Former Shakhtar, Dnipro and Ukraine international Artem Fedetskyi analysed the start of the Shakhtar season for the UPL TV telegram channel.
Artem Fedetsky- In general, the change of coach at Shakhtar came as a shock to me. Jovicevic speaks Ukrainian, which gave the team the right impetus at the right time. Plus, I talked to many players, they all talked about the great atmosphere in the dressing room, were delighted with the training sessions and were very receptive to everything the coach wanted to convey to the players. So this unexpected coaching change definitely affected the players' psychological state and the team's microclimate. All these unconvincing results, in my opinion, are because of this.
- What has changed in the first place?
- The players now feel somehow constrained on the pitch. They are not able to show their best qualities, as was the case with Jovetic. The team really lacks confidence.
- What do you see as the biggest problem?
- I suppose that van Leeuwen can't fully communicate his specifics of work, on-field performance and tactical moments. So there is a certain misunderstanding between the coach and the players.
- At the start of the season, Shakhtar had 5 red cards in 8 matches. How can this be explained?
- I believe that in the match against Rukh, Rakitskiy did not deserve a red card because he did not act too roughly. Football is a contact sport, and such collisions are normal. Bondarenko managed to get red twice, but I believe that he is not a rude player who deliberately acted in this way. It was a coincidence, nothing more. I don't believe that any coach would instruct players to act violently and deliberately commit flagrant fouls. VAR should not destroy football and deliberately look for something to find fault with either. If there had been a VAR at the time I was playing, I think almost any foul I committed would have been a red card (laughs).
