Oleksandr Sopko: "A draw in the match between Dynamo and Shakhtar is absolutely correct"

Ex-footballer of Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk Oleksandr Sopko shared his impressions of the face-to-face match of his former teams, which took place last Saturday as part of the 22nd round of the Ukrainian Championship and ended in a draw, 1:1.

- I consider the result of the match to be completely natural and fair, it is absolutely in the game. None of the teams played enough to win, so that it was clear that it was stronger than the other.

I expected a slightly different scenario for the game, but the teams were too squeezed by the result and integrity. All this left its mark on the game, because with insufficient skill and class of teams, a huge number of banal mistakes were still superimposed. The game was basically a parade of bugs. And, unfortunately, what always accompanied these fights in past years - the high level of football players, team play, coaching ideas - today you can only remember about it.

According to Shakhtar, I would not be in a hurry to say that this is a championship game and championship gold in my pocket. With such a game, any misfires are possible. Dynamo today, I think, has given out its maximum, they simply cannot demonstrate more due to the fact that there is a search for new leaders, the psychological pressure is very high. I will say that for the first time in many years, looking at the confrontation between Dynamo and Shakhtar, I wanted to switch to another channel and watch other football in other leagues.

- What kind of mistakes would you single out in today's game?

- Inaccurate passes, overexposure of the ball, the desire to come up with something very complicated in a simple situation. For Shakhtar players, going out of defense is generally a problem. Let everyone stop and play square. I thought that by playing in the Champions League, you can gain some experience in terms of intensity, team movement, decision-making speed, passing the ball. But it is impossible to watch football when the defender stops the ball with the sole and stands and examines it for ten seconds, while his partners stop and look at the passer in the same way.

At the same time, the fans look at the players, those at the rivals, the latter look at the ball under the sole. And it all ends with the ball being given to the goalkeeper, and the latter takes it out anywhere.

As for Dynamo, Lucescu's coaching credo is built on a completely different game, other players, on a combinational, technical game with high individual skill. But today he does not have such players available, nevertheless, at least he should have been taught how to press, which is a necessary element of the game in almost all championships. In modern football, if the players do not know how to apply pressure, are not able to join the game and do the dirty work, they are doomed, even in the presence of high-quality players.

At Dynamo, everything is the same now - losing the ball, they run back, line up two or three echelons and calmly contemplate how Shakhtar stands with the ball. Who likes this kind of football? The same Tsarenko came out - a young guy, 18 years old, who is not yet spoiled by unnecessary academicism, and he is trying to aggravate, trying to look for some kind of sharp continuation, taking the game on himself, not afraid to meet the ball. Here is an example of how to treat football, how to play it. And some at the age of 22 are so mature that they are afraid to take another risk, to introduce some kind of creative thought. Everything is built on the motto that reliability is above all. As a result, we have completely boring football, which is simply not interesting to watch. And this is in the performance of two domestic giants, which is doubly insulting.

- Who is more to blame for the situation when Stepanenko scored - the goalkeeper Neshcheret or the partners who allowed Taras to score?

- Stepanenko still hit from a long distance, such a blow cannot always be covered by the defenders. The blow was unpleasant, the ball changed direction during the flight. And this is precisely the danger of such strikes. After all, it is always easier for a goalkeeper to react to a close shot, especially when it is also correctly shot.

Plus, it seemed that the sun blinded Neshcheret somewhere. Well, and Traore, who successfully closed the flight of the ball. All this somewhere justifies Neshcheret, but, at the same time, a good goalkeeper somewhere could and should have reacted to this blow - either beat it off or fixed it. Nevertheless, Ruslan rehabilitated during the game, when in the second half he showed several good decisions related to both the timely exit from the goal and the correct position at the corner at the end of the match.

- In the episode with the ball hitting Rakitsky's elbow, were there any grounds for awarding a penalty?

- Rakitsky still did not take his hand away from the body, but on the contrary - he pressed it to the body. Hit in the elbow. If Romanov had decided to give a penalty, there could also be grounds. So it's more like 50/50.

- How would you rate Andrievsky's performance? Didn't he sit out in reserve and on loan?

- It is difficult to get into the head of a coach who monitors the training process, builds certain tactical schemes. I liked how Andrievsky showed himself in Zorya, demonstrating a good understanding of the game. But I think he is not the same as Sidorchuk in terms of movement, in defensive functions. Together they usually work, which happened today.

When Shaparenko played, one of this trinity was superfluous, here Andrievsky lost the competition to Sidorchuk. At the same time, he has strengths, he showed them. And if I had played in a different team, with a different coach, had more playing time, I would have looked much better than in Dynamo. But perhaps today's goal will somehow inspire him and the football player will begin a new stage in Dynamo's career.

- Dynamo lacks personnel potential to reverse the unfavorable course of the game, or has the team already resigned itself to the fact that the championship race for Kiev is actually over?

