Russia coach disagrees with Chelle’s game strategy claims

Russia head coach Valery Karpin has rejected Eric Chelle’s claim that tactical changes helped Nigeria come back from a two-goal deficit in Tuesday’s 3-3 friendly match in Nizhny Novgorod, according to PUNCH Sports Extra.

Chelle mentioned after the match that Nigeria’s new attacking style after the break troubled the Russians and helped the Super Eagles recover from being 3-1 down.

But Karpin did not agree that tactical changes led to Nigeria’s comeback when asked about Chelle’s view.

“What tactical changes? He fielded different players, and that was it. What other tactical changes were there?” Karpin said.

The Russian coach also dismissed claims that his team’s defensive issues were due to a bigger tactical problem. He said Nigeria's three goals came from mistakes.

“It was an accident. Absolutely. The first goal, it was clear what happened. The episode with the third goal was quite strange,” he said.

Russia seemed to be in control after bouncing back from an early setback. They took a 3-1 lead early in the second half.

Kelechi Iheanacho scored for Nigeria in the 10th minute. Then, Lechi Sadulaev and Matvey Kislyak turned things around for Russia before half-time. Aleksey Miranchuk then made it 3-1 for Russia in the 54th minute.

The Super Eagles made a late comeback. Peter Edokpolor scored to reduce the gap in the 78th minute. Akor Adams then equalized in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Despite giving up two goals late in the game, Karpin said he never felt Russia was at risk of losing the match. He insisted that his team was still in control.

“No, there was no such premonition. We continued to dominate the game. We conceded another goal after an error on our own during a goal kick,” he added.