“Rakhimov is a good physical education teacher, but not the kind of coach Rubin needs” – Popov

Former Rubin footballer Alexey Popov believes that Rashid Rakhimov is not the specialist that the Kazan club needs as head coach.

On Saturday, Rubin lost to Khimki 2-3 in a home match of the third round of the MIR RPL. The hosts were in the lead twice, but they missed the decisive goal in the 84th minute, when Lucas Vera converted a penalty.

— I told you that this would be the easiest money in a coach’s career. Rakhimov can’t get the team playing, this is a normal situation for him. He is not the person Rubin needs. And I don’t know how to get through to him — everyone sees the result. This is a team, an organization, human relationships, and he is not that person. As a coach, he is ready to fight for eighth or tenth place, this is his ceiling.

— Was the penalty that decided the outcome of the match deservedly awarded?

— An unpleasant set of circumstances, it was possible not to put it in the spirit of the game, but such are the rules. It is not clear why Vujacic plays like that. You know that this is a penalty area — take your elbows away, why are you spreading them out? You jump — well, take your hands away, that is a childish mistake! The same in the match with Zenit: why on earth do you turn away from the ball and put your hand out? Put your chest out, go for the ball — and there will be no penalty.

I associate this only with the head coach and the way he behaves on the sideline. It is impossible to achieve results without human qualities. It is useless to talk about tactics. Under duress, you can play three or four games, but not a season, and not set serious goals. He is a good coach, a good physical education teacher, but nothing more. He will not be a coach with a capital letter. A coach with a capital letter is, first of all, a person with a capital letter, and everything is connected with this.

All my life, while I was playing, I had the attitude that the head coach is the law, and I don’t even have the right to think about it. Now, having rethought it, I understand that the coach is not just a boss, he must lead the players, be a leader, and this is not about Rakhimov, Metaratings.ru quotes Popov as saying.

Rubin is in tenth place in the RPL standings with three points. In the next round, the team will play away against Rostov on August 9.

Watch live broadcasts of MIR RPL matches on Match TV and MATCH PREMIER channels, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.