A column by Serhiy Tyshchenko. Kostyuk is not the only one to blame. What's happening to Dynamo's youth team

"Dynamo U-19 cannot boast of a stable result lately. In the last round, they lost to Kolos 3-4. Not so long ago, they lost to Polissya - 1-2.

Let's just say we lost more to our own problems than to our opponents. No one is absolving head coach Ihor Kostiuk of the blame, but the reason is not only in him. In fact, the problem is much deeper.

Youth. I watched the match against Dnipro-1 in person. The Dnipro team is much older even on the outside. At this age, every year is of great importance. Dynamo's youth team is one of the youngest in the youth league. There are plenty of players born in 2006 who can already be consistently called first-teamers. Today, it is hard to imagine the team without forward Matviy Ponomarenko, left-back Denys Dykyi, midfielders Danylo Ishchenko and Kyrylo Osypenko, or goalkeeper Viacheslav Surkis. The Ishchenko-Osypenko group of 2006 graduates plays in the middle of the pitch in such a difficult position. Of course, they lack experience. At least six months are needed to "knock around", and only then can we talk about some kind of stability. 2006 played last season on loan for Zorya, but the responsibility there was much lower. The team played for their own pleasure. No one set the task of fighting for prizes. And here, all the responsibility and pressure for the result falls away.

In 2004, there was virtually none. Only when Anton Tsarenko is sent to get some game practice. The opponents have enough players from 2004. They make full use of the limit of 5 players born in 2004 on the field, plus substitutes. Dnipro-1 has only one first-team player, Danylo Khan, born in 2006. The leaders Daniel Kivinda and Oleksandr Avramenko were born in 2004. Kolos has goalkeeper Ivan Pakholyuk, defender Vladyslav Kanaev, Yegor Popravka - all born in 2004. At the same time, there are players born in 2007. For young players, instability and mistakes are normal. You have to go through all this to become a footballer. On the contrary, mistakes are an important feature of progress.

Lack of competition. As is well known, competition is the key to development and progress for a footballer. You always need to be better than the other in order to have game practice. The youth team does not have two players for one position. In fact, there is only one goalkeeper, Surkis. He is a good, talented, promising goalkeeper, but another goalkeeper would clearly be useful for Vyacheslav himself. He needs to rest and catch his breath somewhere. Yuriy Avramenko has health problems. Serhii Kiblytskyi is lost somewhere. Mykyta Hudymenko, who was not particularly expected, is now sitting in the reserve.

Similarly, at the right-back position, where there is only Oleksiy Gusev. Or on the left flank of the defence, where there is only one Denys Dykyi. The situation in the middle of the field is no better. For example, the arrival of Vladyslav Gerich has helped Matviy Ponomarenko to make a lot of progress.

The loss of Matkevych. The Kyiv winger was injured in the match against Polissia. A fracture and at least a month of downtime. I believe that Andrii was one of the team leaders who produced results. He is a very hardworking player who finishes every episode. There is no replacement for him yet. The players of 2006, Vladyslav Kalyn or Kyrylo Pashko, are not ready for this role. One of the wings has started to clearly hang in the attack.

The quality of the Academy graduates. The days when Dynamo started to gather the best players from all over Ukraine are over. Shakhtar on the one hand, Rukh on the other. Polissia has ambitious plans to build an academy there. In Zakarpattia, there is Munkach. At one time, Metalist was revived. They gathered Kharkiv talents. All this can be continued for a long time. In the summer, Vladyslav Herich and Taras Mikhavko from FC Lviv joined Dynamo's youth team and immediately became the leading players of Dynamo's youth team and won the competition from the players who were in the team. Not so long ago, it was written that Dynamo was interested in Veres' top ten player Dmytro Godey (5 goals in this U-19 championship). Now Kostiuk has no attacking midfielder at all. Although he is very fond of such players - Serhii Buletsa and Anton Tsarenko. Therefore, when Gerich was healthy, we played with two forwards.

The lack of a leader. You can't appoint a leader. You can only be a leader from birth. A player not only has to play well himself, but also make others play well. Lack of competition leads to mistakes in very simple situations. The coach gives suggestions, but he also has to have someone on the pitch to help maintain game discipline. In the match against Polissia, Denys Dykyi started playing near his goal, and Nazar Balaba was sent off. "Someone has to give them a hint. Taras Mikhavko is trying to take on these functions. But he hasn't been with the team for long, he's from Lviv and lacks authority.

Serhii Tyshchenko