Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi: "Dynamo is now an average UPL player"

Former Ukraine national team player Oleksandr Chyzhevskyi shared his impressions of the vicissitudes of the fight in the elite division of the Ukrainian championship in an interview withKOMANDA 1.

- Of course, the focus of attention in the last round was the match between the giants - Dynamo and Shakhtar. Unfortunately, another classic was one of those that are not memorable. Perhaps a gross mistake by Kyiv goalkeeper Neshcheret played a negative role. "The Shakhtar suddenly took the lead and began to act to keep the score and eventually paid for such short-sighted tactics.

- Will this draw bring back the intrigue in the fight for the championship title?

- No. Donetsk still outperform their pursuers in terms of stability and do not lose points in confrontations with opponents who are lower in the table.

- After the match against Shakhtar, Dynamo manager Mircea Lucescu went on sick leave and Oleksandr Shovkovskyi will take over as head coach. Will this benefit Kyiv, who are currently in fourth place?

- It's hard to say. On the one hand, the appearance of the Dynamo legend at the helm will make his players tune in to each match as much as possible. On the other hand, where is the guarantee that Shovkovskyi will be independent in his decision-making? After all, the level of the current Dynamo players is not impressive. In terms of play, it is an average UPL side.

- So who can the Pitmen expect to face serious opposition from?

- You know, now everything depends, first of all, on Shakhtar's players. If they don't lose any points, then we don't have to worry about their leadership. As for Dnipro-1's closest pursuer, a lot depends on the mood of their striker Artem Dovbyk. If the opponents manage to neutralise the forward, it is difficult for Oleksandr Kucher's men to achieve the desired result. It has to be said that Dnipro-1 has no other skilful striker besides Dovbyk, and therefore the manager is limited in his choice of offensive schemes.

In my opinion, Dovbyk has already outgrown the level of Dnipro-1 and should try his hand abroad. Otherwise, Artem may start to degrade. However, it remains to be seen how he will perform as a legionnaire.

- We've cleared up the championship favourite, but who will have to say goodbye to the elite division?

- It is possible that the struggle at the bottom of the table at the finish will be more intense than the fight for places on the podium. Lviv is in the worst position, but there are seven (!) other teams in the danger zone. So, everything can be decided only in the final round.

Vasyl Mykhailov