Former Vorskla Poltava coach Viktor Pozhechevskyi commented on his former team's 1-3 loss to Dila Georgia in the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League. As a reminder, the Ukrainian team failed to qualify for the next round on the basis of the sum of the two matches (2:1, 1:3).
Viktor Pozhechevsky"I can't and I'm not used to saying black and white, and vice versa. Even before the game, I told everyone the same thing - God willing, Vorskla would draw. I did not believe that Viktor Skrypnyk's team would win. I frankly did not believe. Unfortunately, I was right.
Vorskla gave the opponent a clean sweep in the first half: zero shots on goal, possession of the ball (27% - ed.), corners.
The main problem, in my opinion, is that the team's midfield did not work. There was a big gap between the defence and attack lines. We gave away the middle, and if you lose the middle, you don't win matches. Sometimes something happens by chance, but this did not happen...
To play well in European competitions, you need to have a sufficient number of qualified players. What is Skrypnyk's current squad like? Young people and two or three experienced players. At the beginning of the season, a key player, Taulian Seferi, left the team, and no replacement was found. Denys Oliynyk also left, but I don't consider his loss to be critical. The loss of defender Vasyl Kravets, who joined Dnipro-1, is much more significant.
The other day, we signed Brazilian Tiaginho, but he is raw, did not play yesterday and was not even on the application. Who else did you manage to sign? Nobody! So is it any wonder the result?
Young people cannot produce results today. That's why they are young. Yes, if Dila hadn't scored the third goal at the end of the match, Vorskla might have been able to go further, but then what? In the next stage, the opponent would have been even stronger. And with such a game...
It's hard for Skrypnyk now. I repeat, there are problems with the squad, and also the lack of full game practice. All these control matches are not serious. "Dila still played two games against Slovakian side Dunajska Streda in the preliminary stage of the Conference League qualifiers, and they also played a match for the Georgian Super Cup against Torpedo Kutaisi. Andrii Demchenko's team was better prepared, no matter how you slice it.
Many blame Skrypnyk for the defeat. Well, yes, the coach is responsible for the result, but I will say this - Skrypnyk squeezed out the maximum. He threw the best players he had at hand into the battle. Who could have strengthened Skrypnyk's attack, really strengthened it? No one. A 19-year-old boy, Danylo Khrypchuk, came on instead of the captain Volodymyr Chesnakov, and it did no good.
Viktor Skrypnyk wanted to strengthen the squad before the start of the season, but he was told that the financial situation at the club was not the same. Now, with the current squad, we'll see what the results will be in the Ukrainian Premier League. It will be very difficult. All the teams intending to compete for European Cup places have strengthened, even Polissia, a debutant, has strengthened its squad so much that you can only envy them, while Vorskla has not. If we don't have a good transfer campaign in the winter off-season, we shouldn't even think about any place in the European competitions," SportNews quotes Pozhechevskyi as saying.
