“Gogniev tried to rebuild Khimki, but he needed more time” – Antic

Former Khimki football player Nikola Antic said that the former head coach of the Moscow region club Spartak Gogniev did not have enough time to rebuild the team.

Gogniev coached Khimki near Moscow until April 2023, under his leadership the team won one victory and drew three times in 19 matches. Before this, the specialist headed the Vladikavkaz Alania.

— When Gogniev headed Khimki, Ilya Sadygov, the son of the club’s main investor, often found himself in the main team. Didn’t you feel that he was being deliberately pulled into the base?

– No, Ilya is a normal football player, a good person. All Khimki players accepted the fact that he was on the team normally. In fact, Ilya corresponds to the level of the RPL; it cannot be said that he takes someone else’s place. There was no special attitude towards him.

— Under Gogniev, you lost 15 out of 19 matches and won only one victory. Why did this happen?

— He tried to rebuild the team, it probably needed more time. I also think the misunderstanding between the foreign players and Russian players played a role. It is much more difficult for players from South America to adapt to Russia than, for example, for me. Some had problems with their family moving, others with documents. When I arrived, we tied with Fakel on the road, then played a spirited game with Zenit, losing in the end. It seemed that everything could get better now. But then something broke. This happens. When Talalaev arrived, the situation stabilized a little, but it was already too late – we flew out of the RPL,” RB Sport quotes Antic as saying.

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