Georgy Dzhikia / Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV
Former general director of Spartak Sergei Shavlo assessed whether it is worth further calling 29-year-old defender Georgy Dzhikia to the Russian national team.
Dzhikia lost his place in the starting lineup of Spartak, but received a call to the Russian national team. He missed the friendly match with Cameroon (1:0), and against Kenya he played 90 minutes with the captain’s armband and was responsible for the second goal conceded (2:2).
– It’s up to the coach whether to call Dzhikia or not. What do you think if he didn’t play five matches? There are also mistakes. But this is not the case when it is necessary to cover the player. On the contrary, he needs help. Dzhikia did a lot for the national team and for the club. When a player has slowed down a little, he cannot be bet,” RB Sport quotes Shavlo.
— Shouldn’t Dzhikiya be called up to the Russian national team until he starts playing for Spartak?
— Jikia didn’t play, but the coach called him. This means he sees him as a strength for the team.
— Do you now understand Abaskal, why he doesn’t play Dzhikiya in Spartak?
— I have one question: why was Dzhikia removed and not installed? And why, when Duarte makes mistakes, does he always get put down? Now Duarte has become a little better, but before that he was flogged and they put him down. Dzhikia hasn’t been flogged in Spartak yet. He made a mistake in the national team. Well, what should we do? Barinov also made a mistake in the match with Kenya. Why not put him in Lokomotiv?
— Do you agree with the opinion that central defender is a position in short supply in the Russian national team?
“We ourselves are to blame because we don’t educate them.” We buy batches of foreign central defenders. There are good guys who could grow, but at the first mistake we try to remove them. You will remember the story with Berezutsky and Ignashevich. How did Gazzaev raise them? That’s all, and the matter is closed. And if we don’t want to educate, then we will never have anything. Also in other lines.
— The pair of central defenders Osipenko – Soldatenkov, who played with Cameroon, could become the main pair for the Russian national team?
— Soldatenkov plays well. I like him in “Wings of the Soviets”. He needs to be forced, he’s a normal guy.
