– First of all, I congratulate “Dynamo” Kyiv on the victory in this tense confrontation, and I hope that in the near future we will be able to return to similar matches in the classic derby with 40 thousand or even more fans in Ukrainian stadiums. In terms of the game, I think the first 15 minutes of our performance was incredible – I’m completely satisfied with the way the players executed the setup I gave for this match. Maybe they could have chosen better boots for those 15 minutes and more correctly implement those moments that arose in us.
Then we lost some of our healthy composure and under the pressure of the opponent’s attacks in the second half, we lost a little concentration. This is how it works in football: when you allow the opponent to create chances, very often he takes advantage of them. Especially an opponent of this level. On the other hand, we failed to realize the opportunities that arose for us. I am extremely upset, but we have to put the sadness behind us and move on to the next confrontation. As for the last 15 minutes of the match, I will have a real conversation with my team one-on-one in a difficult format.
– “Shakhtar” dominated in certain sections, but did not manage to realize it. Is it lack of experience or lack of concentration?
– Before answering your question, I would like to emphasize the refereeing: today it was at a really high level. And we should praise judges when they do their job very well. Yes, we can criticize them when we are unhappy with some of their decisions, but today I am completely satisfied with the level of refereeing. So we have to thank the chief referee and his assistants.
Regarding your question, as I emphasized, football is about being able to use the opportunities created in the most correct way. I wouldn’t say that this is the result of a loss of concentration, I agree more with your thesis that it is a certain lack of experience that we need due to the fact that our team is really young.
And, of course, it shows when you play against a rival like Dynamo, especially on their ground, when they feel the support of their home stands and create pressure. Unfortunately, today we did not manage to deal with this pressure properly. Of course, games like these provide great experience for the future, but I’d rather get that experience through victory. Unfortunately for us, today we get it through a painful defeat.
– Before the goal was scored, your team had a complete advantage and dominated the field. After the goal was scored, she stepped back and gave the initiative to the opponent. Was that your instruction or did the team decide that?
– We always try to develop our style of play in this way – by dominating the ball, creating as many chances as possible and then realizing them. Unfortunately, we were unable to fully implement this game plan today. The opponent really looked better in one-on-one situations, and our opponent looked pretty good in the contact fight today as well.
We will analyze the game and try to draw useful conclusions from the punishment we received for not following all the postulates of our game for the whole 90 minutes. And yes, I completely agree with you: what happened today in a certain part of the match bothers me and makes me analyze very carefully after the game what happened today.
– In every match, “Shakhtar” creates moments, but cannot realize them. In your opinion, how big is the role of the fact that Sudakov and Kevin left?
– They are both incredible performers and at the same time really wonderful people, fantastic guys. However, it is time to leave this phase of life in the past. They reached a certain level, wanted to grow and improve their career opportunities – we respect that and gave them such an opportunity at the end of the last transfer window. Now we have a whole galaxy of performers, also young and talented, who have a lot of potential, in which I believe.
Of course, they lack the experience gained in such matches as today’s classic derby. Sometimes it is obtained at the expense of confident victories, sometimes at the expense of painful defeats. Yes, I fully agree with your statement that it is precisely the precision we lack in the realization of the opportunities we create in the final third of the field. We are aware of this problem and have been working on it recently. I am confident that my boys will be able to make the right decisions and improve this aspect of our game as time goes on.
Source: sport.ua