Igor Volkhin: "When we were up by 20+, there was some relaxation, which is something we can't afford"

In an interview for Zenit TV forward of the blue-whites Igor Volkhin commented on victory over Astana (96:59) in the 18th round of the VTB United League.

— Zenit has 11 consecutive victories, congratulations on that. Did you manage to properly prepare for a team that hasn’t won a single game in the championship?

— Yes, I think we managed to do everything we planned. The most important thing was the mindset. The coach mentioned this multiple times because it’s not any easier to play against teams that, let's say, have the worst performance this season. But that doesn’t mean anything. As the coach said, he has even lost many games like that in his career.

— The coach expressed some dissatisfaction during the game. What do you think it was about?

— Maybe, when we were up by 20+ points, there was some relaxation. And that's something we can't afford, so the coach used his displeasure to get us back into the game, to make sure we didn’t let up.

— How difficult was it to push yourself to perform at your best after the match against CSKA?

— You just try to give your best every game when the opportunity arises, regardless of who you played in the previous match. Of course, everyone is happy with the CSKA win, and we aimed for that. But we didn’t approach this game thinking Astana is a bad team. No, we were fully focused.

— Did you note that the visitors' bench was on a luxurious Kazakh carpet today and would you like a similar gesture from Astana when Zenit come to visit them in April?

— I didn’t notice that the carpet was specifically there. But today during the morning practice, I saw it, and I noticed that the carpet was interesting. It would be interesting to see what they come up with when they host us.

— Ahead is a trip to Krasnoyarsk. Can we say that Zenit has recovered after the game with CSKA and is ready for such a long flight?

— I think so. The coaching staff distributes the workload, gives some players more rest, and others who have been less involved get more practice. Now everyone is in optimal shape, so there shouldn't be any problems with the game against Krasnoyarsk.