Serhiy Nagornyak, former assistant coach of Dnipro and current head coach of the Ukraine U-19 national team, has deconstructed the first official match of the UPL leader in 2023.
- Serhiy Mykolaovych, what was your impression of the first match of Dnipro-1 against AEK?
- The impression is not very positive. This team is already a bone in our throat: the Ukrainian clubs have played 5 games against it lately, and we can`t beat them. For some reason I believed that Dnipro players would score. But you see, they made a combination, didn't score, and immediately got a goal from the crossbar.
Babenko played on the standard with AEK`s player, he`s not tall. Tanchyk, Babenko, Blanco are all small-sized players. I hope that this curse of AEK will be lifted by Dnipro 1 in the return game.
By the way, if you compare matches between AEK vs Dnipro-1 and Shakhtar vs Rennes, the level of the game, of course, is different. A lot in today's Dnipro-1 game depends on Pihalenka and Dovbik. They tried very hard, they had good chances to score. If you remember, Dovbik had a good chance, almost one on one in the first half. He should have taken those chances, but unfortunately he didn't.
Also, the goalkeeper played great yesterday. I am not a fan of his, but he saved the team yesterday. We got 0-1 thanks to him.
- Did the starting lineup of "Dnipro-1" surprise you or everything looked logical?
- The coach is not your enemy, so he chose the ones who are better prepared. But I understand that Joan Peglou did not join the game immediately, so he was replaced after the break. It was hard for Dnipro 1 to get into the game. I`ve been very pleased with the last 10 minutes: we conceded the ball and immediately started to play with aggression.
With such a desire and sportsmanship they should play a return match. If they think that they can beat AEK by class, it may play a cruel joke on them. "Dnipro 1 has already been scalded by AEK once, Dynamo got scalded, so we hope that in the return leg Dnipro will still beat this team.
- How would you assess Dnipro-1`s prospects in the return match against AEK?
- I assess them all right, I hope they will win.
- There is an impression that Dovbik lost a little motivation due to the fact that every transfer window he was sold somewhere, but eventually he still remains in Dnipro-1. Why do you think he was not sold this winter?
- He was not sold for a simple reason: he extended his contract, his conditions were improved. I do not think anyone will give him better conditions. The second point: Dovbik is an important element in the fight for the championship. Now Dnipro 1 have a potential advantage of +2 points over Shakhtar, when the Pitmen play a postponed game.
But the fight for the championship without Dovbik is impossible. If he had been sold, there would have been no fight. He is the most important figure up front for them. Even judging from yesterday's match, a lot depends on him and Pihalenok.
- In your opinion, today "Dnipro-1" looks like a team that can win the championship?
- Judging by yesterday's game, of course, no. But it`s only the first game. We need to give the team time. Remember, like last year: they also lost to AEK, then played poorly, and then the championship began to show good football. Now we hope that they will pass AEK and things will get better.
Daniil Vereitin