Former Dynamo player Sergey Konovalov commented on the match of the 6th round of the Europa League against Real Sociedad, which ended in a 0:3 defeat for the Kyiv team.
Sergey Konovalov— The Dynamo disaster continues, why can’t it be stopped?
— The first thing that surprised me was the choice of the lineup. Given the mistakes in previous matches, some players are playing again. And again the same “rakes”. With the final score of 0:3, I wouldn't say that only the defense is to blame. It encompasses the mistakes of the entire Dynamo game. Everything that happened on the field was a sad spectacle. If we crossed into the half of the Spaniards' field, then at best we could make three passes to a teammate, the fourth one was given to the opponent. Many turnovers, but at the same time they didn’t manage to return quickly, large spaces formed between the lines, through which the hosts easily penetrated deep into the penalty area. I repeat: the team defense acted horrifically! Yes, individual mistakes by Popov, Bilovar, Dubinchak played their negative role, but in front of them is the midfield, where the midfielders have to “fight” for everything, but there was a complete void there. It seems that Real Sociedad was practicing a training model of how to attack in a sparring match against Dynamo.
— Besides the defensive mistakes, you mentioned the play of the midfield line. Recently, the performance of Brazhko has raised a lot of concern. He looks heavy, overweight, and tired on the field. Do you agree?
— Remember, at the beginning of the season everyone rejoiced at the good play of this young midfielder. He really read the game defensively, intercepted, and halted the attacking actions near his penalty area. He immediately broke into the national team roster, and everyone thought that a successful replacement for Stepanenko had arrived. But now he is a different player. Moreover, when there are “dead” partners next to him who are unable to compensate for the lack of skill with physical dedication, we get such a performance and such a result. I emphasize that defense starts from the forward. It's unclear why Guerrero was released from the first minutes of the match? He did not participate in defensive actions at all, did not return to help the midfield at least. He was not visible on the field. It shouldn't be like that; this is not the role of a forward! When there are large gaps, naturally, the Spaniards, motivated, simply tore apart our defense through the flanks. They did everything faster, at speed, outpacing our players by seconds, so Dynamo was always late.
— Especially the Japanese legionnaire Kubo severely “toyed” with Dubinchak on the flank in the first half.
— Yes, the picture was not pleasant. Because of these gaps on the flanks, the hosts easily exposed our defense, winning all one-on-one confrontations. One-on-one play is the weakness of Dynamo's defense. In a small area, on a square meter, it poses no problem for a forward to outplay, especially in the penalty area, our defenders who can't catch up with the opponent's quick feet, resulting in fouls and penalties.
— The only thing we saw in this match was the new and unusually green-colored playing kit of Dynamo. The new kit — is a different game! But it turned out to be much worse, the novelty did not help. Many fans say: “With such play, it would be better to change the club's name so that the players do not associate themselves with the Dynamo emblem. Comparing with Dynamo-75, Dynamo-86, Dynamo-98/99 and the current generation, it’s hard to believe that this is Dynamo?”
— Maybe the fans really speak from the heart. Unclear, absurd, and spineless play. Many need to reflect on whether they are truly worthy of representing themselves in such a large club, with such a bright history, to disgrace the name of the club? Of course, it’s sad! Our fighters sit in the trenches, connect to MeGogo to see how our Dynamo is doing, and see that… I don’t know if our “stars” will be ashamed of such a game.
— It came to the point that after the first half with a score of 0:3 there was only one thought: “God, just let us not concede even more, and not finish the game with a score of 0:5 or 0:6”. Did you also feel this way?
— Yes, I have such feelings, as with Shakhtar. It’s better to lose honorably, with a smaller score than the miners. This is a catastrophe for our football. It’s especially sad to watch such football performed by Dynamo. Maybe it’s already time to involve the youth from U-19, give them a chance, maybe they will fight on the field. It’s hard to give any advice in such a situation, but after the first half there were requests for substitutions, but the head coach only made a triple substitution at the 62nd minute. Thank goodness the Spaniards reduced their pace, playing just for their enjoyment. If they had pressed as they did in the first half, a significant score wouldn’t have been avoided.
— With such a game, it’s hard to find anything positive. Maybe you dare?
— One bright spot is our goalkeeper Zhora Bushchan. If it weren’t for him, then the score would have been larger. Yes, you can’t envy Oleg Shovkovsky now; he works with the material he has. At the moment, we have no better. For the peace of the soul, one can find many reasons why Dynamo is so weak. This includes a weak championship, war, difficult logistics. I won’t be original; now in the UPL there are players who, had they stepped onto the field in 2010-2014, would at best be in the lineups of first and second division teams. We have quantity playing, not quality.
Serhiy Shebek
