Maksym Shatskikh: "In the match against Dynamo, we actually played as children. There were 16-year-olds and 17-year-olds"

The head coach of Pakhtakor Tashkent, Maxim Shatskikh, explained the reasons for his team's defeat in the control match against Dynamo Kyiv (1:5).

- A year ago, during the winter training camp, you already played against Mircea Lucescu's Dynamo and then won a narrow victory (1-0). This time, you conceded five goals to the White and Blues under Oleksandr Shovkovskyi - what was the difference between the two teams?

- The difference was in our squad. We have a double at the training camp now. We have taken a new path and focus on our youth. That's why we are now training our young people, and that's why it happened...

- Is this situation at Pakhtakor temporary or is it a full-fledged course to change the system within the team?

- This is a change of vector, but those people who are currently showing the strength of our team are now in the national teams. Five are playing for the Uzbekistan national team at the Asian Cup, and three more are at a training camp with the Olympic team as they prepare for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. That's why we actually had children playing for us. There were 16-year-old players and 17-year-olds.

When we agreed on the game, I asked to play it at the end of February, as it was last year, by which time everyone would have been there and the sparring would have been much more interesting. But the timing didn't work out, and Dynamo was uncomfortable with the other time. But I warned them that we would have youngsters who were also under serious stress, as they had never had a full training camp before. You can consider that we took people from the U-19.

- I know that for you, the result in such matches is far from being in the first place. Were you satisfied with the quality of the game?

- We understood that it would be like this. In the first half, we still had a few older guys - 24-25 years old, who already had experience of playing in the Premier League, and those who came on in the second half were young people who had never played adult football and 99% of them had never even travelled outside Uzbekistan.

So until the break, more or less, we had our chances and the game. The score in the first half was not according to the game. And in the second half, it was clear that we would not create many chances. We could have scored two or three half-chances. But, again, the guys are under pressure, the fact that they withstood it is already good. We closed the first training camp and saw what we need to work on during the second training camp. In our case, everything went according to plan - everything we wanted to do during the first training camp, we did.

- Is the change in the vector of Pakhtakor's development somehow related to the fact that the club is to move from state ownership to private ownership?

- No, I don't think so. We discussed this with the management at the end of last year. We will focus more on the development of our academy. At the moment, we already have a project, and when, God willing, the club becomes privately owned, global construction will begin. Then we will have more opportunities and prospects for the development of our youth.

- At first I wanted to ask you to name three players from Dynamo and Pakhtakor who could strengthen each team based on the results of your game. But since you had a sub-optimal squad, let's focus on Dynamo players to strengthen Pakhtakor.

- Who is there from Dynamo? Mykola Shaparenko, Buyalsky, he didn't play, but I've known him for many years. Denys Popov, Dubinchak and others.

- Given your current squad, that you will now be relying on your own pupils, will you be able to continue fighting for the championship in Uzbekistan?

- We will definitely fight. Now let's see if our players return. I can guarantee that it will not be easy for anyone. If someone thinks: "OK, young people," let them think. We will fight in every game for every point.

- This season, Pakhtakor played in the group stage of the Asian Champions League. In the end, you failed to advance - you finished third, and the fate of your ticket to the next round was decided in your game against Al Feyha, which you lost at home (1-4). Are you satisfied with the result in this tournament?

- Yes, I am. It was the first such tournament for us. We saw what the Asian Champions League is capable of. We performed well, but the last game was a letdown - we had ten players. Some of them didn't even train with us in the first team, but we had to play them because there were no others due to injuries and cards. We had to win, but it happened with the squad.

"After Lucescu's departure, Dynamo showed results on fresh emotions"

- Getting back to our interview a year ago. I asked you then whether there was anyone at Dynamo who could be called the "new Shatsky". There was no such thing then, has the situation changed in a year?

- There will be no Shatskikhs for sure. Now they have only Vanat, and I don't see anyone else ahead of him. You have to understand that nowadays there are problems with strikers everywhere. We have been looking, Dynamo is also looking, but there are none.

- Mircea Lucescu's departure from Dynamo's coaching staff - did the Romanian specialist not delay this gesture?

- It's hard for me to talk about it, because I wasn't in the middle of the team. But judging by the recent results and conversations with the teammates, everyone is a bit tired. I don't know what the reason is, we've been talking about it for a long time, it's time, there was no progress. It was not clear how they could get new emotions to play. After Lucescu's departure, they showed some results at the end of the year on fresh emotions.

Let's see where it will lead now that Sasha Shovkovsky is at the helm. You understand that a coach's success is only shown by results. If you play tiki-taka, but there is no result, okay, but what then? Just keep playing, people will forget the game.

- You once said that when you were footballers, you did not see Shovkovskyi as a coach. Who did he prove himself to be then and what direction could he have gone in after his career?

- When we were still playing, I immediately said that I would go to work as a coach. But when we asked Sania: "Maybe you'll go as a goalkeepers' coach, you'll help Mikhailov at first, then you'll become the main one," Shovkovskyi answered: "No, I don't want to be a goalkeeping coach". At that time, he was more inclined to work as a manager or director, there were such conversations.

If Sasha chose this path, it means that he dived into this topic a little bit, he liked it, and decided to go in this direction. I hope that he will succeed.

