On Saturday, 13 May, in a match of the 26th round of the Ukrainian championship Dynamo Kyiv lost 2:3 to Chornomorets Odesa. The match took place in Kyiv at the Dynamo Stadium named after Valerii Lobanovs'kyi. Here is the post-match press conference of the teams' head coaches.
Oleksandr SHOVKOVSKY, acting head coach of Dynamo:
- First of all, congratulations to Chornomorets with the victory. The game consisted of two halves. In the first half, unfortunately, we made a lot of mistakes and gave the opponent a very big head start: already in the 11th minute we were losing 0:2. Although we showed the boys how the opponents play, we drew attention to their strong points. Despite that, unfortunately, we made some unfortunate errors, conceded two goals and got confused.
After the break we managed to rectify the situation, scored two goals and levelled the scores. But after that we made mistakes again, which ultimately prevented us from winning and even getting a draw. Yes, we had scoring chances, but the result of the match is formed by the goals scored.
Once again I congratulate Chernomorets with the victory, and we`ll work hard.
- Why has Dynamo played better away than at home this season?
- We are also asking ourselves the same question. For some reason we look more successful and confident in the away games. So far I do not have an answer to this question.
- Today is the day of memory of Valeriy Lobanovskiy. What place does he occupy in your life?
- Today I gave the team some sayings by Metr. Both before the game and after it.
Valeriy Lobanovych left a very big imprint on my life, my perception of football and perception of myself in football. Now, of course, times are different, the guys in our team know Lobanovskyi only from books, videos. That is, they can only touch our great coach. Not only in Ukraine, but also in the world.
One thing firmly lodged in my mind: for some reason, we always play badly these days...
- What did your team lack to win?Why did you let the opponents play their own football?
- The team does play the way the rival allows them to. If you take the first minutes of the second half, we played well. But the game consists of two halves. And you need to start playing before the match - in training, in preparation. And you start to win before the start of the battle - mentally. But, unfortunately, we failed to do this today. We do not have the right to join the game after the 10th or 20th minute - we must play from the first minute. But for some reason we often do not comply with this requirement, for some reason it does not happen. We need to figure out why it is so and work on it.
- What is more to blame for today's result - the opponent's merit or your team's mistakes?
- I repeat: we made mistakes, which have already put us in a very difficult position in the 11th minute of the match. Let's eliminate the first ten minutes of the match. And it would have been a very different game. There would not have been a confusion on our part.
I told the boys now: we have no right to concede to the opponents in desire, motivation, fighting. These are the components that equalize all the teams. And only after that comes the skill. Unfortunately, we made a lot of mistakes.
- There was information that Vanat was suspended for three matches. What does the club know about this situation?
- There is no decision of the UAF CDC yet. Therefore, I can`t comment on it. There is information about the decision, but there is no document.
Roman Grigorchuk, Chornomorets head coach:
- It is a great pleasure that we were able to play today in such a way that our fans, many of whom are fighting, will probably be happy. We are trying for them because we know how they feel about us. It is very important. And the three points we earned today are just as important. Because we are in a difficult tournament situation. And after today's win we have not only improved our position - psychologically it will be easier for us.
As for the game, there were a few segments which, in our performance, I can call absolutely ideal. In my perception of football. Unfortunately, there were not as many as we would have liked. But let's not blame God - let us rejoice in what we achieved today, let us rejoice in what was good in our game today.
I was also pleased with the team's reaction to a second conceded goal. When the score turns from 2-0 to 2-2, it inevitably leads to disappointment, but the team reacted just fine! Yes, we could have scored as well as conceded, but overall our rating on the game was 'good'. The goal situations we created today and the goals we scored were important things.
- Did your team fulfill all the instructions for the game?
- I have already said that some parts of our game were perfect. But we cannot say that the team fulfilled the set-up completely.
- Is there any difference between Lucescu's Dynamo and Shovkovskiy's?
- I can't give an easy answer to this question. If you take Lucescu, it's one of the best coaches in the world. In his understanding of football, in his achievements. We have no right to talk about him somehow and compare him with someone else. I do not want to offend the Ukrainian coaches, just because this kind of discussion is wrong.
Lucescu is a figure, which must be discussed very carefully. And I personally can only speak about him with the utmost professionalism and understanding of football, which are characteristic of that coach. I would like this figure to stay in our football as long as possible.
- Can we say that today Chornomorets had the best first half while you were in charge of the team?
- I can not talk about the first half as a whole, but only about its segments. And I must repeat, I can call them perfect: the team played those segments the way I would like to see them play. But there were the same stretches in the second half. Even though there were fewer of them. But, of course, the first half was better than the second one.
Alexander POPOV from the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy