Samir Abasov: "Don't blame me for 4 games"

After the match "Qarabag" - "Neftchi" (3:0) held in the XXXI round of the Misli Premier League, the head coach of the guest team, Samir Abasov, participated in the press conference. Sport24.az reports that the specialist answered journalists' questions:

– Why did you lose? Why couldn't you score?

– We had opportunities to score. Unfortunately, we could have scored even from inside the goal. This does not mean that we could have won or drawn. Why we conceded is the main question. We resorted to too many rotations. The injury problem has not left the team since I came here. Also, individual player mistakes have been a disaster for us this season.

– There is "Neftchi" that has not been able to beat "Qarabag" for 4 years…

– This is the Azerbaijan derby and it is understandable. It doesn't matter if there are injured players in the squad or a cup match. This is a derby and you have to win.

– You haven't played Murad Mammadov for a long time. Have you deleted him altogether?

– Murad cannot recover after the bad games he played in a row. This is also evident in training. We have no intention of deleting Murad at all. We replaced Aleksi with Murad. He is a football player we trust. There are some barriers that he has to overcome himself.

– "Zira", "Araz-Nakhchivan", "Turan Tovuz" defeated "Qarabag" but "Neftchi" did not. Does this team deserve to go to European cups?

– I don't understand the logic here. Don't blame me for 4 games. I was in 3 of them. Our game at "Neftchi Arena" was very good. Yes, we have many mistakes. But this does not mean that we do not deserve to go to European Cups. "Qarabag" is a good club. If so, then why shouldn't "Kapaz" go to European Cups? There is a "Neftchi" that is renewed every year. Hopefully we will put an end to this trend.

– Is Rafael Guzzo's injury serious?

– It was a different injury. It doesn't look serious. There was a collision in his knee.

– Will Edwin Kuç be able to reach the return match with "Sabah"?

– We believe. We have discussions with doctors. We have players who have just recovered from new injuries. Emin, Darbo, Sek, etc. They need to be played regularly so that they can recover. These problems just don't go away. The reasons are not clear to us. Despite having three central defenders, we played three games in a row with one. Hopefully, we will be relieved in the cup game.

– What is the reason for not letting Sambu into the game?

– Darbo was injured for almost 2 months. We put Darbo on the field so that he could feel the game. We also intended to replace him with Sambu at some point. We just wanted to keep Rahman and Guzzo on the field for 90 minutes. Our plans were disrupted because they also wanted to be replaced.