Famous Ukrainian coach Igor Zhabchenko shared his thoughts with Team1 about the rivalry in the Ukrainian championship, which has reached the home stretch.
Igor Zhabchenko- Recently, Shakhtar have had problems finishing their attacks, and this has had an immediate impact. In the match against Oleksandriya, although Igor Jovicevic's men struck more shots than the hosts, it was not enough to win. The Pitmen's actions were clearly lacking in sharpness. By the way, Donetsk were close to losing points in the previous calendar match against Minai.
- After Shakhtar's recent misfire with Dynamo last week, the Pitmen failed to beat mid-table Oleksandriya and Dnipro-1 caught up with them in terms of points lost...
- We have to admit that the Donetsk team did not allow themselves to do this before, because they are now superior to Dynamo and Oleksandriya in terms of the selection of players. Compared to their pursuers, the Miners were more stable and, as they say, did not lose their points. So, they should blame themselves first and foremost for the fact that Donetsk have slowed down.
- However, the fans are clearly the winners, because now there is intrigue in the fight for the gold medals again...
- We should pay tribute to the young coach of Dnipro, Oleksandr Kucher, who in April managed to reach out to his players and they started playing with maximum effort again, and you must admit that they are on the move now. In addition, Dnipro-1's striker Artem Dovbyk, the main contender for the title of the best player in the championship, is in fighting shape.
- But in the last rounds, it was not Dnipro who showed the greatest improvement, but Zorya, who also still have a chance of conquering the top step of the podium. How can we explain this confident progress of the Luhansk team?
- First of all, I feel that Zorya have a great microclimate and this is a great merit of head coach Patrick van Leeuwen. It is striking that his players act freely, at their own pleasure. I remember Chornomorets, whose ranks I defended, played like that at one time.
We were not considered to be contenders for high positions, but this did not prevent us from becoming winners of the Ukrainian Cup and winning silver medals in the championship. Because we were united, we were eager to jump above our heads. That is why the Luhansk team cannot be underestimated and why the outcome of the two May super confrontations will be very important for the distribution of places in the top group: "Zorya vs Shakhtar and Shakhtar vs Dnipro-1.
- After Oleksandr Shovkovskyi took over at Dynamo, the Kyiv side began to make up for lost time. It is possible that Dynamo will not lose any points in the remaining matches of the championship and can still compete with Zorya in the fight for a place on the podium. What do you think of Shovkovskyi's chances of leading Dynamo?
- As low. You know, if I had my way, I would have entrusted the helm to Ihor Kostiuk, who has proven that he knows how to train strong players and it is his pupils who are now visible at Dynamo.
- Then finally, who will be the next team to join the obvious outsider Lviv and leave the elite division?
- Metalist is in a very difficult position. But none of the three teams - Rukh, Veres and Ingulets - will be lucky enough to avoid the transition matches to retain their Premier League place. I think that after Minaya's convincing victory over Vorskla, the worst is over for the Transcarpathians. Yesterday, I was happy for my former teammate from Shakhtar Donetsk, Yehor Tverdokhlib, who scored a spectacular goal against Poltava. With each match, he acts more and more confidently and now it's hard to imagine Minaj without him...
Vasyl Mykhailov
