The former head coach of Karpaty Pavel Kucherov commented on the devastating defeat of Shakhtar Donetsk against the Dutch Feyenoord (1:7) in the second leg of the Europa League 1/8 finals, which took place yesterday in Rotterdam.
Pavel Kucherov- I already expected the final score after 4-0. I thought that if it went that way, it could have come to eight goals, but Feyenoord stopped at seven, allowing Shakhtar to score a prestige goal.
As for the game. "Feyenoord slightly revised their tactics after the first match. Naturally, the Dutch club is stronger than Shakhtar by every measure, but if they started playing high pressure from the opening minutes like in Warsaw, Shakhtar might have had chances to counterattack.
However, the Dutch encountered the Pitmen in the middle of the pitch. They chose the tactic so as not to concede the first goal. In addition, they managed to score a quick goal, then a second and a penalty. After 3-0, Feyenoord have already realized that they made it through.
- Could Shakhtar tip the scales in their favor in this match? Maybe Jovicevic chose the wrong tactics for the match or the wrong players?
- Shakhtar now have a certain level based on the players they have available. But let's be honest. "Shakhtar clearly came for a penalty shootout to finish the game 0-0, fighting back within 120 minutes, hoping for luck and the miracle that happened with Rennes. It was an unlikely scenario, although miracles do happen in soccer.
I think that when Shakhtar conceded the second goal, the team should have played more, because there was a big risk of not getting further away. But they got a third goal and only at half-time did they make some changes, but it was too late. "Shakhtar in those two games have shown that they are not able to play on equal terms with Feyenoord.
- Who was at fault for Shakhtar's 1-7 defeat? Igor Jovicevic, the players, other factors?
- You can't blame just anyone. When a team plays close to their goal, it is difficult to count on success. With such a game one can only count on a miracle: if shots by Feyenoord were taken by the bar and the crossbar, the ball did not go in the goal.
The whole team lost. The coach and the players are to blame. Yesterday Trubin did not play his best game and he could have been more confident in the second goal. He could not keep Shakhtar in the game for long, in some moments he could not play on the courage to prevent Feyenoord from taking the lead.
In this match, most of Shakhtar's players played poorly, committing a lot of technical defects. Traore, for instance, could do nothing upfront and he had no support.
- Is the Europa League 1/8 finals the ceiling for Shakhtar today, or with the best of circumstances they could have got further?
- Shakhtar with Rennes jumped way over their heads, and to get past Feyenoord they had to jump way over the sky.
Andriy Piskun
