Marcel Licka: We grow as a team through tough wins

— We played three tough matches in a row. Today we should have taken three points being a much-fancied side. The team started the first half badly. Baltika could have scored from the very beginning, but Anton Shunin saved us. At half-time I told that we needed to play faster, and the first goal gave us confidence. It's good to get a victory. It is very important because we constantly grow as a team through tough matches.

— Two attacks that led to goals started with Dmitry Skopintsev's interceptions. Did you expect such a play from him?

— I don't like that my defenders run back when losing the ball, especially if there is a chance to stay high and put pressure on the opponent. Interceptions on the opposite half of the pitch often lead to goalscoring situations, because the distance to the goal is not so great anymore. We saw the proof of it today.

— Stanislav Bessmertnyi's play was a discovery. Do you really need a foreign footballer in this position?

— We have a lot of talented young players. I think Stas played more actively and aggressively in matchs against Krasnodar and Nizhny Novgorod. Today, in the first half, he doubted himself somewhere. In the dressing room, I asked him to close the far post and go out to pick up the ball. Young players don't have that stability yet: they can play 2-3 good games, after which there is a fall. Dasa and Parsh have more experience, but this does not mean that they are guaranteed to play in the starting eleven. They had injuries, and from Tuesday both will start working together with the team. We'll see. Bes played a good match with Krasnodar, scored a goal today, so probably he will be in the starting line-up for the match with CSKA.

— It seemed that when leading by 1:0, you made three substitutions and offered your team to play more defensively. Is it so?

— All three centre-forwards were in the starting line-up, and I knew that they would keep up pace for 70 minutes. When the substitutions came, Gagnidze, Lesovoy and Gladyshev appeared on the pitch, but they do not look so good in aerial duels, so I fielded Saba Sazonov as the third centre-back to help Marichal and Balbuena. After these changes Skopa could attack more. At the same time, Gladyshev had to hold the wing and make the width. We really played more on counterattacks by the end.

— Diego Laxalt played a very good match today. He competently regulated the pace of the game.

— I agree with you. In addition, Daniil Fomin helped him a lot. This couple grows together from match to match. Diego gives more aggressiveness and balance, which allows Fomin to go higher with the ball. Diego really does a lot of work.

— What happens to Saba Sazonov, who made mistakes in the last two matches. Is there any link with the rumors about his transfer to Lyon?

— No, there is nothing like that. He tries hard in training. We communicate a lot, he asks a lot of questions about his performance in a given situation. He had a tough June with the European Championship and practically he had no rest. In addition, Saba got a small injury before the game with Nizhny Novgorod. Today he helped us a lot: I asked him to keep the zone and help with the set-pieces, because there are a lot of tall players in Baltika. Everyone has the right to make a mistake. We will discuss everything with him. Through work, he should return to his usual level.

— Next weekend an important match with CSKA awaits Dynamo. Won't you change the winning squad?

— First we will analyze the encounter with Baltika, because we played poor football today. CSKA will try to take the ball, actively play on set-pieces and use Anton Zabolotny. We need to prepare for this. To be successful in this match, the team has to have better ball possession and look for space between the lines, which we rarely did today.

— Anton Shunin kept his hundredth clean sheet in the RPL. What gift did the team prepare for him?

— In the dressing room after wins, we are now offering Lev Yashin's cap to the best player of the match. And today everything coincided, because Anton made some cool saves, kept the clean sheet and fully deserved this cap.

— How did Arsen Zakharyan say goodbye to the team, and what did you wish him?

— We wished him the best so that he would take this chance. Now it's hard to move from Russia to Europe, especially to such a strong league. This is a great chance for him, a great experience. I'm not even talking about football – it's a different life experience, new language, culture, mentality, requirements. I wish that everything worked well for him. It is clear that it will not be easy, but he needs to be strong, endure and work.