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Karpen criticized the performance of the Russian national team in the second half against Burkina Faso

Valery Karpen expressed his criticism regarding the performance of the Russian national team in the second half of the friendly against Burkina Faso, underlining that the team did not maintain the level of play of the first half.

The technical commissioner of the Russian national team, Valerij Karpen, made statements at the end of the friendly against Burkina Faso, won 3-0. "I liked the first half, everything worked in the defensive phase. We missed some tackles and didn't allow the opponents to get out, mainly by passing the ball onto Konaté. Overall, everything was fine, except for what we talked about before the match. There were few, if any, movements behind the defense. We didn't create the sharpness we would have liked.

"Has Gluschenkov justified his position as a centre-forward? Certainly. The score was 2-0 and there was a sending off, but he didn't score, although he had chances. It's better to be on the front lines. His main qualities are speed and movements from behind. On the right this works. Circolov prefers to receive the ball on the wing, Beveev can move towards the center. On the left we worked a little differently, it depends on the players.

"The second half was disastrous. What went wrong? Everything. Nothing went, absolutely nothing. We should have made not six substitutions, but eleven. We had to behave like in the first half. Suddenly, the Burkina Faso national team became that team that managed to break away from the pressing, arriving right at our doors, even with one man less. Why? I hope it's clear now. If you give 99% effort instead of 120%, that will be the case.

"Were there more positive emotions than negative ones? As far as I'm concerned, no. If in the first half they show what they can do and in the second they don't, not because the opponent has changed, nor because Spain, France or Brazil have entered the field, you have to work with your head or with their fame. The expulsion? Maybe they thought about it, obviously it's my fault, even if we talked about it during the break, but they still entered the pitch relaxed. In the next match I would like to see a performance like today's first half," Karpen said live on "Match TV".

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