Ukrainian coach Serhiy Yashchenko shared his impressions of the first playoff match of the Europa League qualifying round between Dnipro-1 and Cypriot AEK (1:2) last Thursday.
Sergey Yashchenko- Dnipro-1 has not played official matches for more than 8 months - the previous one is dated December 10, 2021. What team did you see in the playoff match of the Europa League round?
- In the first game, the Cypriot team was stronger than Dnipro-1. We are talking about tactical actions and technical equipment of football players. What caught my eye was that Dnepr-1 had a lot of problems during the defense, especially on the flanks. It can be seen that our team did not have enough time at the training camp to play.
— Did the fact that Oleksandr Kucher only recently took charge of the Dnipro team affect the readiness of Dnipro-1?
- Undoubtedly. Any head coach needs time to get to know new players, talk about his requirements, and enter the training process. Perhaps Kucher's wards have not yet understood his concept. This simply takes time.
- AEK footballers scored a rather quick goal, which affected the morale of our team. What happened there?
- You need to act closely with the opponent's players, not give them time to think. On the left flank, the attacks easily beat the defender, slipped into the penalty area, rebounded the ball, and again no one played closely with Altman. Well, after all, the defenders in the center of the penalty area are obliged to closely guard the opponents. The balls do not fly into the goal by themselves. Undoubtedly, the coaching staff of our team will analyze the game and point out mistakes. It is important not to repeat them.
- The second missed goal is a real comedy. The new goalkeeper of Dnipro-1, Valef, did not reach the ball, although no one interfered with him, and Svatok hit his own goal. You rarely see this in modern football.
- In my opinion, goalkeeper Valef is the weakest link in the current Dnipro-1. He made mistakes even before this episode. And the insecure actions of the goalkeeper always affect the game of the whole team. But I would not blame Valef alone for everything. Dnipro people have a lot of new performers. Apparently, Alexander Kucher does not know about all the best qualities of his wards.
By the dynamics of the game, it was clear that the Cypriot AEK was more determined to win. His players work better with the ball, give accurate passes. They have already played Champions League qualifiers against Midtjylland and Europa League against Partizan. AEK players have already rolled into the season. Undoubtedly, the Dnipro-1 players also wanted to win, but they lacked energy, some kind of charge. And yet, I did not notice much difference in the class between the two teams.
- Dnipro-1 played the previous official match in Mariupol in December last year. Of that squad, only Svatok, Pikhalyonok and Dovbik entered the main squad for the game in Kosice. Is this also a problem for the team?
- This is not even discussed. When the head coach has 1 or 2 players in the starting line-up, then this is already a big problem. In this case, it's a disaster. Now Dnipro-1 has newcomers from different countries, with different cultures and traditions. All the most important things happen in the training process. How you train is how you play.
- But despite all the difficulties, in the second half Dnipro-1 played much better. Is it only a matter of Gromov, whom Kucher released onto the football field at half-time?
- Apparently, there was a detailed conversation between the head coach and the players in the locker room. And he did. The Cypriots were winning, maybe they have calmed down a bit. But I would like to praise our team. They started to play aggressively, turned on the speed. This is the only way to act, and from the very beginning of the game.
The Dnieper created chances at the enemy's gate quite often. Luck to win, "Dnepr-1", was not enough. Remember what kind of fires broke out at the gates of AEK in the second half. Score these goals - the Ukrainian team would have won a strong-willed victory. The guests had only one chance to excel when their player from the left flank hit the post. Now Kucher has a week to analyze everything and prepare the team for the match in Larnaca. And it is also necessary to cover the flank players of AEK - they are the whole threat to our goal.
— How would you rate the performance of Artem Dovbik?
- In this meeting, Dovbik showed almost nothing. In the game in Kosice, Artem acted like a mini-football player. They threw balls at him like a pole. And he accepted them, basically, standing with his back to someone else's goal. Earlier, in the Ukrainian national team, we saw his power, speed, work with the ball. Here, all this was not.
Dovbik played on the spot. Maybe the Cypriots have high-class defenders? Let's see in the return game. But since you are the leader of the team, its main scorer, then the demand from you is different. Everyone writes that Dovbik will soon move somewhere for a lot of money, maybe this hinders him. And for Artem, the last fight was important.
- Who do you like from the players of the Ukrainian team?
- Right-back Vladimir Tanchik. In attack, he was very good. How many shots, innings he made. Yes, not everyone was accurate, but here there are questions for Tanchik's partners. Although, I agree that when defending, he should act better, not allowing his opponents to roam.
- Are the defeats on the international arena "Dawn", "Vorskla", and now "Dnepr-1" - are these links of the same chain?
- Of course, the war had a strong impact on Ukrainian football. Players are people too and are very worried about their relatives and friends. Most clubs do not train at their own training centers. Home matches are played on neutral fields. All these factors affect the result. And a long pause, without official matches, did nothing good for our clubs.
- Does the final defeat in the first match leave chances for Dnipro-1 to win overall?
- Leaves. Now away goals are not so important. In the first meeting, the Cypriots made fewer mistakes. Now Oleksandr Kucher knows a lot, not only about his team, but also about his opponent. I believe that the chances of qualifying for the Europa League group stage are 50/50. It is important for Dnipro-1 to score first in Larnaca. That's when everything changes.
