Former Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Ivan Yaremchuk shared his impressions of the first match of the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League between Slavia Prague and Dnipro-1 (3:0).
- I was at the match yesterday. First of all, I would like to say: how can you play like that! Everyone who watched the game, including even those who do not understand football, saw perfectly well what was happening on the pitch. During the whole first half Dnipro reached the Slavia goal only once or twice! How can this be in football with a team that plays in the European Cup?! And in the second half, when Dnipro-1 played most of it in the majority, and the opponent in the minority, the pattern of the game was the same. Dnipro had no chances, no shots from the middle and long distances, no flank passes, no shots! The game was mainly played in the middle part and on Dnipro-1's half of the pitch. It seemed as if Slavia played without their own goal.
None of the Dnipro players could take the game on themselves to beat one of the opponents' players, get space and then do something productive with the ball. Here, say, how Messi plays. He takes the ball, attacks at speed, beating one or more other players, and then sees which of his partners and how exactly to pass it to. And he gives out passes that you can only score! Where is it in Dnipro-1? I thought that the Czechs would have at least some resistance from our side, imposing the fight, but where is it! Individually, Dnipro were inferior to the opponent in everything - in speed, in technique, in game thinking.
During the match I was sitting on the stand at the gates of our team and saw how the left defender Kravets touched the ball only once during the half. How can this be in football?! Our centre-back gets the ball and starts to interchange with the goalkeeper or the right defender. And this is despite the fact that there is nobody in his zone at a distance of 20-30 metres! In such a situation, take the ball and at speed boldly go towards the player who is holding Kravets - and at his expense beat him or give a pass. In reality, everything looked different: inert, sluggish - as if it was Dnipro-1 winning 3:0 or 4:0. There was no sharpness, there were a lot of losses, and the ball sometimes bounced off one or another of our players as if from a tree. The ball didn't stick, two or three passes and a loss. And when long passes were thrown somewhere, it was not clear to whom they were addressed.
In the middle of the pitch there was a moment when Dnipro-1 forward was given a pass - so Slavia defender overtook him on one leg, took the ball - and that was it! What was the point of that striker to make a pass if he had no speed? I never thought that Dnipro-1 could play so mediocre. Sitting in the stand with my friends, we even joked: apparently, the referee needs to remove two more Slavia players from the pitch to level the game. But seriously, it's a horror. A complete failure. It is impossible to play like this.
Vyacheslav Kulchitsky