After the Shakhtar-Dynamo match, Mircea Lucescu's press conference was expected with particular interest: he spoke about the individual mistakes of his players, Mudrik's strengths, but not about what everyone was waiting for - not about his future. So what will happen to Mircea Mikhaevich after the defeat from Shakhtar and the failed European season?
Mircea Lucescu (photo: fcdynamo.com)Throughout the offseason, our correspondent Yevgeny Chepur asked the same question to the experts: “Dynamo is the main favorite of the season, but what will the rest fight for?” And now the “main favorite” is ninth in the domestic Premier League, none of his few newcomers have made the team stronger in their positions, and the European Cup season has been lost so much that the main ambition remains not to repeat at least the anti-record in the entire history of the Europa League, to score at least I would like one point so that it would not be so excruciatingly painful in this "gray" group of this "gray" tournament.
And what about Mircea Lucescu? Why can't he shake up the team, come up with another miracle, find a way out of the stalemate? He was very tired of "life on wheels", it is difficult for him to reveal well-known names in a new way, and miracles ended in the championship season. So why does he stay? We're trying to figure it out.
First, Lucescu is very ambitious
The big success at Dynamo, when he won the championship under the legionnaire Shakhtar and made it to the group stage of the Champions League, only brought Mircea Lucescu. If not for the war, he would have continued the development of the team as planned. It was under Mircea that the center of defense was completely renewed - and with all the problems of progress, Zabarny, Sirota and Popov are no more mistaken than Kadar, Shabanov, or even more so Pantich.
Surely, Lucescu planned to upgrade in other lines as well - however, the military break of last season, six months without playing practice and a protracted international tour actually took away a whole year of planned work from him. Each failure of his team becomes a big irritant for Mircea.
To leave now, when the team is in a clear crisis, means to admit personal failure
Yes, in other circumstances, resignation at the initiative of the club would be possible - but does Dynamo have the money to terminate the contract ahead of schedule and, no less important, is there an effective "plan B"? That is, a person to whom the club's management could confidently entrust the post of head coach? With all the sympathy for the best coaches in Ukraine, we cannot confidently say this, and foreign specialists who are ready to come to the war-torn country can be counted on the fingers.
Second, everyone underestimated Shakhtar this year
There is another reason why the tournament situation in the UPL is exactly the way we see it now. Experts clearly underestimated Shakhtar in their assessments. The Pitmen quickly established a quick transition from defense to attack, stepped up very effectively in the summer (and far from all the newcomers reached their optimal form - when they get it, it can be even better), and also quickly adapted their youth.
If at Dynamo we consider a few players to be partly ready for the first team (only only Zabarny, Vanat, Popov, Sirota, partly Vivcharenko), then at Shakhtar only Stepanenko, Pyatov and Matvienko remain from the old guard. The rest - young people who did not sit out at the U-21-U-19 level, but played a lot on loan in the UPL, have long been attracted to the first team. In a word, Shakhtar approached the crisis much more prepared. Jovicic's team is an iceberg, it's a deep well.
And Dynamo - well, here it is: 13-15 players that Lucescu seriously counts on, and five more people to run around in the last minutes. That is why Shakhtar replace Alan Patrick, Marlos, Dodo and even score points in the Champions League, and for Dynamo, let's be honest, the departure of Verbich, who decently slowed down, becomes a tragedy and exposes a gaping hole in the starting lineup.
Lucescu personally outlived Klassicne in two forms at once. Appreciate the beauty of numbers:
- Mircea against Dynamo at the head of Shakhtar: 47 matches: +25=7‒15; 1.74 points per game.
- Mircea against Shakhtar at the head of Dynamo: 6 matches: +2=1‒3; 1.17 points per game.
In the first case, he played as "Goliath" against "David", in the second - as "David" against "Goliath". These are completely different opportunities, the level of opposition, competition, the quality of football, etc.
Third - the maximum expectations dispelled the veil of Lucescu's charm
The way Mircea led Dynamo to the Champions League group stage made a real, tangible miracle. We all believed that this was how it should be - and meanwhile, his team jumped above their heads twice. Now, strictly speaking, Dynamo started the season very well, knocked out Fener and Sturm in turn, and when they lost to Benfica, the emotional shock was inappropriately large.
In fact, we are just beginning to understand how much the level of Ukrainian club football has fallen. Our losses to Benfica, AEK, AIK and other European football midfielders are just the tip of the iceberg of all problems. And what will happen if the shelling continues, the championship will have to be suspended again? The demarche of the group of legionnaires of the leader of the championship is just one of the reflections of the big problems that the war posed to Ukrainian football.
Against this background, defeats in European competitions will be taken as a given and a pattern. Of course, Dynamo is demoralized, having gone such a long way and losing to Benfica at the open doors of the Champions League. It left its mark on the whole season. But over time, we will understand that it was for-but-measure-but. And, perhaps, having realized the level of the fall, we can push off from the bottom.
Fourth, Dynamo's room for maneuver is extremely limited.
Moreover, we are talking not only about the period after February 24, 2022.
If now Dynamo cannot redraw the squad and quickly hire a new head coach, because worthy foreigners will not come to the warring Ukraine, then before the start of full-scale hostilities it could not, because there were no funds for such a massive purchase.
The squads that Blokhin, Semin and even Rebrov had now seem like a fairy tale. Let's face it, Mircea Lucescu plays with a team that has extremely limited potential. In many positions there are guys from whom you can no longer expect progress. There are players who can do more - and they know about it, but for several years they have been unable to move anywhere. These are also broken. Finally, there are a number of good preparations, but if earlier young people grew up next to Veloso, Vida, Mbokani or Verbic, now the scale of challenges is smaller, and the background is by no means as bright and victorious as it was literally a year ago.
Hence the most important conclusion: yes, you can try to shake up the team by changing the head coach, but what problems does this solve? Will a stronger specialist come? No. Will problems with motivation, psychological background, everyday extreme be solved? No! Will even a bright temporary effect be worth the whole strategy? No.
Mircea Lucescu performs the most difficult coaching task
Once again, in words and as frankly as possible: Mircea Lucescu, training the team “on wheels”, calming the guys under the threat of missile attacks and with constant fear for their loved ones, is performing the most difficult coaching task. He definitely won’t have a quality gain (judging by the fact that Lonveik and Parris are in a deep reserve, and Kabaev is already losing his place at the base, none of them are stronger than their predecessors). He is doomed to work with what he has, under such conditions. This is a given that everyone understands (Surkis, Lucescu, and the team).
Fifth - it is decisive: even in such circumstances, something good is possible
The task of Dynamo is to endure with minimal losses, make it to the winter training camp, and then carry out thoughtful work. If newbies are acquired, then whatever they are, they should get their chance. If young people regularly beat formidable competitors at home and internationally, sooner or later they must follow in the footsteps of Zabarny, Shaparenko, Mikolenko. Since Lucescu, Tsygankov and other leading personalities of the modern Dynamo are left (until the end of their contracts), they must work conscientiously and responsibly for the rest of the season.
Perhaps in such a chaotic and difficult season, next to the already adapted young players, new ones will play; this will brighten up and justify the autumn suffering, and also give hope for the future.
The war has not yet ended and has not even reached its climax. In this situation, the club's management will have to think three times how to give vent to emotions. Our coaching staff has been passed along and across, foreign ones, for the most part, are not available. No one wanted to be in such a situation, but they ended up; we will have to get out of it together.
Artur Valerko
