Andrey Arshavin: All Russian coaches with whom I worked lacked courage

Russian midfielder Andrei Arshavin compared the principles of work of domestic and foreign coaches, namely, the Dutch head coaches Dick Advocaat and Guus Hiddink.

«The distance between the players and Advocaat is bigger, perhaps. But in fact he often takes a side with the players. Yes, he is stubborn, gets his own way, and is almost never frightened. In general, both Hiddink, and Advocaat are always ready to take risks. »What do you mean by saying ‘almost’?»

«Ahead of the memorable second leg of the UEFA Cup against Bayern Munich Dick thought about changing our tactics to a more defensive one, but the team talked it over and decided that we’d better lose the game than regret the wrongly changed tactics. Fortunately, we then secured a comfortable win.»

«What’s the main difference between the Dutch and the European coaches in general and the Russians?»

«Unfortunately, all the Russian coaches I ever worked with lacked courage. Once the date of an important match approaches, some kind of bustle begins, everything breaks down and collapses,» Arshavin said to Sport-Express.