Kirill Kovalchuk: “There is nothing wrong with the fact that Rotan trains three teams at the same time”

The head of the selection service of Chornomorets, Kirill Kovalchuk, shared his impressions of the Euro 2024 qualifying match England - Ukraine (2: 0), which took place last Sunday in London.

- After the match between Ukraine and England at Euro 2024, there are a lot of negative assessments in the media and social networks. Did you like this match in general?

- Of course, it's a pity that we couldn't show the potential that the team has. The same Mudrik could not show his best qualities, did not find his moments. Now he needs to prove again what a quality football player he is, because in Ukraine he performed very brightly, but while adaptation continues for him in England, this match was of great importance. Yes, a young player, there is a lot of pressure on him now. I would like him to prove himself in this match. Unfortunately, this did not work out.

At the same time, experienced football players could also show their best side. The same Karavaev, for example. Play more collected, more reliable. But the main problem is that they couldn't stick to their style of play. I read that both Kravchenko and Rotan said that the team would play their game without looking at the opponent, but this did not happen. Probably, the team could not cope with the psychological burden. We all know that these are quality players, worthy.

We must pay tribute to England - this is a very strong team. And our team, due to the war and the loss of a normal preparatory stage, faced a lot of problems. We can't even play at home. If you remember, four years ago we beat the Portuguese national team at home. Plus, the reason for not the most successful game now may be that the process of setting up the interaction of players with the new coaching staff is underway.

— But the composition of the team also raised a lot of questions. Why did Artem Dovbik remain on the bench, while Yaremchuk, whose form is now beyond scrutiny, came out at the start? And instead of Tsygankov, who, frankly, is now at his best, Malinovsky, who has a completely different functionality on the field, turned out to be on the flank.

- This is understandable, but we do not know the nuances of who and in what condition came to the national team. There are 24 players, and they must all be equal. I will not say that Dovbik is stronger than Yaremchuk or vice versa. The coach made the decision. I would not like to go deep into personalities, one can only worry and sympathize, as in the case of Mudrik, because we all wish him the best way to show himself in England.

By the way, many people spoke about the illogicality of the decision on Malinovsky, but I liked his game in this match. He tried, took the game on himself, tried to disperse the attacks. Somewhere I was looking for the moment for that very shot, because in the final statistics we had no shots on target. By the game, it was felt that Malinovsky was trying, but we must pay tribute to the opponent: they didn’t give us practically anything to create at all. So 2:0 is still nothing, it could have been more.

- A couple of central defenders of Svatok - Matvienko looked somewhat experimental for such a match, don't you think?

- After all, there was a friendly game in which many combinations were seen (2:0 with Brentford B, - ed.). Again, we know that Ruslan is an experienced player, we can already call him an experienced coach. He probably had reasons for such a pair of defenders. Now you can find a lot of problems if we lost, but you shouldn't blame the defenders for this defeat either. Because everything is interconnected: if the players of the attacking line lost the ball less, then the defenders would have to do less hard work. Goals are the result of mistakes. A little bit there, a little bit here, plus, the opponent's performance skills. Saka scored a crazy goal, what can I say?

As soon as we opened up, England, an experienced team, immediately took advantage of this. The composition of the British is estimated at a billion euros, so with such a class, such moments are realized instantly. I hope that the next game will be held under more favorable conditions for our team.

In this selection, everything is still fixable, it was only our first game. The next matches are in three months, you need to survive this defeat and move on. We hope that by then our players will come in a better psychological state. It will be clear at the end of the season who will approach her and in what condition.

- Usually under the attacker they play in the national team Malinovsky, Zinchenko, there was an experienced Buyalsky. But Georgy Sudakov came out in this game. Did he cope with his functionality and how justified is the trust in a young player in such a match in the presence of a classic alternative?

- He looks good at Shakhtar, and I would not say that he played badly. I really like him. Yes, Sudakov is more attack-oriented, while Stepanenko is more of a destroyer, doing more of the dirty work. Such a player is needed, and now there are few of them in Ukraine, such diverse players. It is right that Sudakov was entrusted with a place at the start. This is normal, I will not say that he was the weakest. Yes, I made mistakes somewhere, but everyone made mistakes in this match. Take even Zinchenko - the brightest figure in the team, one of the leaders of the team. It is clear that Sudakov was worried and nervous, but there are more experienced guys. And he looked no worse than them, played a normal match, based on the fact that the opponent did not allow us to do much.

That match with Brentford B, which was not broadcast, could probably give more insight into the picture. Most likely, the coaching staff came from that game.

- Who will coach the Ukrainian national team in June: still Ruslan Rotan or Sergey Rebrov? How do you feel?

- The national team is a specific job for a coach. You need to be ready for it. Roughly speaking, purely working 40 days a year, the rest of the time you watch and analyze the players. I understand that Ruslan Rotan does not yet have such experience. The youth team is a slightly different approach, in the national you also have foreign players, you need to devote more time to monitoring the championships of other countries.

It's a pity that he had a match with England for his debut. If an opponent fell out who, according to the rating, would be on the same level as the Ukrainian national team, it would be easier, otherwise I had to immediately confront one of the best teams in the world. If a semi-finalist of the World Cup, a finalist of the European Championship gets in, then it’s hard to show some of your tactical preparations and thoughts on the field.

It is hard to say who will lead the Ukrainian national team to the matches in June. Here you need to either trust, give time to one coach, or bring another. That is, trust Rotan, give him a chance, and then he will make his choice: whether to coach the national team, youth team or stay in club football. Now a lot of criticism has fallen on him, in terms of the fact that he works in three places. I think that there is nothing wrong with that, the person has done a huge amount of work in the "youth team" and in "Alexandria". Critics say: "And when was the last time he won?" But he did not lose in "Alexandria". There is nothing wrong with no victories. A person works, and you can ask the same football players about his work.

You can say that about any coach: Lucescu or Mourinho. You will see how a person works, which players are progressing, what kind of football his team plays, what tasks are set and how he performs them.

There are other points to note as well. For Ruslan, this is a crazy experience that he will either use or not. This is definitely not bad, and everyone will now be able to appreciate his approach. We are looking at this process from the outside. My opinion is normal, there is nothing to worry about, all the players know him, he is not a stranger. No matter how much I communicate with football players and with him, I know him as a positive person, a hard worker, a captain who has achieved a lot on the football field and in clubs and in the national team. I am confident in him and support Rotan. The man really works hard. He led the national team at Wembley, quickly recovered and the next day went to lead the youth team. Yes, the result was not successful everywhere, but I am sure that this is not due to the fact that he currently works in three positions.

Ruslan Petrovich did not do enough for Ukrainian football not to get this chance and not get support at such a moment.

Daniil Vereitin