On Wednesday, December 4, in the postponed match of the 1st round of the Ukrainian championship, Kyiv "Dynamo" drew 0:0 with "Alexandria". The match took place in Alexandria at the "Nika" stadium. Here is the post-match press conference of Dynamo's head coach Alexander Shovkovsky.
— From today\'s game, it seemed that Mykhavko is currently one of the most exhausted players on your team. Is that so?
— Let\'s just count how many matches we have played recently. Just count how much time we have for recovery and preparation in this schedule.
There are no teams that perform excellently on all fronts right now. Maybe just "Liverpool." Look at "Barcelona," "Real," and other teams: all of them are dropping points. The schedule is the schedule, you can\'t escape it.
Undoubtedly, we understood what kind of game awaited us, and we realized that first of all, we needed to play reliably in defense. I believe we succeeded in this overall. I cannot say that we had significant problems in defense today. We understood how "Alexandria" would play.
— It seemed that a draw satisfied both teams. Were you satisfied with this result?
— We always set ourselves up for victory. But there are always certain circumstances that can make adjustments. Additionally, we have to consider the players\' condition. We need to take into account the situation with the matches. Now, before the next game, we will have one extra day for preparation. And this is already a big plus for us, because before we played every two days.
Undoubtedly, we dropped points. But the team went through the first round without losses. I believe this is also quite significant in terms of achieving the main result.
Alexander Shovkovsky. Photo — A. Popov— How would you evaluate your team\'s performance in the first round overall?
— It\'s not the time to draw any conclusions.
— Today you made only two substitutions...
— Try to prepare a team in two days. Moreover, this is not about one match, but a whole period. Excluding international breaks. We should have one day for recovery, and then you can't even give a load because the next day there is another match.
— Did the condition of the pitch affect the game?
— Undoubtedly, you always want to play on excellent fields, with good lighting, in filled stands, and with fan support. But it\'s December now, and we all know what our climate conditions are like. I can say that for December, the state of the pitch was quite normal.
— Who impressed you the most today in the "Alexandria" squad, and who in the "Dynamo" squad?
— During the match, I do not follow individual players, but rather the actions of the team, their movements. I never highlight players and I will not do it. I will always defend them, demanding maximum effort from them.
Today was quite a principled game, an open game, which somewhat bordered on roughness, but we did not cross that line. And that is wonderful. We need more principled matches like this—then Ukrainian football will develop. But when there is a war in the country, we need to look at things objectively...
Post-match press conference of "Alexandria" head coach Ruslan Rotan >>>
Alexander POPOV from Alexandria
