Emery regrets failure to bond at Spartak

Moscow, Nov 28 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Fired Spartak coach Unai Emery has said he regrets failing to communicate well enough with the team during his five months as in charge of the Russian football club.

Emery lost his job Sunday after Spartak were drubbed 1−5 by Dynamo Moscow in a derby clash, with his predecessor Valery Karpin stepping in to take the team through their last two games of the year.

“For me, as for Spartak, one obstacle has been communication,” Emery said on his website Tuesday.

“A good connection is very important for the transfer of idea, to map out how to work and how to play, feelings and emotions.”

Karpin, who doubles as Spartak’s general director and appointed Emery, suggested the Spaniard had fallen out with key players.

“Judging from interviews with players, there was,” he told Russian newspaper Sovetsky Sport, when asked about conflict between Emery and his team.

“I talked about this with Unai and we noted that there are players with whom contact wasn’t established. Unai answered that everything was fine, that he’d had situations like that before and that everything was under his control.”

After the Dynamo game but before Emery’s firing was announced, Spartak forward Artem Dzyuba publically labelled Emery a “petty coach,” and Karpin said the player was now being punished.

“He’s on half wages. I spoke to Artem about this. Those kinds of words are unacceptable. He’s publically apologised, but that doesn’t relieve him of the responsibility,” he said.

Karpin denied Spartak’s Brazilian midfielder Rafael Carioca and forward Ari had been out partying the night before the Dynamo game, as some reports in the Russian media had said.

“They were both in the hotel in their rooms,” he said.

−−IANS/RIA Novosti

sr/vt

IANS 2012-11-28 18:20:05