Column by Serhiy Tyshchenko. Why Shaparenko needs to mention the skills of the "top ten"

Mykola Shaparenko's native position is attacking midfielder. It was in this role that he joined the capital's club in the summer of 2015 from Mariupol. In this status, he failed to gain a foothold in the first team. Former coaches Oleksandr Hatskevych and Oleksiy Mykhailychenko did not really see the talented midfielder in their teams.

Mykola Shaparenko. Photo by Yurii Yuriev

Everything changed in the summer of 2020 after Mircea Lucescu joined the team. The experienced Romanian coach transferred Shaparenko to the support area from the position of an attacking midfielder. One player in the central area worked more on destruction, while the other was creative. Shaparenko works well with the ball, has a good pass, vision of the field, and understanding of the game. He was responsible for launching attacks, coming out of defence, controlling the ball, and dealing with the opponent's pressure. In his new position, Mykola's game shone with new colours. He not only became one of Dynamo's leaders, but also a key player for the national team.

Now, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi has changed the formation of the game a bit. The team started playing with one fullback and two players up top. Something like this was already in the days of Rebrov-Raul with an inverted triangle in the middle of the field. One player in the support area and two up top. All the functions of starting the attack and dealing with pressure went to Volodymyr Brazhko. There are two players up top who are more focused on attacking and have to be creative.

Shovkovskyi tried different options. Vitalii Buyalskyi and Shaparenko were out of action for some time. That's why Shepelev-Tsarenko played in Kryvyi Rih and Shepelev-Buyalsky against Rukh. In Uzhhorod, Buyalsky-Andriyevsky were to play. Against Metalist-1925, the most prestigious pair of central midfielders, Buyalsky-Shaparenko, played.

It is clear that Mykola's current form is not very good. He actually missed last season. He is just recovering from an injury. He needs to gain general conditioning. He will do this during the winter training camp. In addition, he will need to recall the skills of playing in the number ten position.

Serhii Tyshchenko