Oleksandr Shovkovskyi: "A very difficult period, a very heavy load on the players"

Dynamo Kyiv head coach Oleksandr Shovkovskyi commented on the broadcast of the 1-0 victory over LNZ in the match of the 5th round of the Ukrainian championship.

- I am satisfied with the result. Although we had opportunities to finish the game more calmly. Given the intense and exhausting period we had, we anticipated that this game would be difficult. Especially since we played a team that had a pretty good start to the league, winning three games in four. We were preparing for a difficult game, studying the LNZ. But we had the desire, but we lacked composure at certain moments. Nevertheless, the guys were responsible, and in principle the game was quite good. I think the fans enjoyed it.

- Dynamo created a lot of chances. What was missing in the last phase?

- You know, it's very easy to say. But playing when there is a load, there is fatigue - players do not always make decisions not entirely according to the game and the situation. In the final stage, you need to be more confident when performing certain football moments. I also think that today we lacked emotions a little bit - we gave a lot of them in the last two matches of the Champions League playoffs. And after that, it took us almost a day to get home. We talked about this as well. When you are tired, discipline and responsibility come to the fore. As for the desire, I can't blame my players.

Now the national team players are getting back on the buses and heading to their matches. As far as I know, tomorrow the national team will spend the night in Chisinau. This is a very difficult period, a very heavy load on the players. But we can't do anything about it, that's why we are making a certain rotation of the squad. Everyone feels that they are needed by the team and are ready to take the field at any time. By the way, congratulations on Valentyn's debut. He showed himself quite well. Brian Ceballos will also wait for his time. Unfortunately, today Mykola Shaparenko had some problems, and Taras Mykhavko played with problems.

- Is Shaparenko injured?

- He has a strain in his calf muscle. This is a very delicate matter, and we decided to save him for the national team.

- And Popov? Is it his shoulder?

- No, his shoulder is fine. But he missed another game with Karpaty because of back problems. He missed training and was working on an individual program. We can't take any risks with the players. This is not the final game of the season.

- It was written about Rubchynskyi that he could leave Dynamo on loan...

- There is no point in commenting on rumors. He is in the team, he is preparing, he is our combat unit.