Former Veres head coach Yuriy Virt shared his own impressions of Dynamo Kyiv's performance in the Conference League play-offs, where Mircea Lucescu's team lost to Turkish Besiktas following the results of two matches and for the first time in 18 years remained without a European autumn.
Yuri Wirth- Yuriy, in your opinion, can Dynamo's game in the second match with Besiktas be called a failure?
- Of course, by the result it was not the best game of Kyiv team. One conceded goal, the attack was a failure in general and good play of Buschan on the last line. One shot by Vanat in the first half, one attack at the beginning of the second half. That's all you can remember. This is a team that needed to score goals, and Kyivians made one strike - it is very little to get a result. There was no sharpness in Dynamo's game, there were backwards passes, a lot of defensive mistakes, there was no one to run around. Karavaev dropped out of the game, so the flanks did not work either. It is unclear why Lucescu did not make substitutions earlier, but at the end of the match.
- Was Yarmolenko's absence felt in the game with the Turks?
- The absence of such a player as Andriy, of course, is a loss. He didn`t play in the first match either, but the team acted better in the first game: they created chances, attacked. It was obvious that Dynamo planned to play defensive football and use chances on quick counterattacks. Therefore, I think, it's not about Yarmolenko. The point is that Dynamo showed different game in two matches. It is not clear to me what Dynamo wanted to show in the away match. Standing in defence the whole match and fighting back, looking for moments for one attack is not enough. The players were not psychologically ready for this match. There was a fear to play forward, fear to attack and I can note a large percentage of defective passes.
- Was there a feeling that Dynamo stopped playing after the conceded goal?
- That's how the game developed. We were losing, we had to go forward, press, cover, score, but we did not see any of it: no substitutions, no speed, nothing at all. In the first game in the first half the team played the way they should have played in Turkey.
- What do you think should be Lucescu's future at the club?
- This question is not for me. There are club managers, Dynamo president decides everything. Everything that happens inside the club should be decided directly by Dynamo management. Therefore, the management will decide whether Mister stays or not.
- What does Dynamo lack to start achieving positive results?
- There is no stability. The team concedes a lot, the results are different. Players of such a team can't win one game and fail the other. The selection of players is good, so, I think, there should be stability. Here, for example, Buyalski. He played the first game at a high level, and in the return match he was not seen. It should not be like that.
- Dynamo will play in the championship without the autumn European cups. Will there be more time to concentrate on the fight for the championship?
- I think that Kyiv can rehabilitate themselves in front of the fans for the failure in the European cups only if they become champions. Before every season such a team as Dynamo has one goal - the championship. Therefore, of course, this season Kyivians should already fight for the gold of the Ukrainian championship. Moreover, the players are good, but there are still problems with stability.
