Former Dnipro and Chornomorets footballer Valentyn Poltavets shared his impressions of the current Ukrainian championship.
Валентин Полтавець- You obviously follow our Premier League. What can you say about the first part of the championship?
- Gradually, the level of our championship is growing. It is comparable to the one we had in the 1992/93 season. Back then, there was also an outflow of leading players from our domestic tournament. Now, let's just say, there is an additional opportunity for young players to prove themselves, because there is no dominance of legionnaires in our championship.
There is a chance for promising guys not to stay in the backline, as was the case with me, for example, but to play in the first team from the start. And in general, the championship is very interesting now - not two teams are fighting for the championship, but five.
- Who has the best chance of becoming a champion?
- I'll put my money on experience. That's why Shakhtar.
- You said that now there is a chance for the youngsters to make a name for themselves. Which of them could you single out if we take the first part of the season?
- I am pleased with Sudakov. The position he plays at Shakhtar has always been occupied by one of the Brazilians. Our guys were not even considered for this area. Now we see that we have personnel as good as the Brazilians. Half of Europe is now chasing Sudakov. The same can be said about Sikan, who is a progressing forward. We've always had a lot of promising youngsters who need to be given a chance to play, not kept in the backroom somewhere.
- What can you say about our other giant, Dynamo?
- Dynamo must rise. Now a man with a Dynamo heart and a new vision of the game is at the helm of the club. The fact that Shovkovskyi was entrusted to work with the team is a big plus for both him and the club. I think that Dynamo will compete with Shakhtar in the championship fight in the spring.
- Are you sure that Shovkovskyi will do well at Dynamo?
- I played with Shovkovskyi and studied together at coaching courses. We talked a lot. I will say this: the principles that he adheres to are very impressive to me. The autumn league games showed that Dynamo has made progress. The team played differently, towards improvement.
- Can a big-name goalkeeper be a successful coach?
- Why not. Dino Zoff, for example, has achieved a lot as a coach. He led Juventus to the UEFA Cup. He led the Italian national team to the European Championship final. Alex Ferguson said that a head coach is a manager who must gather like-minded people around him. Today, the head coach should not take everything on himself. He needs people who work separately with each link, and he is already moulding all this in a complex.
If you take Guardiola, for example, he has about forty people working on his coaching staff. What are we talking about? In our teams, if there are three or four other people working on the coaching staff in addition to the head coach, it is considered very good.
- You were a player in the attacking group. What can you say about our forwards? Is there a replacement for Dovbyk in our football?
- Dovbyk is a ram-type forward who plays at the forefront of the attack. There is no such striker in our league right now. Sikan is inferior to Dovbyk in terms of anthropometry, but not in terms of the work he does on the field, in terms of return - definitely not.
Vanat is a faster, more persistent forward who works well in counterattacks, has intuition and a goal-scoring flair. You can't teach this - you either have it or you don't. I'd like to highlight another trait in Vanat - his composure. He can perfectly understand a difficult situation, beat and score. When Vanat was at Chornomorets, I saw him both in training and in the game. If this guy continues to work with the same diligence, he will grow into a player of a fairly high level.
- We have about five dozen nominal strikers in 16 clubs in the league, who together scored 81 goals - less than 2 per player. This is very little, right?
- I agree, it's not enough. Of course, I want the team to have a person who would score a lot. But Sikan also needs time. When he has played two or three full seasons, then we will see how he performs. You know, if he had scored more than ten goals in the league, he would probably be playing somewhere abroad, like Dovbyk.
- Oleg Kozhushko of Kryvbas scored seven goals. What can you say about him?
- Kozhushko is a very good forward. I was a striker of the same type. He started playing at Dnipro, and he went through a good school. But a forward of Kozhushko's calibre always has something to prove. In the penalty area, power struggle comes first. It is difficult to impose it on a light forward, so you need to use other qualities - technique, cunning, flair.
No matter how hard you try, you can't cover a good striker. He always has a head start - half a step, a split second. And you need to use this moment: to be where the ball bounces, to hit it with your toe, knee, shoulder... Kozhushko made several such goals. All this comes with experience. But, like it or not, today there is more attention on bigger forwards who can catch the ball, push the opponent away with their bodies. And if, for example, there is a choice between Dovbyk and Kozhushko, or Vanat and Kozhushko, then, of course, they will not choose Kozhushko.
- At Obolon, Ihor Krasnopir has attracted attention, what can you say about this forward?
- Krasnopir is one of our rising stars. I hope that in the future this star will not fade away, but only flare up. I hope that this young, speedy forward does not get starstruck and continues to move forward. And most importantly, to avoid injuries, because at a young age it is very damaging and kills you mentally. It is very difficult to return to your previous level.
Oleksandr Petrov
