Former goalkeeper of the Ukrainian national team Ilya Bliznyuk commented on the outcome of the 5th round match of the main round of the Europa League Dynamo - Viktoria, which ended with a defeat for Kyiv team with a score of 1:2.
"The main problem of Dynamo is not only the defenders, especially the central ones, but also that the players do not know how to play one-on-one during recoveries. This is a big problem not only for Kyivans but for all of Ukrainian football. Look at how the first goal was scored: Bilovar releases the player, does not engage in further combat, he is easily turned around and there’s the goal. All this happens right in front of the penalty area. And this is practically the case in all episodes.
And how was the second goal scored? A Viktoria player calmly flicks the ball in the area of the penalty mark, another one receives the ball without resistance and there you have it. Where were the central defenders? Instead, Shaparenko was there. Dynamo is not ready to play as the first number, although in terms of passes and statistics, they slightly outplayed the opponent. But if you count the passes in their own penalty area and across the field, then you can gather a sufficient number that does not translate into quality. But going forward in one-third of the field in the opponent's half, there are few penetrating passes.
The most important is how many crosses the team made, passes into the opponent's penalty area, how many shots on target, how many attempts were made. So far, Dynamo's game is not sticking. Perhaps, the task is to channel all their strength towards the championship, while the Europa League is treated as a secondary competition. In the Ukrainian Championship, the team shows a completely different game - more aggressive, powerful, and mature.
Does Dynamo feel a personnel hunger? Probably, there are no better players at the moment. In Dynamo's 1998-1999 era, Rebrov and Shevchenko were upfront, players who could break away, outplay individually and score, on whom the whole team relied. On the flanks were Luzhny and Kosovsky, in central defense played Holovko, who fought for everything, and Vashchuk, who cleaned up everything and started attacks. Unfortunately, at the moment, there is a different generation.
The game of the current Dynamo in defense (of the whole team, not just the defenders, starting from the forwards), leaves much to be desired. This refers to recoveries, interceptions, engagement in combat; there is a slight deficiency of all this. And when these little elements are lacking in the game, at such a level as the Europa League, this is enough to lose matches. However it is, the team is gaining experience, getting bumps, and we hope that one day it will shoot out," said Bliznyuk.