"Whoever says they don't look at the chart is lying"

Lokomotiv Moscow is among the contenders for medals in the current Russian Football Championship. In December, the team went on a winter break in third place. In March, its positions remain unchanged. The Railwaymen started the spring with a 2-1 home victory over Pari Nizhny Novgorod in the championship, despite the removal of Loko midfielder Alexander Rudenko at the end of the first half. Then Mikhail Galaktionov's team defeated Arsenal Tula (2:1) in the first stage of the quarterfinals of the Path of the Regions of the Russian Cup.

After that, Loko could have come out on top in the championship due to misfires by the leading Krasnodar and Zenit St. Petersburg, but lost points at home in the game with Akhmat Grozny (2:2). And at the end of last week, he defeated Rubin Kazan (0:3) and is five points behind the first place nine rounds before the finish.

In an interview with Izvestia, red-green midfielder Artyom Karpukas explained the reasons for the team's failures, talked about ways to solve mental problems and stated the need to be equally successful in the championship and the Cup of Russia, where Loko will play away against Samara Wings of the Soviets on March 19.

— What happened to the team in Kazan?

— It was the hardest match ... probably, even despite the score, I must say that we absolutely did not succeed in the game against Rubin. We need to change something, rethink what happened. And it's not even that someone left us, or the big score we lost with, the problem is that we didn't have a game in general.

— Is there an explanation for why Lokomotiv is starting poorly for the third spring in a row?

— To be honest, I don't know how to answer this question... it's too difficult a question. You just have to find your game and score points.

— Can we say that the game is lost, and even in the winning matches against Pari Nizhny Novgorod in the championship and Tula Arsenal in the Cup it was not?

— From Nizhny Novgorod to the elimination, our team had the kind of game at the end of the first half that we would like to see performed. Based on what happened after Rudenko's removal, it's hard to judge our game. And, probably, it is not necessary to judge. With Tula, I can't say that there was any bad game either - it was normal in quality. And then, perhaps, because of the championship standings, there were shackles on our shoulders - I don't know how else to explain our results in the match against Rubin. I have only this explanation so far.

— So before the match with Akhmat, the prospect of becoming a leader, which appeared the day before the game, when Krasnodar and Zenit suffered defeats, was pressing?

— Probably, yes. Because everyone is looking at this table. Anyone who says they're not watching is lying. And there are some mental issues.

They released a pair: Krasnodar and Zenit broke away from competitors in the RPL

Both championship leaders skillfully took advantage of the misfires of their pursuers

— How to solve them?

— You just need to calm down and understand that football is a game in which you have to take risks and take responsibility for these risks.

— Do we need some kind of tough conversation within the team for this?

— In any case, everyone wants to win. I don't see that anyone in the team doesn't have that desire. Anyway, I don't understand how there can be no desire when you're in third place in the championship, not far from first, and the whole fight is still ahead. So I think everyone needs to calm down more.

— If you play with the Wings as the main squad, will you be able to withstand the struggle in both the championship and the Cup, without dividing these tournaments into the main and secondary ones?

— I think there is no need to divide the tournaments into anything. We are athletes. And you should be able to play several games a week.