"It's difficult to evaluate the game. We lost with a score of 0:3. If we don't count the goal scored against "Hayduk" in extra time in Croatia, we hadn't lost for six months."
Idman.biz reports that these words were said by Rashad Sadigov, the head coach of "Zira", at the press conference held after the 8th round (3:0) match of the Misli Premier League with "Sabah".
The expert added that they last lost to "Qarabag" in the 29th round: "It was clear that we would lose sometime. But I didn't want us to lose like this. Because this defeat was not worthy of us. The breaking point of the game was the last minutes of the first half. We conceded two goals in 3-4 minutes. It is difficult to change this against a team like "Sabah" away. We tried. We had a better game in the second half. But again, after a technical error, the opponent punished us with a counterattack. Just as we quickly forgot when we won and focused on the next meeting, now we must give the same reaction. This game is over, we will analyze our mistakes, draw conclusions and prepare for the next game."
Then he also answered journalists' questions.
- Do you agree that you haven't played this poorly lately...
- That's absolutely true. We had one of our weakest games this year. Not to be an excuse, it is very difficult for teams like us to not have 6-7 leading players. Maybe 1-2 players. But it is difficult to replace 6-7 players of the main squad after losing them. It is very difficult to fill the gap when 5-6 players who are not in the game rhythm enter the field. We tried. Our last unexpected loss was Ismayil Ibrahimli and Ceyhun Nuriyev. We were trying to solve the losses before them, to fill the gaps. There were also those two additional losses. It was also felt in the course of the game.
- Shahrudin Mahammadaliyev was penalized in our national team's match against Ukraine. Are you considering giving Aydin Bayramov a chance in the upcoming games and opening his way to the national team?
- We have such a plan. But we will make the final decision closer to the game, after the weekday training sessions.