"It will be great if Gusev remains at the head of Dynamo."

For the players of Dynamo Moscow, the first part of the Russian championship turned out to be a failure. The team went into the winter break tenth in the standings after 18 rounds. Back in November, a long series of failures led to the resignation of Valery Karpin. Under Rolan Gusev, who became acting head coach, the blue and white team won the championship once, lost and shared the points. Zenit St. Petersburg was also knocked out of the "RPL Path" of the Russian Cup.

Now, before the start of the January training camp, Dynamo must appoint a new head coach or finally approve Gusev in this capacity. In an interview with Izvestia, the captain of the blue and white team, Daniil Fomin, supported the interim coach of the team, appreciated the results of the club and commented on the successes of his father Dmitry Fomin, the head coach of the Kuban-Holding amateur team, who sensationally reached the 1/8 finals of the Path of Regions of the Russian Cup in the fall and removed four professional clubs from the second and first FNL League.

"The derby with Spartak turned out to be difficult"

— How would you rate the last part of the season in the championship?

— Of course, the assessment is unsatisfactory. We expected to play a better game and achieve better results. We expected to be higher in the standings. There is something to think about on vacation. At the training camp, we need to prepare very well for the spring part of the season. We still have a Cup to go through. And there is something to fix in the championship standings.

— Is there still a chance to rise to the top of it, or is it already necessary to throw the main forces at the Cup?

— Of course, we need to do everything to get as high as possible in the championship in the spring. We are not in the table where we should be. We will fix it.

— Do you see improvements in Dynamo's performance in the last four matches of the year after Karpin's retirement?

— It's hard to judge. It seems to me that Roland Alexandrovich (Gusev. — Ed.) — it was hard for him to change something. Moreover, during his work, there was a busy calendar — in addition to three championship matches, they played in the Cup in the middle of the week. We didn't train much, mostly recovery and matches. We worked more on psychology during this period. If Roland Alexandrovich stays, it will be great for us.

— Will he remain the head coach or just on the coaching staff?

— As the head coach. And in the second part of the season we will try to bring his ideas to life.

— After Karpin's resignation, Dynamo won one match out of four. Sergey Stepashin, a member of the club's board of directors, promised during a November meeting with the team to approve him as the head coach if four victories were achieved. Did these words put pressure on the players or, on the contrary, motivate them?

— It wasn't even those words that motivated me, but the arrival of the board members themselves. First of all, they are Dynamo fans with solid experience. They have shown that they support us and are in the same boat with us. This added motivation to the team. We tried to please both ourselves and them. In the first match against Dynamo Makhachkala (3:0), it worked, then in the second cup game against Zenit (0:1) it was difficult, but we endured and achieved the result that allowed us to go further. Then there was an unsuccessful match with Akhmat (1-2) and a derby with Spartak (1-1), which turned out to be difficult. But his second half in general and the ending in particular leave us with hope and faith that we can play on equal terms with any team. And that everything depends on us first of all.

"Father and his team have done a great job"

— You said that Gusev had a short time after Karpin to change something. Why did he do a better job as acting head coach in May, after Marcel Lichka's resignation, when he was also in charge of the team for four matches?

— To be honest, I'm not ready to compare what happened six months ago and now. These are different stories. The only similarity is that both then and now Rolan Alexandrovich worked as the acting head coach for four matches.

— Is it possible to talk about the difference in physical fitness now and after personal training?

— I don't think it's about one particular problem, physics or something else. A combination of factors led to the same results as this season. It's definitely not just about physics.

— How did you react to Gusev's words, who rated the physical condition of the team as "two" and criticized the physical training coach Luis Martinez?

— I don't really read the press, so I didn't pay attention to it.

"I decided for myself that I want to leave Dynamo under Gusev."

Blue and white football player Denis Makarov — about his relationship with the acting head coach of the team, rumors about his autumn injury and Karpin's resignation

— What are your personal impressions of working with Luis at Dynamo?

— Normal impressions.

— As the captain of the team, what would you say about the rumors about his role in the situation with Denis Makarov, who, according to Dynamo doctor Alexander Rodionov, was out for two or three weeks due to injury in September, and eventually returned to the application for matches only two months later?

— I think it's better for you to talk to Makarov and Louis. I have nothing to say about this. We had a working environment. Everyone trained and tried to achieve the best possible result. And those moments that were there will remain in the locker room.

— A month ago, you came to Torpedo's home match in the Path of Regions of the Russian Cup against the Kuban-Holding amateur league team, of which your father is the head coach. Then he lost only on penalties, and if he had gone ahead and beaten Baltika, he could have gone to Dynamo. Is it a shame that your teams didn't get to cross paths?

— We had a chance, but that's how they would have played with Zenit, as we now know. I would not like to lose to Zenit in order to be eliminated in the "Path of the Regions" Cup. But if Kuban-Holding had played with Peter, I wouldn't have been upset, of course. But in general, my father and his team did a great job. One First League team, Chernomorets, won the Russian Cup. Then we faced another First league team, Torpedo, which was supposed to play in the RPL this season. In fact, the fifth league team was playing with the first league team. And she played on equal terms, losing only on penalties. They're great guys.