Ivan Krivosheenko: “Popov gets into the fight everywhere and always unsuccessfully”

Former midfielder of Poltava’s “Vorskla” Ivan Krivosheenko shared his impressions of the match of the 6th round of the main stage of the Europa League between Spain’s “Real Sociedad” and Kyiv’s “Dynamo” (3:0), which took place last Thursday in San Sebastián.

— Everyone understood who the favorite of this meeting was before the referee’s starting whistle. What were your thoughts before the beginning of this match?

— Dynamo is a grand of Ukrainian football. I wanted the Dynamo players to start gaining points in the Europa League. I was thinking that it would be another easy match for the leader of our championship in Europe. We saw how recently Alexander Shovkovsky’s team dealt with Alexandria in the UPL. However, in San Sebastián, our footballers did not show their true face. Yes, in my opinion, “Real Sociedad” is the strongest club that our team has faced in the current Europa League.

— Were you surprised by the starting lineup of Dynamo?

— Yes. The coaching staff of the “white-blues” fielded five defenders and two defensive midfielders. In total, seven players were focused on defense. And still, we conceded goals after positional attacks. The level of our defenders is very low. Moreover, Popov, Dyachuk, and Bilovar are similar in their playing style. We all know that individual matches are won by forwards, while entire tournaments are won by defenders. None of this trio of central defenders knows how to start an attack with a long pass; the guys make many mistakes.

— Dynamo paid attention to the Japanese Take Kubo — perhaps the most dangerous player of Real Sociedad in recent years? He was tearing apart his opponents on the wing...

— I don’t know. Dubinchak couldn't play against him personally. Kubo outplayed him, and not just him. Kubo posed a threat practically every minute. In general, if it weren't for Georgiy Bushchan, the match would have ended with a score of 6:0. We are conceding far too many goals in the current Europa League.

— What do the statistical indicators of this match say: shots 27−5, shots on target — 14−1?

— About the complete advantage of the Spanish team. And here we help them; we're talking about the penalty earned by Popov in the 18th minute of the match. The opponent has his back to our goal and poses no threat to it, yet he kicks him on the leg. And another penalty for a similar violation against Popov could have been called by the German referees.

But the peak of all the problems in defense was the collision between Bilovar and Popov. Young footballers are taught in elementary school: the one who is facing his own goal plays the ball. Therefore, Bilovar should have played in that episode, and not Popov. However, Popov always intrudes into the fight and always unsuccessfully. And now I understand why the coaching staff of the Ukrainian national team does not trust Popov on the European stage. The same can be said about Taloverov.

— Did the refereeing affect the final result of the match?

— No, although there was a penalty against Voloshin at the very beginning of the match. I don’t know why it wasn’t called. In general, “Real Sociedad” completely outplayed “Dynamo”. As Eduard Cikhmeistruk correctly said during the halftime break of the match, our guys had no emotions. Only Bushchan was shouting at someone. It was evident that the players of Kyiv’s “Dynamo” came out resigned to this match.

— Dynamo has not won in the group stage of European cups for 4 years. The last victory was dated December 8, 2020 (“Dynamo” — “Ferencváros” — 1:0). What to do?

— Coaches change, but poor results do not. It’s a difficult question. I like that now mostly young Ukrainian footballers are playing in “Dynamo”. But the football that Shovkovsky's team shows is hard to watch. When the score became 3:0, it was already uninteresting. Surely many fans just turned off their TVs. It is clear that now everyone will criticize Kyiv’s “Dynamo”, and that’s right. The Spanish press wrote that previously “Dynamo” instilled fear in any Spanish team when they beat “Barcelona” and “Real” (Madrid). And now... There are many questions.