Renowned Ukrainian coach Serhiy Kovalets has expressed his opinion on Dynamo's performance in the current Ukrainian league season.
- Serhii Ivanovych, Dynamo suffered its second defeat in a row...
- "Dnipro-1 prepared for the match very well in terms of tactics and dedication. The guests played reliably in defence, using a five-defender formation, opened well, and ran into the attack. I think the victory of Yuriy Maksymov's team is well deserved.
I would like to praise the new coaching staff of Dnipro, who immediately began to show results. Kucher and Krasnikov left behind a team that was fighting for the championship until recently. Yes, there was a failure at the start of the season, but high-level players were assembled, Maksymov brought discipline and the team is fighting for results again.
- After the game, Mircea Lucescu spoke about the large number of young people in the team. Before that, the Romanian specialist had complained about the difficult journeys during the Conference League qualifiers. But Kyiv dropped out of the European competitions and finished the fight in the National Cup.
- We can talk about the youth factor, but these are Dynamo youngsters who show a great desire to play football. What is not working? This question should be answered by the coaching staff.
- Lucescu also traditionally raises the topic of refereeing, which he believes is biased.
- I remember that after the home loss to Ingulets, the head coach of the White and Blues also complained about the referees, and the players spoke in sync with him - as if the referees were to blame for the defeat. Guys, dear, where is Dynamo and where is Ingulets?
The topic of arbitration has recently been raised by club presidents. Yes, there are problems, but when the head coach talks about refereeing, it's strange to me. When I worked with different clubs, I forbade my coaching staff to discuss such issues or bring them to the media.
- Why?
- If you have problems, you need to look for them in yourself. The easiest thing to do is to blame someone, to shift the responsibility to them. But this is the wrong behaviour, which will not help to rectify the situation or solve problems in the game.
I recall 1990, when Dynamo made a golden double: they won the league and the USSR Cup. But there was a moment when we played poorly against Torpedo Moscow, and after the game, the players began to discuss the work of the referees, who, in our opinion, were sympathetic to the opponent.
Valeriy Lobanovsky's assistants heard this conversation, told him about it, and before the next training session, Valeriy Vasilyevich prepared a video in which he clearly demonstrated our mistakes in that game. We didn't run and didn't work hard enough, and we didn't score. Our coach concluded this analysis with the words: "If I hear you blaming the referees for your own failures again, I will fine you."
- In the midst of the season, Dynamo is showing neither games nor results. Can anything be done in this situation?
- Dynamo has good players, but they need to create the right atmosphere, and there are problems in the organisation of the game.
- Dnipro-1 changed their coach, Shakhtar changed their coach...
- But Dynamo hasn't changed.
- You understand my point. Aren't changes overdue?
- The personnel issue is the prerogative of the club president Ihor Surkis. If there is no result, but the coach continues to work, perhaps the managers believe in him that he can fix the situation.
Or maybe the coach has to admit that it's not working.
- If you were offered to take over Dynamo, would you accept?
- Firing and appointing a coach is the prerogative of the club president.
- Patrick van Leeuwen has left Shakhtar. You were in favour of letting the coach work until the winter break. After you said that, the Dutchman won the Champions League against Antwerp, defeated Rukh in a friendly, and then was shown the door.
- Shakhtar has always been an example of an open European club. This applied to both its financial statements and the working environment. Even during a full-scale war, they managed to make top sales: Mudryk moved to Chelsea and Trubin to Benfica. "The Shakhtar gathered a full arena for the match against Porto in Hamburg...
But the latest coaching decisions leave many questions: the unexpected departure of Jovetic and the appointment of Patrick, who had not previously worked in top clubs where it is necessary to give the maximum result. Now the Dutchman's dismissal is allegedly due to a conflict with the players...
It looks strange also because after the victory over Antwerp, Dario Srna supported Leuven by saying the following: "I am sure that this is a turning point. Remember when Paulo Fonseca lost to Young Boys and got knocked out of the Champions League. In the next match, we played away against Karpaty. We lost 2-0 in the first half and won 3-2 in the second half. After that, Fonseca became one of the best coaches in the club's history - he won 7 trophies in three years. And now he is considered one of the top specialists in Europe. So we are going step by step. I think we have learnt this lesson."
And after the control match with Rukh, Leuven was shown the door - it's strange to me.
- Why did van Leeuwen succeed at Zorya and fail at Shakhtar?
- There is a different level of psychological pressure at Shakhtar. It's also always difficult to accept a team when it has completed a task and become a champion, when the players were still living under another coach - a lot of good words were said about Jovicevic.
At the same time, I think Leuven didn't have enough time, at least until the winter.
- Does Shakhtar have a chance in today's game against Barcelona?
- It will be difficult, but they have to play with their hearts - for our fans, for our soldiers. There must be sparks, excitement!
I have two sons-in-law at the frontline. Tymofiy, my eldest son-in-law, said: "Ivanovych, we watch and cheer for our people, for the Ukrainian national teams, and support them in European competitions whenever possible. And when we get a good result, it's like a breath of fresh air, like a holiday. It gives us strength and motivation."
"We have to show the world that we are alive, that we are giving birth to children and that we care about the future. By the way, I recently gave birth to my sixth grandchild. I have five boys and a granddaughter. We already have a mini-football team. Life goes on.
Sergey SITNIK