It’s the final stage of this winter’s Gazprom Training Camp and you’re back in Abu Dhabi. What’s the reason for the move from Qatar?
It’s not unusual, we held the first training camp here and played a tournament in Qatar during the second. This third camp we came back here for the friendlies we can play and logistically, it’s more convenient, so we chose Abu Dhabi for the third camp.
The weather has changed and it’s hotter, is this OK for training?
It’s quite alright here in the evening, although it is a bit hotter during morning sessions than in Doha, but it’s not a serious issue, the weather is fine.
You said that during the third training camp the emphasis will be on tactics. Will this affect the intensity of the training?
During the third training camp, we will train as we would if we had a league games every week. This means that we will have more days to recovery and prepare. We always recover after training and we will train as we do during the league season.
Has the team had time to recover from the second training camp? What condition are the players in now?
They have switched gears and we know that training camps sooner or later get boring. The team are recharged and that's the most important thing. There are only two weeks left before we kick off the league season again and we know what has to be done. Everyone wants to finish in a positive mood.
Do you know who’ll you’ll be playing friendlies with while here?
We do know yes, but we will play these games behind closed doors. Everything is not 100% yet, but basically we know who’ll we’ll play.
Does switching to a league training cycle mean just one session a day? Or will you have two?
We will have two, and we have the time to work on match things. Double training will not be too intensive.