"If you do one thing well, then you can't block it."

Kaliningrad Baltika, which became the main sensation of the last RPL season, does not perform so brightly in the new season, but it still remains among the leaders. After six rounds, Andrey Talalaev's team is in fifth place, eight points behind the first line and three points behind the second. At the same time, Kaliningrad residents have to do without a head coach again: last week, the RFU KDC disqualified him for four matches for an insulting gesture towards the stands during an away meeting with Rubin Kazan (1:1).

For a specialist, this is the third long—term disqualification for emotional behavior on the sidelines - the previous two occurred last season. The first match he missed this time was a 3-0 win over Rodina Moscow. In an interview with Izvestia, Baltika defender Ivan Belikov told how the absence of a head coach affects the team, appreciated the start of the season, and also spoke about the performance in the Second League of Lugansk Zarya, participating in Russian competitions for the first time.

— For the third time in the last year, the team remains without Andrei Talalaev on the coaching staff. Is his disqualification affecting him?

— It's hard to say. It probably has an effect somehow. Perhaps in the first match, against Rodina (3-0), it so happened that Andrei Viktorovich's absence did not have such a strong effect. But there is a certain amount of influence when he is not on the sidelines. After all, he affects us emotionally in different ways when he is near the field. So there's a difference when he's on the sidelines and when he's on the podium. There may be a slight difference, but there is one.

— The club's management made an official statement publicly criticizing Talalaev for the behavior that led to the disqualification. How did the team react to this position of the Baltika management, who had previously always supported the head coach?

"I didn't even see it." I didn't see what the management said about this.

— How would you rate Baltika's results in the first six rounds of the championship on a five-point scale?

—Four or four minus." With those with whom it was absolutely necessary to score points, we scored them plus or minus. With those who were difficult to play against, the Moscow teams, we lacked something. We will continue to try to score more points with such leaders. Plus, we must not forget about the need to beat everyone else.

— Last season, you most often brought matches with top clubs to a draw or a victory. What prevented you from scoring points in the games with CSKA (1:2) and Spartak (1:2)?

— Perhaps it's because now everyone is slowly getting used to the requirements of our coaching staff. After all, we've got a lot of new players this summer. They are currently in the final stages of adapting to us and us to them. We started playing football a little bit later, and the requirements of the coaches changed a little bit.

— What exactly has changed?

— And tell you everything right away! No, let the coaches of other teams analyze it (laughs). The main thing is that during this period of adaptation we scored enough points to feel more or less comfortable.

— Do you feel that after last season, expectations are higher than they were a year ago?

— We want to win every match ourselves. The coach always tells us when we played well and when we played poorly. We haven't had such disastrous games as at the end of last season so far. When we finished the last championship with eight matches without wins and four defeats, we failed some of them precisely in terms of the quality of the game. We were unable to do well what was required of us. There are few such cases now. Even where we lost, I think the coaching staff was happy with our actions, plus or minus. I hope we will continue to play even better. Because, I repeat, newbies get used to the demands of our coaching staff. And once they get used to it, we will have a wide range of players, when everyone can go on the field and make a result. The main thing is to keep improving the quality of the game.

"We strive to become a top club too"

Ravil Izmailov, CEO of FC Baltika, spoke about his readiness to compete with the leaders, the upcoming RPL season and the results of the last one

— One of the main features of Baltika last season was Mingiyan Beveyev's long-range shots from outside, after which the team scored goals, including after your head shots. We've already scored twice this season. Why does it keep working, even though the opponents seem to be ready for these outs?

— If you do one thing well, then it's not blocked. Everyone knows about corners, too, who runs to the far post and who runs to the near post. They're taking it all apart. But if you serve the corners well, then you can prepare for it as much as you want — it won't help.

— Are you following the debut in the Second League of the Russian Championship of Zarya from your native Lugansk?

— Yes, the team is currently rebuilding there, the head coach has changed. They're looking for a game. So far, 10th place, the results are unstable — some wins, some losses. But the guys are trying. They are looking for their own game that will bring consistently good results.