Bilic defends his decision to exclude Pavlyuchenko and Sychev after Lokomotiv exit – Football News
Slaven Bilic has fired a barb at the critics who have blamed the Croatian tactician behind struggling strikers, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dmitri-Sychev-c11421.
A host of senior football analysts criticised Bilic after the 44-year-old failed to help Lokomotiv Moscow claim a decent spot on the Russian Premier League table last term. The critics stressed that the Railroaders would have secured
European berth if Bilic had played Pavlyuchenko and Sychev instead.
“Pavlyuchenko wants to play like every other individual and he remains worried if he is not in the composition of the team. He is certainly not happy with the current situation but this does not mean that he has lost motivation
to make a return to first team. Everyone knows Pavlyuchenko is capable of doing well. He has worked hard last season despite health problems. Sychev is not a bad striker either. He has been inconsistent due to his own problems but this does not mean that he
will never play again for Lokomotiv or any other good club,” the former Hajduk Split man was quoted as saying.
Pavlyuchenko, who joined Lokomotiv from Tottenham Hotspur last year, failed to meet expectation despite making an emotional return to the Russian Championship where he was regarded as one of the best striker not long time ago.
The Russian attacker managed to score just four goals in 19 league appearances last season.
Sychev, on the other hand, was loaned out by Bilic to Dinamo Minsk following the player’s poor form. The former Spartak Moscow striker failed to score a single goal the entire season.
Bilic, who resigned from the managerial position at Lokomotiv stadium earlier this week, admitted that things did not work out the way he initially thought after replacing Jose Couceiro at the helm last year.
The Moscow-based club finished at the ninth spot, just inside top half of the league table with 43 points. They remained seven points behind sixth placed Rubin Kazan to claim European football.
Bilic went on to apologize to the fans for a below par finish to the league campaign and admitted that he got a valuable experience while working at the Moscow-based club.
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