Rolan Gusev: "The derby game was like a swing"

— What were your impressions of the derby atmosphere?

— Dynamo and Spartak matches always have that kind of atmosphere. And the game itself was a rollercoaster, especially in the second half. It's always a celebration of football. The atmosphere was excellent.

— Taking the two VAR decisions out of the equation, do you think the outcome of the game was fair?

— Those goals were disallowed, so the score is 1-1. That's history. Discussing whether they were offside or not is pointless in this case.

— Did you replace Maksim Osipenko because he was keeping an own goal in mind and wasn't confident enough afterward?

— I thought he might be in a bad mental state. Plus, Marichal isn't our specialty right-back, and we needed to strengthen our attack, while Juan is a more attacking full-back. So it made sense to replace Max and move Niko to the center, so Juan could play more attacking football. I think we made the right decision.

— Ivan Sergeev played lower than usual today. What was the reason for that decision?

— Rubens suffered a hamstring injury, and Dani Glebov had an injury. We essentially didn't have any ready-made defensive midfielders. So Vanya had to drop back to the number eight spot. The first half almost went wrong for us because we weren't playing well in the center of the field. In the second, we made adjustments, switching to a 4-4-2, and the game immediately changed. It wasn't Vanya's fault; we made the best of what we had. We should have played a 4-3-3 attacking and a 4-5-1 defensively. Vanya should have played alongside Umyarov, Bitello alongside Gedson, and Foma should have played alongside Barco. Basically, Spartak wouldn't have had much to show if we hadn't scored against ourselves.

— In the second half, you brought on a third center forward, El-Mehdi Maouhoub, quite early. Could you comment on your plan?

— Gladyshev had been playing on fumes in recent matches and couldn't last 90 minutes. So we needed to freshen up our game, and we brought on Maouhoub.

— After Sergeyev's goal, Spartak was much more dangerous for 15 minutes and pinned your team back. What was the reason?

— I already said that the game was a rollercoaster. Yes, there was a period when they seized the initiative, and then we did the same. I said before the game that emotion is good, but you need to keep a cool head. The players understood perfectly well what this match meant, and sometimes they were afraid to take unnecessary risks, while sometimes they wanted to play defensively.

— Today, Barco took three consecutive dangerous corners to the near post. Did you analyze these moments before the game?

— Of course, we analyzed their set pieces and were prepared for them. We had some dangerous set pieces too, and we even scored from one—though the goal was disallowed. So I wouldn't say Spartak had any crazy set piece chances.

— Today we didn't see any young players who had already proven themselves. When can we expect them back in the lineup?

— As for the young players, they've already played — Leon Zaydenzal, Vitya Okishor, and Ulvi Babayev, who, unfortunately, fell ill. The academy constantly provides young players to the main team. We have hope and faith in them. I think they have very good prospects for the future.

— Pavel Pivovarov assessed the first half of the season as unsatisfactory. How would you rate it?

— I completely agree with Pavel Konstantinovich. There's nothing to say about that. If Dynamo is in this position, it's clear that this half of the season was unsuccessful.