Former Ukraine striker Ivan Getsko shared his impressions of the Europa League play-off return leg between French side Marseille and Shakhtar Donetsk (3-1), which took place yesterday on the Provençal pitch. We would like to remind you that the Pitmen failed to qualify for the next round of the competition on aggregate (2:2, 1:3).
- Admittedly, Shakhtar failed to properly prepare for the games with the French grandee, who are going through bad times. And, in my opinion, there is no need to write it all off to spring football, saying that Ukrainian clubs always play poorly in February. The Pitmen themselves will confirm that this is not true, as they knocked out the no less formidable Rennes from France at the same stage in the previous Europa League. So, the failure took place during the preparation for the battles with Marseille.
"Shakhtar started well in Marseille, both in the first half and after the break. Then, for some reason, they slowed down, which the hosts took advantage of when Aubameyang and Sarr scored respectively. Unfortunately, the Pitmen could not find any solid counter-arguments, because you can't outwit a muscle. It's like skill, you either have it or you don't.
Where were the threats to Marseille's goal to come from when Georgiy Sudakov, instead of playing in favour of Danil Sikan, who had been put forward on the attacking edge, concentrated on helping left-back Irakli Azarov, who often lost one-on-one battles with his teammates? The midfield players - Artem Bondarenko, Oleksandr Zubkov, Eguinaldo disappeared somewhere in the second half, Taras Stepanenko did not have time. Not for nothing they say: show your midfield and I will evaluate your prospects. Yesterday he disappointed. Our defence acted with gross errors again.
There was an impression that Puszic does not control the course of events on the pitch, in particular, the substitutions were obviously late. But his Marseille colleague Jean-Louis Gasse released Sarr on the field and he scored almost immediately.
You know, based on the games against Marseille, I had concerns about Shakhtar's performance in the UPL. However, that is another story.