Former midfielder of the Ukrainian national team Yevhen Lutsenko told us what he thinks about the defeat of Shakhtar Donetsk against the Dutch Feyenoord (1:7) in the second leg of the 1/8 finals of the Europa League, which took place yesterday in Rotterdam.
"Feyenoord - Shakhtar - 7:1- Shakhtar players, in my opinion, thought that they were still in the Ukrainian league, even though they should have understood from the first game what to expect from Feyenoord. They were actually lucky that the first game was a draw.
If it was the first game today, we could still say Feyenoord surprised us. But so they did not surprise us, and Shakhtar just failed. Toothless, gutless, slow - you can list all theses, which are associated with a failed game. Horrendous amount of mistakes, catastrophic defect on long passes, with the help of which one can get out from under the high pressure - all that was at such a level that it was painful to watch. Both on the coach and, especially, on our fans.
- After what goal did it become clear that that was it, the team is finishing the euro season?
- I saw the first five minutes and it was clear that holding the ball in Shakhtar's penalty box would lead to nothing good. They absolutely did not understand how to come out from under the pressure, it was clear that the "bring" could be very big. And so it turned out that way. After the first half, I think the team was already broken completely.
- The scheme of 4-1-4-1 in the second match against the background of the events in the first did not seem too risky, if not even adventurous to some extent? And how do you assess the fact that the defensive line was changed by 75%, and as a result it completely failed?
- As for the risk, if the execution of the coach's instruction was technically at the proper level, if we saw a quick exit from the defense, then perhaps then the risk would have been justified by the advantage on the other side while cutting off the opposing group that went to press.
And as for the defenders, yes, we were surprised by the absence of Rakitskiy, especially after the extravaganza of the last game. Although everyone played poorly - both Bondar and Konoplya. The latter constantly slipped, he was very easy to beat, so in general a fullback must not play. He also earned a penalty in his own goal. Today everything that could score was scored. But then you have to somehow not to let them hit, to play more closely. Trubin - all of his long passes were off. Well, too much freedom was given by Shakhtar players to the opponents who are close to the top level. Such unforgivable mistakes are punished instantly.
- Do you have the feeling that Shakhtar lacked Mudryk for a match with such an opponent and at this stage?
- You could say so. They lacked a lot of other players. At the same time, Feyenoord seemed today just the Shakhtar of the golden Brazilian era, with Taison, with other players when the players immediately ran on offense, technically competently got out from under the pressure, they had speed, individual duels, the ability to create space when tackling one-on-one. As for Shakhtar right now, they have reached their ceiling.
- Kryskev was again put in at the Mudryk position by the coaching staff. Can we say that Jovicevic already counts on him somewhere?
- I don't think he's a real substitute for Mudryk. The latter took a very long time to get to where he is now. Perhaps over time, Kryskev will reach that level, but at the moment he's not even close to Mudryk.
- What has Shakhtar achieved in the current European Cup season and what can you call a failure?
- The main achievement is the very fact of reaching the European competitions, it's a real possibility to advance in the Champions League. Quite strong Rennes they managed to beat them. And all this with the maximum renovation of the squad, in the process of building, in fact, a new young team, where there are a lot of Ukrainians. Who, in turn, have already managed to get a great experience.
As for the failure, it was probably this very match today. "Feyenoord is quite a strong opponent, but it`s a shame for any team to lose like that. This is a hard blow for the guys, from which we should quickly recover, switch to the championship of Ukraine and due to those games that will be, restore the trust of the fans. Their calendar is very weak there now, as far as I remember, so I think Shakhtar will quickly recover.
Yevhen Savchuk
