Sandro Schwarz: We need to join in the game from the first minutes and not let Akhmat be on a roll

— Sandro, tell us about your expectations from the upcoming encounter.

— This Saturday we will face a strong and tenacious opponent which is very good in tackles. We need to play a blinder. We expect that there will be a lot of tackles and the match will not be easy.

— How do Nikola Moro and Sergey Parshivlyuk feel themselves?

— We had a fairly short training week. Moro and Parshivlyuk took part in the training cycle, and we will be able to count on them. Only Daniil Lesovoy will miss the upcoming encounter for obvious reasons.

— The team joined in the games against Rostov and Ufa quite hard, conceded an early goal from CSKA. Akhmat played well in the first half of previous matches. Will you focus on the starting time of Saturday's encounter?

— We need to join in the game from the first minutes, be ready and concentrated, not let the opponent be on a roll. In Ufa, we had to play better in tackles and transitions, but in general, the encounter went well for us. In Rostov, we didn't have so many chances, and it took some time to get into the game. The match against CSKA did not go very well in the first 15 minutes, but over the next 75 minutes we kept control on the ball and deserved the win. On Saturday, we need to show our football throughout the entire match.

— Fabián Balbuena committed several mistakes at the beginning of the season. Do you plan to field Roman Yevgenyev, who came out only once as a substitute?

— We have high competition in the position of centre-backs. Ordets and Balbuena played high-quality matches. Roman also showed himself well in the training cycle. Do not forget that we still have Sazonov and Pliyev in this position. It is always hard to choose players in the starting line-up. But we are glad that there is such a good competition in our team.

— The fans started talking that Dynamo could compete for the title. What do you think about this perspective?

— We are glad to hear it, and we do not want to cool the ardor of our fans. Such an assessment proves that we are on the right track and are doing our work efficiently. We focus on our daily training process and the upcoming matches — this is what we are most concerned about.

— Dynamo bought a powerful right winger – Denis Makarov. In what position do you see Vyacheslav Grulyov?

— In my opinion, his optimal position is a striker. We know that he can also act in the position of left or right winger. Makarov played brightly in the debut match, created a lot of threatens. We scored the second goal with his participation. When deciding who will play from the first minutes, we take the formation and tactical scheme of the opponent into consideration.

— Is Makarov ready to enter the starting line-up from a point of view of his conditions?

— I can't say that he will be fit enough for all 90 minutes of our intense football, because Denis has not been in the team for so long. But he went to a training camp with Rubin and shows himself well in training. We will see how ready he will be for Saturday and what playing time we will give him.

— There were rumors about the interest of foreign clubs in Arsen Zakharyan. Have you talked to him about it? Is he ready now to play in the Bundesliga, for example?

— I am not surprised that Arsen is reviewed by scouts of the European leading clubs, given the play quality that he demonstrates at such a young age. I can reassure you: we communicate closely with Arsen, we also talked about this matter, and I can assure you that he is not scattered on these rumors. He is concentrated and knows his place at Dynamo. I am happy to continue working with him.

The next step for Arsen's development will be finding stability. This will be his first complete season at such a high level, and he needs to maintain and increase the quality of play he showed in the second half of the last season and at the beginning of this one.

— Valery Karpin met Russian internationals last week. Have you already talked to him about Dynamo players? Do you think that Zakharyan demonstrates a necessary play for the national team?

— We haven't talked to Karpin yet. If there is such a need, I am open and always ready to discuss issues related to Dynamo players. The head coach of the Russian national team attended the Dynamo — CSKA match and watched Arsen's play. You should address to him whether Zakharyan is ready to play in the national team or not.

— Can you tell what the progress of Daniil Fomin is this season? Why is he so important for the team?

— Daniil is a very important player for Dynamo. He is in excellent physical shape — he ran 13 kilometers in the match against CSKA. Daniil creates goalscoring chances, fights very well for rebounding the ball. I'm not even talking about his effectiveness in converting penalties. He has high football intelligence, always finds free zones on the pitch. If we talk about necessary aspects he should work on, this is probably the solidity in tackles. He has already made a big step in the right direction, and we can see his progress.

— You did not change the starting line-up in the match against CSKA. Are there any positions on which you have some doubts on the eve of the Saturday's match?

— We make a decision on the starting line-up not just by whether the team won in the previous match or not. We look at the training process, analyze the squad and tactical formation of the opponent. Perhaps there will be minimal changes on Saturday, or maybe we will do without it.

— Akhmat played with two centre-backs in the first matches, and then switched to three in the last encounter. What tactical scheme do you expect on Saturday?

— We are preparing for both schemes. In one of those matches, they also realigned during the game. But first of all, we stick to our philosophy and our football.

— The last fixture in Grozny was recalled by the criticism of referees’ work from the part of the Akhmat coach. Are you ready that high attention will be paid to this matter on Saturday?

— We need to keep a cool head in any situation on the pitch, not to lose balance and stick to the game plan.

— Your assistant Volkan Bulut was with a headset at the match against CSKA. Who did he communicate with?

— He communicated with our analyst so that we could make some changes in real time. After the first half, we always hold analysis in the dressing room.

— The team received nine yellow cards in three matches. Not all of them were necessary. Do you pay attention to this aspect to your players?

— I told many times that there are quite a lot of yellow cards given in the Russian Premier League compared to the top European championships.

— How does the team communicate outside the football pitch? Do you meet in an informal atmosphere?

— The club organized a team dinner after the match against CSKA. All the players, coaching staff and administrative staff attended this event. There was a great atmosphere.