Former Dynamo and Shakhtar player Oleg Matveyev analysed the Shakhtar match against Porto in the Champions League in a commentary for UPL TV.
Oleg Matveev- "Shakhtar didn't play their best game for the Champions League. I saw the match live. I understand that somewhere there may be less skill than the Portuguese. But usually Shakhtar fight in such matches with character, but in this game I did not see anything like that. Yes, the guys tried, but this is the first match of such a tournament, you need to go out and try to gnaw everything, and this was not the case.
- Many people did not understand Sikan's choice on the left in attack...
- I know Patrick and I respect him, but when I saw the line-up, I didn't understand about five positions. What kind of winger is Sikan? He is a pure centre-forward who can impose a power struggle. So he just fell out on the left. Miroshi and Lemkin hardly played at all before. But if the Israeli is a forced choice, then on the left in defence - why not Azarov, who has already played and played well?
- In your opinion, what are the reasons for the missed goals?
- Individual mistakes. The first goal - Kelsey loses the fight in the centre, the opponent half his height calmly wipes him off the ball with his body, there is a pass in the centre - there are no defenders. The second goal was scored by Sikan. He gave this pass because he had never played in this position and did not know how to play it. He found himself with the ball in his own part of the field and doesn't know what to do with the ball because he is a centre forward. In children's school they teach you that you can't pass across the pitch in the centre. And he did it near his penalty area and put the opponent one-on-one. He was just out of place. And the third - Lemkin throws himself out, his opponent calmly runs around him. Don't throw yourself out, just swim, why? So we actually brought the goals to ourselves.
- To whom do you have the fewest complaints?
- Zubkov, Konoplya, Rakitskiy and Riznyk. Sudakov did a lot of work, but he hasn't made any shots or made any attempts. From Sikan - just nothing. Kelsey clung to the ball a little, but not much. Stepanenko played poorly, I don't know why.
