Armenia coach: We need to determine the state of our football

Head coach of the Armenian national football team Armen Gyulbudaghyants has held a press conference to sum up Armenia’s Nations League campaign.

Armenia finished second with 10 points in Group 4 of League D.


We were placed in League D, which means our level is low enough to get us into the same group as Gibraltar, with all due respect. We need to determine the current state of Armenian football in order to build a proper system and try to find solutions.

We are in need of top-class players to make the team more competitive. Yura Movsisyan doesn’t get sleep for two days because he’s traveling from the United States. We are negotiating with Diego Rossi Marachlian now, and if he joins the team, it will be a huge boost.

In general, we are unhappy with our results in the Nations League, but some outcomes – in away games with Macedonia and Gibraltar – were good.

We had 70% possession in the games against Lichtenstein and Gibraltar, but we conceded goals. If you keep throwing everything you’ve got at the rival team’s goal, they get the opportunity to counter-attack successfully. Our defense wasn’t on point: Kamo Hovhannisyan, Hovhannes Hambardzumyan and Gagik Daghbashyan joined the attack too often and others had to cover to help the team defend.

We scored 12 goals in the last 4 games and conceded 5. The boys made some major mistakes that let to conceding goals, so we need to work on that individually to reduce mistakes to a minimum in the future.

Several new players were involved in those games, but playing young footballers shouldn’t be a goal on itself. Young players have to mature and be prepared to join the team.

We can talk about our next opportunities after the Euro 2020 qualifying draw on December 2. If we are placed in a group of 6 members in total, we won’t have games in March, and if it’s a group of 5, we might even get two matches.