The well-known coach and authoritative expert Oleg Fedorchuk spoke about who he prefers in tomorrow\'s battle in the capital of Ukraine, in which the central match of the 11th round of the Ukrainian championship will see Kyiv\'s Dynamo face off against Donetsk\'s Shakhtar.
— I agree with those specialists who believe the strengths of tomorrow\'s opponents are roughly equal. This can be explained by the fact that the champions have somewhat slowed down this season, while Dynamo have stepped up. Nevertheless, I lean towards the fact that Shovkovskiy\'s charges will prevail — 2:1. Their “trumps”: a more balanced squad, stability, confidence in their abilities, and the courage of the coaching staff, who are not afraid to make unexpected decisions.
— Are you hinting that the Dynamo players had an experimental lineup in their last match in the Europa League — against Roma?
— Not only that, as in the match in Rome, the Kyiv team also played with three central defenders. Apparently, Shovkovskiy feels that tomorrow\'s match could be crucial in the battle for the “gold”, which is why he made such decisions to be prepared for anything.
— But in the event of a failure on Sunday, the coach will immediately be reminded of the impracticality of these decisions.
— I believe that the Kyiv coaching staff has weighed everything well. After all, in Rome, even when not playing in an optimal lineup, Dynamo put up a fight against the ambitious hosts, and had it not been for the childish prank of stopper Taras Mykhavko, who simply “gave away” a penalty, they could have at least avoided defeat.
— Recently, Mykhavko often finds himself in the role of an antihero at Dynamo.
— That concerns me. I would advise Taras to be more demanding of himself, more focused, because his mistakes are very costly to the team.
— The absence tomorrow of Andriy Yarmolenko and Oleksandr Pikhalyonok in the Dynamo lineup — is that a serious loss?
— As for Yarmolenko, no. He has been absent too often for various reasons, and his teammates have already adapted to his absence, but Pikhalyonok would be useful, especially in offensive operations.
— Who will create the most problems for the Kyiv team in achieving the desired result?
— Dynamo need to focus on neutralizing Heorhiy Sudakov and think about how to find the “keys” to the goal of Dmytro Riznyk, who shows a high level of preparation.
— What other “trumps” do the miners have?
— On the whole, I see only one: the Donetsk team had more time and opportunities to recover after European Cup matches. Yes, perhaps for Kyiv, the match in Rome did not require significant physical effort, but believe me, it was still energy-consuming even for the substitutes. That’s why, to regain game tone, a few days are needed, of which Kyiv had little. Still, the significance of tomorrow’s confrontation will be an additional stimulus, forcing Dynamo to tap into some unrealized reserves to perform at their best.
Andriy Pysarenko