On Sunday, December 8, in the match of the 16th round of the Ukrainian championship, Kyiv “Dynamo” defeated “Alexandria” with a score of 3:0. The match took place in Kyiv at the “Dynamo” stadium named after Valery Lobanovsky. We present to your attention the post-match press conference of the head coach of the capital team Alexander Shovkovsky.
— Four points in two matches against “Alexandria” — is that a normal result?
— First of all, I congratulate all “Dynamo” fans on the victory!
There was a lot of talk around our matches with “Alexandria.” We prepared for the first of these games under rather difficult conditions. Undoubtedly, one point in Alexandria is not what we were counting on, but the conditions and situation in which we prepared for this game were not in our favor.
We had one more day to prepare for the second match than in the case of the previous games. And this worked to our advantage. Although today’s substitutions at the end of the match were forced; the guys asked for them themselves. There is a load, there is fatigue, whether we like it or not. This is a fact that cannot be ignored.
On the one hand, we are disappointed that we did not win the first match against “Alexandria,” but on the other hand, today’s game showed: if we had been in the same conditions with the opponent before the first meeting, that game would have been completely different.
Alexander Shovkovsky. Photo — Yu. Yuriev— Do you still have the desire to fight for the top-24 in the main stage of the Europa League?
— We will play to win in every match. The strategy and tactics may vary; the circumstances and situations may differ, but “Dynamo” (Kyiv) will always play to win.
— What is the situation with Shaparenko?
— He has recovered from illness, and now he has some minor complications. We hope that the doctors will allow us to use him, and Shaparenko himself, first of all, will be ready, but we also do not want to take risks with the player. We fully understand that health is of much greater importance. I really hope that Shaparenko will be ready soon and will strengthen our team. Just like Pykhalenok.
— Was the first goal a rehearsed execution of a set piece?
— We work on many nuances in our training process. Both in defense and in attack. Unfortunately, in previous matches, we were unable to use these, but after making certain corrections, these developments played their role today. That’s excellent; that’s how it should be.
Overall, our finishing today was at a sufficiently high level. That’s what we lacked in the match against “Koloss.” Yes, perhaps in that game we lacked emotion and freshness, but we had enough opportunities to win. Unfortunately, we failed to convert those chances.
I can only congratulate “Dynamo” fans on today’s victory. We move forward.
Post-match press conference of the head coach of “Alexandria” Ruslan Rotan >>>
Alexander POPOV from the “Dynamo” stadium named after Valery Lobanovsky
