Head coach of Urartu FC Aleksandr Grigoryan, in an interview with us, summed up the results of Season-2020 and spoke about upcoming plans․

 

ABOUT THE FIRST PART OF THE SEASON

"Together with the cup match, we hold only 10 matches and 2 fixtures less than most of our opponents. In this case, how we can sum up the season? We defeated Gandzasar-Kapan FC, and they, in turn, took points from the leaders, but the results of those matches were canceled, the points were written off, which implied changes in the table. It's very bad to play so few matches in six months, but I liked how much motivation we had. It is possible that we didn't keep it till the end. In the matches with the teams Alashkert FC and Noah FC we were not in good physical shape. The situation in the world, especially in Armenia, and the associated uncertainty, had a bad effect on us. Summing up the above-mentioned, I would like to say that I was pleased with the approach of the players to work, I liked our new players, and in general I am satisfied with the way we worked, but not with the way we played. I would rate the quality of our game for three.

ABOUT CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH AFFECTED ON FOOTBALL

"For a long time, we have maintained the team in a functional and emotional tone. I believe that the failure that was observed in the fixture against Alashkert FC was associated with the health of some players. Many have recently recovered from the coronavirus and were not in their best physical shape. Most of the Armenian teams infected with the coronavirus 2-2.5 months before we. The players themselves didn't hide that they felt bad after the coronavirus. I noted that we have a problem with improving the quality of the game, but there are players who have really progressed. This can be a good premise for improving the team's performance in the future.

ABOUT THE PLAYERS WHO LEFT THE CLUB

"I respect all the players who left the team, I have good relations with everyone, but the biggest loss for me and for the team was Dmitry Guz, because he has outstanding ability to win challenges. I remember that in the FNL he was repeatedly recognized as the best center-back. There was nothing we could do about it, Guz made a decision for family reasons. His relatives wanted to return to their homeland - to Russia.

ABOUT POSSIBLE NEW PLAYERS

"First of all, we will focus on our youngsters. Yes, we gave them little playing time, but this was due to the fact that we played a little. I like the way Urartu-2 performs this year, there are guys who can already get into the main team. For example, Gor Lulukyan and Khariton Ayvazyan are already players of the main team, Khariton has a good chance of even getting into the starting line-up. He will compete and he has a real chance.

Strategically, we now have to think about replenishing the center of defense in the absence of Guz. We need one more striker, at the moment only Jonel Desire is a clear striker in the team, although we can consider the options of Samvel Hakobyan and Artur Miskirijyan from the second team, which we will also include in our training processes. In terms of replenishment, we consider these two positions - center-back and center-forward.

ABOUT THE UPCOMING TRAINING PROGRAMS

"We will start training sessions on January 6 and will hold all training camps in Yerevan. We will be here all the time until the championship resumes. It has both positive and negative sides. I see more positives. The only drawback of preparation in Yerevan is the problem of holding fixtures with high-class opponents. But at that time, I focused on preparing the team.