- Shakhtar are currently spending tens of millions of euros to buy Brazilians, while Dynamo are not entering the transfer market in any way. Do Kyiv have a chance of winning the championship in this situation?

- The chances are equal. What are they spending there? Let them spend, that's their business. "I think Dynamo can fight for the championship. I don't see any problems. Yes, it will be very difficult, but I don't see any problems.

"The changes caused by Shevchenko and Rebrov coming to power will be visible in the next six months"

- Andriy Shevchenko has recently become the head of the Ukrainian Football Association. Did you congratulate him on this position?

- Yes, I sent a message. And Rebrov, as I heard, became vice president.

- That's right, he will be responsible for the training of all national teams.

- Again, we'll see where it all goes. I think in the next six months we will be able to see some changes in Ukrainian football. The football people have come in, something has probably already had to be changed, and I hope that things will develop gradually even in the realities of war. I am sure that we will notice some changes for the better.

- You follow our championship, right? From the outside, what changes do you think should be made in Ukrainian football in the first place?

- Now we need to focus more on young people. On the development and construction of academies for those who do not yet have them. Everyone understands that football in the country has been on the decline for many years.

At the moment, it is less expensive and more effective to rely on the development of your players. To do this, we need an academy, conditions and to develop our own players. Then we will have a chance not to sink in all the rankings, because there is no hope for foreigners. Few people want to come, and if they do, it's only those who come to make money.

"Girona will never have such a chance again"

- Three questions about former Dynamo players who are now playing abroad. Ilya Zabarnyi has been at Bournemouth for a year now and has been playing steadily in the first team - has his adaptation to the Premier League been completed?

- Everything is fine, he fitted in well with the team from what I've seen.

- Vitaliy Mykolenko is consistently included in the Premier League Team of the Week from various statistical portals - has he outgrown Everton's level yet?

- I don't know about "outgrown". "Everton is not the last team in the Premier League. I have no doubt that there is interest in Vitali from other clubs. I know him very well. Mykolenko has a good big future, he will definitely not be lost.

He is a hard worker, he always does his best. Vitalii deserves to be in the national team of the tour every game week with his performance.

- Viktor Tsygankov and Girona - will they withstand the pressure of the championship race with Real Madrid until the end of the season?

- That's a tough question. Indeed, Real Madrid has a winning spirit. At the same time, Girona is a kind of Leicester: no one expected it, but they keep pushing and pushing. I would like them to hold out until the end and then push on. Because they play good quality football, the players are all right, and you can see the pattern of the game. Perhaps Girona will never have such a chance again.

The main thing is for them to stand up morally and psychologically, because this factor can really weaken them. "Real Madrid is used to such pressure, but in Girona, young guys can sink.

"It was the first time I saw Belkevych wearing glasses at the training camp"

- Valentyn Belkevych could have celebrated his birthday recently. In honour of this date, former Dynamo administrator Oleksandr Chubarov recalled an episode that happened between you and Belkevych during one of the matches: "Uzbek, I'm asking you, just don't go back and forth, stand in the goalkeeper's box, I'll hit you in the head and we'll win." Did such an episode really happen and in which match?

- I won't say in which match for sure. As for "I'll hit you in the head", it never happened. "Run straight there, and I'll put the ball in your leg," that's how it was. "You don't need to spray left and right there, you just open up correctly, and I'll put the ball to you," he told me before every game (Laughs). So my task was to prepare a free space where I could open up at speed, and he would put the ball where it was needed.

- And Chubarov said that Valentyn hit you in the head and you scored with your head...

- Well, it was, I've scored about a goal and a half with my head in my career (Smiles ). So, in principle, this also happened. (Laughs).

- Perhaps you can share another story related to Belkevych?

- We were at a meeting, and at that time only the American TV series Prison Break (2005) was released. I somehow got him to watch it, saying that it was a great series, and Valik and I lived together at the base. And so the training was over, we quickly washed up, ate, and then the series came on. We watched 3-4 episodes and then went back to training, had a quick meal, a bath, and then the show again. And that's how we watched the series during the entire training camp.

The first time I saw Belkevych wearing glasses at the training camp, I said: "Oh, man, is it time to end your career?" and he said: "No, no, no, calm down, just don't tell anyone." And I told him, "Okay, it's okay, only I and half of Kyiv will know."

- Your good friend Aleksander Hatskevich has taken over Zagłębie (Sosnowiec), which is at the bottom of the standings in the second strongest Polish division. Will he be able to save the team from relegation?

- I hope so. But given the fact that they are eight points behind, and, as always, there is little time, because the championship is about to start, it will be difficult. But I hope they will cope with this task. I'm sure that Khatskevich will do 100% of the maximum, but time will tell whether they will succeed.

- Finally, a question about your potential son-in-law, Mykola Shaparenko. What is your attitude towards Mykola and do you approve of your youngest daughter's choice?

- This topic has been going on for a while... Let's put it this way: my daughter is an adult, it's her life, I trust her, she'll figure it out. And whether she is a future son-in-law or not is not for me to decide. Time will tell and let them tell everything themselves. Let's let this topic go.

Andriy Shevchenko