— The Championship is most likely finished. But there is another goal, no less important - to take second or third place. And this struggle with each round is more and more difficult.

I think that the current situation of Dynamo has many reasons that converge. I think that the team has been very slow in terms of selection in recent years. And the victory in the national championship two years ago simply postponed this problem for the future. It seemed to everyone that they won confidently, on their own, and all this blurred the problems that Dynamo had. That success had to be properly assessed. Yes, he was not accidental, good coaching work came out. But, at the same time, the fact that Shakhtar failed the season also played a role.

The next stage for Dynamo was seen as much more difficult, for a new leap forward, other players were needed with whom Lucescu could realize his coaching ideas. But perhaps, due to his age, he did not want to spoil his nerves and life, somewhere he went on about with the club's management in terms of equipment, because if you remember all the players who came then, then no one gained a foothold and did not become the leader of the team. And with the departure of Tsygankov, Zabarny and the loss of Shaparenko, the team lost its backbone.

Plus, instead of coaching, Lucescu began to perform the functions of a manager more. It is probably correct, because too much has been launched in the club - with the same update of the base, bus, new relationships, and so on. But he got so carried away with it that all this began to go to the detriment of the game component. The euphoria after the first successful year did not allow for an objective assessment of the possibilities. And then, when the war had already begun, it was no longer possible to talk about new players, the train, as they say, left.

We see how in the same Zorya, where there are many young footballers, including those loaned from Dynamo, the game is staged, the players are not afraid to fight, they are not afraid to take responsibility. The same is with Kucher. Nobody says that we are at the stage of perestroika, that there are no football players, and so on. After all, all the talk about perestroika is not yet a guarantee that this will happen.

Without the players, and most importantly, without new coaching ideas, the team will not progress. Lucescu, it seems to me, relies too much on his experience, and experience, in turn, gives rise to stereotypes that always stop a coaching idea. Experience and intuition certainly help, sometimes allowing you to win some game, but building a team only on these components is very difficult. Without questioning the importance of Lucescu as a coach, I still think that at this stage a coach of a lesser caliber could rebuild the team and integrate young players into it.

— There is a lot of talk that Lucescu is finalizing his contract and will leave. Who in this situation do you consider the best candidate for his place?

- It is important that, as I have already noted, it should be a coach who knows how to get rid of stereotypes, who knows how to firmly defend his principles. I think that Dynamo can and should somehow decide on the future. Both as a human being and for the benefit of the club as a whole. Apparently, the president of the club thinks that Lucescu can still give something. Perhaps this hope, as well as the fact that the coach is given the opportunity to finalize the contract, shows the uncertainty of the club's management in terms of what to do next. When you don’t know what to do next, it’s better not to touch anything and not try to change something if you don’t know what will come of it. Let's wait a couple of months and see what happens.

If we are talking about new candidates, then we can name a number of coaches who have potential and who know our football. The same Kalitvintsev, Maksimov, perhaps Skrypnik, who seems to be like ours, but at the same time he has a bit of a Western mentality, approach. Another thing is that he did not have a team with potential, tasks.

The same Kostyuk, who probably has already outgrown the youth team. There are candidates. More importantly, it seems to me that there was a credit of trust from the president of the club, and the coaches who came did not think about how to please or not please the management, perhaps even vice versa - how to be more tough and principled. And I'm afraid that here these candidates may give up. The only ones, in my opinion, who can act from a position of authority, weight, influence among football players and will not look into the president’s mouth at the same time, are Rebrov and Shevchenko. Another question is how ready they are, due to various circumstances, to come to the club.

- It just became known that Lucescu is undergoing surgery, and Alexander Shovkovsky will perform his duties, while Mircea, as he said, will be constantly in touch with the team. What do you think about this decision?

- I think that Lucescu, who is not in the best shape, is not the best state of the team, than if the same Shovkovskiy or someone else were on the coaching bridge. Seeing a coach who goes to training with a dull look, with pain in his eyes, does not increase motivation. It is difficult to be in the best shape at such an age, and this is already one of the reasons to complete work at Dynamo.

Secondly, he is far from a poor person, and I don’t think that he doesn’t want to leave just because he doesn’t lose money. I think that his problems should be treated with understanding, especially since he did a lot for the development of the club. And not only as a coach, but also, as I have already noted, as a manager. Sit down at the table, pour 50 grams of good whiskey and discuss how to get out of this situation. I do not believe that in the remaining months of work they will be able to find something fundamentally new. It is impossible to torment the coach, the club, the public, the fans, to give food for evil tongues. You can have a good press conference, get-togethers with the team and hold it with dignity. Why bring the situation to the point where the coach is booed in the last matches, and he will run away on the night train or without saying goodbye?

Evgeny Savchuk