Former Poltava «Vorskla» midfielder Ivan Krivoshenko shared his impressions of the match of the 4th round of the main stage of the Europa League between Kyiv «Dynamo» and Hungarian «Ferencváros» (0:4), held last Thursday in Hamburg.
— I thought that if «Ferencváros» could not be beaten in the Europa League, then there is no place for them in European competitions. Yes, in recent years «Ferencváros» has been the constant champion of Hungary, but the level of football in the neighboring country is not the highest. Having watched the match between «Dynamo» and «Ferencváros», I can say that such a team could and should have been beaten.
— Before the game, many experts said that for Dynamo players, the Ukrainian championship is more important now, where they have a tough match against «Polesie» on Sunday. Hence the fact that not all of Kyiv's main players would be on the field in the match against the Hungarian champions…
— I also anticipated such a development of events. It seems to me that right now for the «blue and white» the priority is the domestic championship. But Shovkovskyi decided to throw all the main players into battle. Although, the Kyiv team has the opportunity to rotate as the bench allows it.
— In the last match, everything was decided in the 17th minute when Dubinchak played roughly against an opponent and saw a red card in front of him?
— Dubinchak, based on what I saw, went onto the field very aggressively, you could even say riled up. The left-back of «Dynamo» had a confrontation with the Hungarian player earlier. Maybe he said something to him, which led to such an incident in the 17th minute.
Dubinchak made a childish mistake, as the opponent no longer controlled the ball, which was outside the field. His foul… Perhaps our player was slightly misaligned, understanding the importance of this game. In the same minute, the plan for Kyiv crashed. There were still 73 minutes to play. Undoubtedly, this was a very serious mistake by Vladyslav, and he understands this now.
— Do you understand why the head coach of «Dynamo» soon substituted Bulytskyi and not, for example, Kabayev or Voloshyn?
— Here, I think Shovkovskyi did everything right. Our guys were trying to play through the flanks in the first half, and we know about Kabayev's and Voloshyn's ability to escape from opponents at speed. And let’s remember that in the first half, our footballers had two good chances to open the scoring in this match.
— Both teams went into the break with a draw. Why did everything collapse for «Dynamo» in the second half?
— It seems to me that the guest coach Pascal Jansen made adjustments to his team's play during the break. He understood what needed to be changed in order to achieve a turnaround in the game. But Alexander Shovkovskyi did not make a single substitution, even though in the first half his pupils exerted a lot of effort, playing an energy-consuming match. Ideally, two fresh players should have been sent on for the second half. Here, Alexander Volodymyrovych lacked experience.
— In such tough matches, the role of team leaders is significant. How did Brażko and Shaparenko perform?
— Nikolai was good in the first half, but in the second half, he made many mistakes in midfield. As for Brażko, he had a not-so-bright match but did not flop. It was difficult for him to contain the attacks of the Hungarian team. Regarding another leader of the Dynamo — Andriy Yarmolenko, we would definitely see him on the field if both teams played with equal numbers. But playing with a disadvantage, it became an unnecessary option.
— At what score did you realize that «Dynamo» would lose to «Ferencváros»?
— For me, at the score of 0:2, everything was clear. Our team did not score a single goal in three rounds, so how could something change here?
— We look at the Europa League standings and see «Dynamo» in the last, 36th place, with a disappointing goal difference of 0:10. For example, the Latvian RFS has 2 points and scored 4 goals…
— Such a result is not accidental. The defense of our team is uncoordinated. Young Mikavko and Bilovar are unstable and lack experience. I know how difficult it is for the guys to get to European games over 18 hours. For now, it seems to me that Kyivans will throw all their strength into the UPL, where they are fighting for the championship. Perhaps in a year, the war will end, and our teams will play in their home cities, making it significantly easier. I believe that in the current difficult situation, our fans should support «Shakhtar» and «Dynamo», those clubs that play in the European cups.
— Are there any complaints about Alexander Shovkovskyi? After all, he has been the head coach of the team for a year?
— I think any coach needs to be given two to three years to work calmly. In the Ukrainian championship, the team is in the lead, although there are difficulties. I would give Shovkovskyi time because if someone replaces him, nothing will fundamentally change. We hope for the progress of Kyiv «Dynamo» very soon.