Armenian coach Yeghishe Melikyan commented on the appointment of Alexander Petrakov as the head coach of the national team of this country.
Eghishe Melikyan- I personally know Oleksandr Petrakov, I talked with him many times, I often contacted him during my work in Ukraine. He has very good human qualities, he has a professional approach to the training process. The impression is only the most positive.
Regarding the appointment of Petrakov to the Armenian national team, here he found himself in a difficult situation, only time will tell how he manages to cope with it. I wish him good luck in working with the Armenian team.
— With youth teams, Petrakov achieved serious success, but so far it has not worked out with national teams. With the Armenian national team, especially after working with the Ukrainian team, what are the chances of making a breakthrough?
- I didn’t say in vain that Petrakov’s situation is difficult. The team has serious problems associated with defeats, because of this, the psychological state of the team leaves much to be desired. Plus, there is a very important qualifying game for the European Championship against Turkey ahead. The Football Federation of Armenia was very late with this appointment, preventing Petrakov from having a full-fledged supply of time to prepare for official games.
— In the Nations League, the Ukrainian national team confidently beat Armenia in two matches (3:0, 5:0 - ed.). Does this give any advantage to Petrakov?
- Well, this is not so much an advantage as a certain amount of information, because Petrakov has an idea about the Armenian national team, since he himself analyzed it as an opponent's coach. So there is a plus here, but, unfortunately, there are also a lot of minuses.
— How much authority will Petrakov have to find contact with the old-timers of the team? Moreover, in the Ukrainian national team, he had a conflict with Ruslan Malinovsky, in which the coach initially took a kind of tough position, but then backed off. How easy will it be for the new coach here, given the peculiarities of the Armenian temperament?
- Knowing the players of the Armenian national team, I can say that they are very well-mannered people and great professionals, they know how to treat the head coach with respect. There are no impudent non-professionals in the Armenian team, everyone there thinks about the result and team work. If Petrakov is flexible and shows his respect for the players, then I think that he will have no problems in this direction. Petrakov is an experienced coach and I think that he should cope.
Evgeny Savchuk
