Currently, Kryvbas and Polissia are at the top of the UPL. Who among the representatives of the clubs from Kryvyi Rih and Zhytomyr could strengthen Dynamo? Only Benny Macuana. All the rest are not very high class players. With all due respect, it will be difficult to find candidates for the Ukrainian national team there.
Photo by Alexander PopovCould the conditional Artem Shabanov or Danylo Bezkorovainyi have strengthened Dynamo's defence? It is unlikely. Because the requirements for defenders and the principles of building the game of Dynamo and Polissia with Kryvbas are completely different.
The peculiarity of Polissia and Kryvbas is that they use very simple football truths - pressure, quick transition from defence to attack. All this is backed up by motivation. Having not the strongest players in the squad, you can't achieve results by compromising on the aesthetics of the game, dominating the field, playing in control. To be successful, you need to run a lot, put pressure on the opponent to make mistakes. If you also have good standards, it's great.
"Rukh failed to beat the outsiders Minaj and Oleksandriya at home because they had to play as number one, attacking positively with almost no space. There were no goals scored in both games.
Why did Igor Jovicevic succeed with Shakhtar? The Croatian coach was the best fit for the existing team. He knows how to help players assert themselves, revive their careers, and give them confidence. Despite the depth of the squad and the active transfer campaign of the summer of 2022, Jovi did not risk playing from a position of strength. A quick transition from defence to attack and pressure were the main virtues of the current Ukrainian champion.
Mircea Lucescu's problem at Dynamo was that he wanted to play with a high defence, control the ball, and attack positively. But he had absolutely no players for that, no class of players. They a priori cannot play such football, despite the head coach's demands. When it doesn't work out, the players simply lose confidence and any motivation.
Unfortunately, Dynamo needs to simplify the way they play today. To give up many things in favour of simplicity, but reliability. We need to start by putting things in order in defence. We need to learn how to outrun the opponent using the depth of the squad (5 substitutions give us every opportunity to do so), rather than outplaying them on the pitch. It may even be necessary to abandon delicate players like Mykola Shaparenko in favour of "soldiers" who are ready to gnaw the ground.
Not so long ago, Yuriy Miksymov took over Dnipro-1. The team was in crisis, but won 4 consecutive victories in the UPL. Yuriy did not invent anything complicated. Everything is very simple, but reliable. Kryvyi Rih did not have enough strength. The team immediately fell apart.
There are enough coaches who work on old but effective truths. Even in war, there is a choice. I will not name any names of potential candidates. All of them are not known. Today, there is simply no other way out of the situation. We need to take what we can by returning to the Dynamo traditions.
Serhiy Tyshchenko
