Famous Ukrainian coach and authoritative expert Oleh Fedorchuk assessed the application of the Ukrainian national team for the September matches of the League of Nations.
Goalkeepers: Georgii Bushchan (Dynamo), Anatolii Trubin (Benfica, Portugal), Andrii Lunin (Real Madrid, Spain)
- Serhii Rebrov settled on the three players who were on the national team's roster during the Euro finals. How can we evaluate this decision on a ten-point scale?
- This is our most powerful link. Over the past 10-15 years, it has been the most stable. The only thing I think is that it is very difficult for Lunin psychologically now. There are very ambiguous comments about him from both the fans and the coaching staff of Real Madrid.
Therefore, he probably needs to rest now and then decide on the way to continue his career. He has already earned the opportunity to build it on his own, and not depend on his club. Therefore, the position of the third goalkeeper could be given to some promising goalkeeper. But grade: 10.
- And who should be the "number one" in the games against Albania and the Czech Republic?
- This should be decided by the coaching staff. There is a goalkeeping coach, Rustam Khudzhamov, and he has to talk to every goalkeeper. Bushchan is in good shape now, but I think that Trubin should still be in goal.
The goalkeeping position is a rather specific role in which a footballer does not have to constantly prove something to someone. He must be confident in himself. Other positions require competition, but here the player needs to know that he will play.
Defenders: Mykola Matvienko, Yukhym Konoplya, Valerii Bondar (all from Shakhtar), Oleksandr Tymchyk, Denys Popov (both from Dynamo), Vitalii Mykolenko (Everton, England), Ilya Zabarnyi (Bournemouth, England), Maksym Taloverov (LASK, Austria).
- The application includes eight defenders. How do you rate their list?
- I give it an 8, because we had problems at the Euros, but after it the coaching staff did not draw conclusions about the squad. We have problems in this line. This is an unstable link at Shakhtar and Dynamo. We can see from the teams' recent matches that the defenders looked very unconvincing.
In particular, Valerii Bondar lost his race to Filippov in the UPL match. Oleksandr Filippov is not Usain Bolt and not the fastest football player in Ukraine. Denys Popov, for example, should not have made such mistakes in the match against Salzburg. It was a clear illustration of what we have available. I also have doubts about Maksym Taloverov. He needs to improve in positional play, and not rely only on his own anthropometry. The center of defense is definitely a question mark.
- Don't we have too few wing backs? There are nominally only three of them: Oleksandr Tymchyk, Yukhym Konoplya and Vitaliy Mykolenko.
- Yes, I absolutely agree with you. Those who play on the wing have more workload and injuries. Therefore, this is also a question for me. I would call up another player instead of Taloverov, because we have too many center backs. Most likely, I would call up Bohdan Mykhailychenko from Polissia. But this is up to the coaching staff and they know more about the players' condition than we do.
- Vladyslav Kabayev is regarded in the press as a stand-in for Mykhailo Mudryk. Could the debutant be a substitute for Mykolenko?
- They have completely different tasks, and we can already see from Karavayev how the winger is becoming a wingback. He and Kabayev even have similar careers in some ways. But when we allow such position changes, we must understand that mistakes like the one Oleksandr Karavayev is making now will happen. In general, there are very few players in the world who can play equally well in attack and defense. Like Javier Zanetti used to be. But even he did not act as well in front as he did in defense.
I would look at another player in the national team - Maxim Bragara from Dynamo. He is very, very versatile. His life has thrown him around so much that he is a true all-rounder. I believe that if he continues to perform like this, he will be called up to the national team in the spring. This is my prediction for him.
- After the Euros, you feared that the injury would affect Vitaliy Mykolenko's club career. What do you think of his form at the start of the UPL season?
- Now it's not the form, but the character. But he is a true professional and one of the few Ukrainian players who fit into the Premier League. As they say, you can go on a scouting mission with such a guy. (Smiles).
Midfielders: Andriy Yarmolenko, Mykola Shaparenko, Volodymyr Brazhko, Vladyslav Kabaev, Oleksandr Pikhalenok (all from Dynamo), Taras Stepanenko, Heorhiy Sudakov (both from Shakhtar), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal, England), Mykhailo Mudryk (Chelsea, England), Serhiy Sydorchuk (Westerlo, Belgium), Ruslan Malinowski (Genoa, Italy), Viktor Tsygankov (Girona, Spain).
- What is the situation with the midfield?
- I also have questions here. First of all, the coach must decide for himself whether he is good or effective. If he wants to succeed, then in a sense he must even be a dictator. And if players are called up who don't play much in clubs and are of a respectable age, primarily Stepanenko and Sydorchuk, then I don't understand the logic of decision-making.
We had a failure at the Euros and now we had to draw conclusions and prepare for the next qualifying round. Are we satisfied with this result and now expect Stepanenko and Sydorchuk to play better? For me, these names are iconic in Ukrainian football, but in the context of history. Now the coaches have to look for new players like them, 20- to 22-year-olds. For example, if Sydorchuk was still playing at Dynamo, Brazhko would still be on the bench. Here I give him a 7.
- Returning to the topic of the wings. Could Maksym Khlan, who played at the Olympics, play in the national team?
- He lacks a little bit of anthropometry, but in terms of understanding football he looked very powerful. Especially in the first game. Players like Hlan are exactly what we need to call up to give them a powerful motivational impetus.
At the systemic level, the national team should have two or three spots for young players who have proven themselves well in a club or youth team. Then there will be competition. If I said that goalkeepers don't need stress, then other roles do. This is not happening here. Why? A question for Rebrov.
Strikers: Artem Dovbyk (Roma, Italy), Roman Yaremchuk (Olympiacos, Greece), Vladyslav Vanat (Dynamo, Ukraine)
- In attack, it's also a pretty standard selection. In the application: Dovbyk, Yaremchuk and Vanat, and Sikan again remained on the reserve list...
- After the Euros, where he played a few minutes, Vanat did not play for Dynamo for a long time - until the trip to Salzburg. Apart from running work, Vlad did not do anything, but Sikan is no better now. So we can agree with this choice. The problem is that the Olympic team also did not have a player who could be called up. In the youth team, too.
Dovbyk's time is not good now, and Yaremchuk is just adapting to the new team. This is probably our weakest link. Only Oleksandr Filippov from Oleksandriya is from the UPL. Oleksandr Nazarenko is still in good shape, but he is a winger. Rebrov does not have much choice now. Rating: 8.
Reserve list: Dmytro Riznyk (Shakhtar), Bohdan Mykhailichenko (Polissia), Oleksandr Svatok (Austin, USA), Vitaliy Buyalsky (Dynamo), Oleksandr Zubkov, Danylo Sikan (both Shakhtar)
- In addition to the strikers, we also have a reserve list. We have already mentioned the names of players who should be included in the first team. And who would you include in the reserve?
- It's hard to say, because Oleksandriya is playing well in Ukraine, and it's a team game. I don't see anyone like that. I really like Bragaru, but he doesn't play in Dynamo's starting lineup.
Oleksandr Shcherbatykh