A column by Serhiy Tyshchenko. Ponomarev's example

At the start of the season, Rukh produced a fantastic result - three wins in the three opening matches of the new season. Among the opponents were representatives of the European Cups in Ukraine - Zorya, Vorskla and ambitious Zhytomyr's Polissia. In the fourth round, Rukhivka came close to holding Kolos to a 1-1 draw. The team from Kovalivka played hard in the second half. 10 points in 4 matches is a great result for the youngest team in the UPL.

At the beginning of the second round, the team from Lviv was facing relegation. And not in head-to-head matches, but in direct relegation from the UPL. The team had neither a game nor a result.

Leonid Kuchuk worked with Rukh for a long time. The Belarusian specialist has already passed his coaching peak. In terms of his format, Leonid Stanislavovich is a good tactician and strategist, but by no means a specialist who will educate young people. Let me remind you that Rukh relies on its own pupils. The Belarusian coach openly suffered with players who had not yet completed their development in adult football. The players didn't understand the coach, and the coach didn't understand his charges. When things reached a critical point, the club owner lost his patience.

"Vitaliy Ponomarev took over Rukh. The coach, who had previously worked with the youth team (breaking the hegemony of Dynamo and Shakhtar in the U-19s), reached the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League. But most importantly, he worked for a very long time with those born in 2003 and 2004. I have been gathering these guys since the days of Karpaty. Most of them, with the exception of Ivan Varfolomeev.

In March and April, Rukh was stalling. But then in 7 matches, they conceded only 3 goals and started to steadily gain points. The team avoided relegation and head-to-head matches. In the new season, the team is already among the leaders.

Probably, when there was a crisis in the spring that led to Kuchuk's resignation, Hryhorii Kozlovskyi considered eminent or experienced coaches to replace him, opportunities to strengthen the team with experienced players. There was no room for error. We could have said goodbye to the UPL. This is a serious blow not only to the results, but also to the ambitions and the overall philosophy of the club's development. The club's managers did the opposite - they appointed a young coach from the youth team and trusted their own youngsters.

In the summer, Rukh did not sign a single new player. New players from the youth team were added to the existing youth team. They promoted the aged Yurii Pankiv and Oleksii Dovhyi. Last season, Dnipro-1 and Vorskla recruited a lot of foreigners. Did they help both clubs much? Now is the time when some clubs in Ukraine have the opportunity to select players and pay good salaries, but it is not so easy to find players. The market is limited, and good foreigners will not come, or for a lot of money. We have no choice but to bring up our own young people. Today, Rukh has not only a great start to the season (there will be a downturn, there is no way around it), but also the development of players (assets). All these Slyubyky, Didyky, Romany, Sapugy, Kvasnytsia and the like are growing. In a season or two, Rukh will really be able to become a force in Ukrainian football, or receive good cheques for its players.

The main thing in this story is that the team has a game that fans like. "Rukh doesn't play primitive counter-attacking football, but tries to press and be the first to act. The team is well prepared physically. In the second half, they have an advantage over the opponent.

Everyone saw the game in Bucharest. At the level of the fifth team of the Greek championship, Dynamo had big problems. Luck and Georgii Bushchan were the decisive factors in getting through to the final stage of qualification. I'm not calm before the match with Besiktas.... It's hard to find words about the match in Odesa... You can't play with such a defensive performance against an opponent who played without two of their leaders. The defence had a good passing game in all the matches of the season.

Dynamo has its own Vitaliy Ponomarev. He is a man who knows every player in the first team who has gone through the Dynamo school. He has a great instinct for finding players. Former FC Lviv players Taras Mykhavko and Vladyslav Herych immediately became the leading players of Dynamo's youth team.

All four of today's defenders (Popov, Syrota, Dyachuk, Bilovar) came through the Dynamo youth team. There has never been such a weak defence. Perhaps, the same Mikhavko will be able to play at the adult level today with the coach's trust? Today there is a lot of talk about the central defender. In tactical terms, Dynamo's youth team has always stood out for its study of the opponent, the ability to find weaknesses, rotation...

Perhaps we shouldn't have any illusions that a magician will come to the defence and solve everything. It will not happen. Rather, we need to rebuild the defensive formation and the psychology of the players.

Serhii Tyshchenko