Former player of the national team of Ukraine Yuriy Shelepnytsky shared his impressions from the match of the 11th round of the Ukrainian championship between Kyiv "Dynamo" and Donetsk "Shakhtar" (1:1).
Yuriy Shelepnytsky— "Dynamo", of course, will analyze why such a game happened in the first half of the match against "Shakhtar", but, in my opinion, with the personnel changes, the Kyivans overcomplicated things. It is clear that the advantage of the "miners" was based, first of all, on greater freshness, because two days of recovery in modern football is a lot.
But it also happened that "Dynamo" punished itself, since the core of the team needed to be honed in the match against "Roma"... It is no secret that against the Romans, the Dynamo players planned to act from a solid defense, and that same approach needed to be transferred to the match against "Shakhtar", because the Pushich team could have had only one plan for this game: to attack and score.
— But probably no one expected such a significant advantage for "Shakhtar" in the first half...
— "Dynamo" seemed not to expect such strong pressure and acted somewhat inertly, plus, they worked poorly on the flanks. Additionally, there were almost no shots on the opponent's goal.
— In the episode when Kryskiv was sent off, was there a foul for a red card?
— This is an indisputable sending off. Kryskiv did not play the ball and deliberately went into the legs of the opponent. I think Kryskiv acted in the moment of urgency. Such things happen in the game... Later he will review this moment and probably understand what he did...
— Were Shovkovsky's substitutions correct and timely?
— Yes. "Shakhtar" sat back in defense with a low block after the dismissal, deciding to defend. A forward, Guerrero, came on to the attack, and Karavayev came on to speed up the game and increase pressure on the opponent's defense. I note that "Shakhtar" did not physically hold up, almost came to a stop, and "Dynamo" squeezed them. It is telling that from the 70th minute, even the central defenders of Kyiv played on the half of the "miners". "Shakhtar" had hopes that Traore would be able to latch onto the ball, keep it, force Dynamo players to foul him, but that did not happen. Traore is not in form...
— Can we determine the worst and best players of the Ukrainian classical derby?
— In "Dynamo", the entire team failed in the first half. Only Bouchan, up to the break, had nothing to blame for. However, in the 48th minute, in the episode with the goal, Bouchan made a mistake, or to be more precise, he could have saved, but he did not... In "Shakhtar", Sudakov stood out as he both initiated attacks well and executed set pieces—his assist led to the goal into the "Dynamo" net, and he defended well.
— "Dynamo" scored the goal thanks to the energy of Karavayev, who had just appeared on the field?
— Undoubtedly, full of energy, Karavayev broke free from the tired Eghinald, found himself alone in a striking position and effectively resolved the episode. Although I believe Karavayev could have made dangerous crosses into the "Shakhtar" penalty area in a couple of moments, he somehow did it carelessly.
— For whom is this draw a bigger plus?
— For "Dynamo" this is a decent result. However, for "Shakhtar", it is not a failure. A six-point gap from the main competitor, with 19 rounds still ahead, is not a verdict. Even if "Dynamo" had won and the gap was nine points, the fate of the championship would not have been decided at all.
Moreover, everyone somehow does not take into account the ambitions of "Alexandria", which is winning match after match, and so far no one can stop them... And let's not forget about "Polissya". The Zhytomyr team is building up and I am confident it has serious intentions. It is good that this season there are teams capable of taking points from "Dynamo" and "Shakhtar". The giants will still lose... So, the intrigue lives on!
Oleg Leonchuk
