Famous Ukrainian coach Volodymyr Sharan said what he thinks about the current problems in the game of the national team of Ukraine.
Vladimir Sharan. Photo — Y. Yuriev"Recently, the Ukrainian national team and some of our clubs are trying to play build up, beautiful attacking soccer. However, we have completely forgotten that the basis of the team game and its foundation is the defense. And it is from it that we should dance first of all. Why? It's very simple: if the defense of our national team has problems and we concede in almost every game, then, of course, we need to draw some conclusions.
We play more on offense, we like to control the ball more, but unfortunately, the main problem is playing one-on-one. We are losing the one-on-ones, we are losing the rebounding. Not all players like to pick up the ball, and they are used to playing on "clean" balls. And this applies to many of our national team players, regardless of the role. In addition to the propensity to attack, I would also name the poor execution of standard positions among our disadvantages.
And I do not see our guys' eyes burning. And I don`t even know what to attribute it to. But the most important reason is the one I mentioned above. Unfortunately, we press, we cover the opponent, but constantly with fouls. What can I say: we do not know how to take the ball away cleanly, we lack this skill.
In general, we see not the Ukraine national team that we would like to see. We lose in power struggle, in desire we lose, in dedication we lose, and, of course, we lose in the end. For some reason, there is no real Ukrainian spirit inherent in our national team lately. So I will say this: we used to play more pragmatic soccer, and now we play more attacking. But the results have become worse.
We need to refresh our national team. We need to, we really need to! Why not take a few young players who show themselves better and more stable in the youth team? I will not name specific names, but there are many to choose from. And somehow it seems that everything seems to go according to plan. Each player, playing in the Ukraine national team, feels neither competition, nor the degree of demanding to himself, reasoning something like this: "I do not play in Shakhtar or in the APL, but I will be called up to the national team anyway. I will go, and everything will be fine, as always, because I have a surname". I suppose that's wrong, because you have to look at things realistically. Especially after the failed European Championship for our national team.
I know Serhiy Rebrov well, because we lived together in the same room at Dynamo Kyiv base in Koncha-Zaspa for many years. Therefore, I would not like to criticize him, because he tries to do everything as much as possible. But I think that it depends on the players. After all, how many times can we step on the same rake? People who defend our country from the enemy, as well as ordinary fans watching soccer, want to see that the national team of Ukraine is a strong team. But how many times can we do it - one selection, the second - and failures... There was no team then, and there is no team now... And when will we all see this team?! What do you mean? If there is no team, then the head coach doesn't need to take these people. In that case, he needs to bring in others. Then we'll see who can do what.
We all expect that there will be a result. However, there are those who think only about the game. Especially it concerns the man who works in the national team headquarters - Platov. I should note: I don`t know him personally and I haven`t even seen him. So, one of my colleagues told me that when I worked as head coach of Oleksandriya and in the season-2018/19 it won the bronze medal, Platov, when analyzing the game of my team, said that Oleksandriya plays anti-football.
And this is despite the fact that we took third place in the Ukrainian championship and entered the Europa League! And in the group round. There were matches when the field did not allow to play soccer, but I said: "Yes, we really need to play at the expense of long passes to Sitalo". We played aggressive soccer, and it has absolutely nothing to do with anti-football, as someone calls it. So before criticizing the coaches, first show the result.
So we can state that no one canceled the boomerang principle - and today I already have every right to criticize. And, unlike Platov, quite deservedly, not unreasonably. Tell me, where is any constructiveness and desire to fight for every ball in the supporting midfield of the Ukrainian national team now?", - UA-Football quotes Sharan's words.
