Marcel Licka: We will work harder on finishing

— We talked about the opponent's counterattacks, and, unfortunately, we conceded quickly again, as it were in the first game. We reacted well to it and organized good attacks down the wings. We delivered the ball to the penalty area, but there was not enough players in it. In the dressing room, I said that if we wanted to score, we needed to be more aggressive, and not just play a short pass.

We started the second half actively, moved the ball well and created good chances to score. Unfortunately, for the fourth consecutive match we faced problems with finishing. I think that today we still deserved one point at least. I would like to note the excellent work of the referee, who allowed the struggle and did not whistle unnecessary fouls.

— In addition to finishing, are lack of teamwork and mutual understanding of several players those factors which are not sufficient for a better play?

— I would not like to look for an excuse in this. We had good periods of ball possession – both in Krasnodar and in today's game. I think that we only lacked finishing. This is our big problem.

— Why did you release Nicholas Marichal instead of Dmitry Skopintsev on the left wing?

— We wanted to slow down the opponent's fast counterattacks. In addition, Spartak have a lot of tall players, and Nico had to help in aerial duels. Skopa was ill and did not go with the team to Krasnodar, so I decided to choose Nico. It is clear that he is not as active up ahead as Skopa, but he had another task today.

— When Dmitry Skopintsev came out, the team switched to playing with three centre-backs. What was your idea?

— Yes, three defenders played in the center, Chavez closed the position of the defensive midfielder, while Skopa and Dasa stretched the wings, trying to beat their opponents one-on-one and make good crosses. We took a certain risk, and we had good chances to score, but finishing was poor.

— You believed in Jorge Carrascal for 73 minutes, but by the end it turned out to be reckless. Don't you think so?

— Players like Carrascal, Bitello and Ngamaleu – they can drop out of the game for a while, but then join it and make a difference in key episodes. Jorge had a nice chance to score from inside the penalty area, as did Kostya Tyukavin. But Spartak defenders stretched themselves in the penalty box and their goalkeeper played well. We will work more on finishing and then show it in championship games.

— Spartak's attacking potential is mainly based on Quincy Promes. Why didn't the team close him better?

— Somewhere up to the 70th minute, he played well in the midfield, moved to the wing, but did not create dangerous chances. There was always a footballer by his side who helped him. Quincy didn't do everything he wanted on the pitch. Yes, by the end he ran one-on-one with our goalkeeper twice, when we had already gone all-in. I see the problem when we lost the ball several times in the midfield without hard pressure from the opponent.

— It seemed that a psychological factor was also important after the Cup match. The team conceded an early goal again and did not immediately come back to the game.

— It is obvious that an early goal knocked us down a little, and we made several ball losses in the midfield. I think we lost mentally in the Cup encounter, but today we were able to get back into the game. We need to play more aggressively in the final third: to beat the opponents one-on-one and shoot from 18-20 meters. We will work on finishing the attacks and improving our play.

— Will you wait for a revenge in the Cup now?

— I think we were lucky to get into the group with Krasnodar and Spartak, because they are two great sides with high goals. We have already faced Krasnodar three times and will soon play against Spartak for the third time – in a little over two months we will have six big matches that give our team the necessary experience to feel more confident against Russian top clubs. So I'm very happy about it.