 6 January. We are expecting Mauricio in the coming days. He suffered an inflammation after gum surgery. And Legear caught cold while on vacation.
- What did you start with?
- The players passed medical examination in Belek. The hospital has the most contemporary equipment for that.
- Were the results disappointing?
- Not at all. Not everything is ideal of course and I told some of the players about it already. And now they have to think this through.
- Who are the newcomers?
- We have three so far. Oleg Ivanov was a part of the Russian national at Euro 2008 and appeared for Rostov the last season. We also have striker Murikhin from Zenit Reserves and midfielder Adilson from Gremio.
- Are there going to be more additions?
- We are still looking for one player of each category, probably except for the goalkeeper.
- Do you already expect somebody for examination?
- I have to admit that I am not a great fan of such staffing method. The team is a family and appearance of unknowns is not always interpreted unambiguously. There might be certain exceptions and it is possible to examine one or two players each camp, but not more.
- Who are you parting your ways with?
- The contracts of defender Omelyanchuk and halfback Kobenko have expired. Midfielder Gvazava has his contract expiring in summer and the player expressed willingness to find a new club. Khaimovic, Tiui and Ewerthon have been offered for transfer.
- What is the objective of this stage of preparations?
- We need to bring everybody to the same functional level to be able to stage the next camp which will be more game-oriented.
- How many sparring partners are going to have these two weeks?
- We plan to play with two lineups on 14 and 18 January. The first game is against SC Heracles Almelo and the second is against FC Sheriff Moldova. All other opponents will be announced in the coming days.
- Do you have any holidays scheduled?
- Come on, what holidays are you talking about after so many days of vacation!