Former Dynamo and Ukraine international Dmytro Mykhailenko told UPL TV about the October matches of our main team.
- It was a tough match against Malta. As it always is for us in the second match of a double header. It was noticeable that many of our players did not play at their level. But it's important that we have three points and we depend on ourselves from now on.
- Why weren't our players at their usual level?
- It is very difficult both psychologically and physically to play 2 matches in 3 days. We have this problem and it is primarily psychological. Travelling in a short period of time, playing games - it is psychologically exhausting. Plus, there could be an underestimation "because it's Malta".
- You conceded a goal. What was it?
- While Malta was fresh, while they had the strength to make such a breakthrough, plus our mistakes. And the shot was not from the category of impossible saves. Trubin played well, but in this episode he made a mistake.
- Some experts talked about the team's poor physical readiness .
- Speaking about the match against the Macedonians, before Sudakov's goal, the team played very confidently and there were no questions about their physicality. After the goal, they "sat down" and the opponent began to create chances. This is not a matter of physical but psychological readiness - the guys stopped pressing. Games show that when we go deep, it is much harder to defend.
- In the second half against Malta, we played to keep the score close. Is this normal?
- I think the coaching staff wanted this control and defensive play to be accompanied at least occasionally by sharpness. But to do this, you need to either have an advantage individually, as Mudryk did, or saturate the other team's penalty area, but then there will be problems when you lose the ball. There is no balance yet - either controlling the ball or creating chances.
- Which player should be mentioned in these two matches?
- Zhora Sudakov shows a very good level. He is very, very important for the national team - with his movement, the energy he gives the team. He's always on the move, always trying to sharpen things up. It is very important to have a player in the team who moves for 90 minutes and poses difficult questions for the opponents to solve.