Former Shakhtar Donetsk footballer Oleksandr Sopko criticized the head coach of his former team, Marino Pushich.
Oleksandr Sopko. Photo — V. Perehniak— What is happening with «Shakhtar»? I based my assessment of what is going on not just on the results. The result is an illustration of the game; it is a test. It is not always fair, but most of the time it reflects the game that the team demonstrates. And if we talk about the game, then not only I, but all Shakhtar fans have long been frustrated, and the game of Shakhtar in recent years, especially this year, is no longer perceived.
But what disappoints me the most in this situation... When I carefully listen to the coaches' comments before and after the match, I always understand that the coach shouldn't announce everything. I understand that for educational purposes, the coach should support the players, that he has club ethics. But if the coach, in all statements, says white is black, if he says: I like my game... Meanwhile, all fans insist that everything is bad, and he responds: I like it.
Then I have a question: does he consider everyone a fool, believes that no one understands football in this country, or does he genuinely not understand the problems that exist. This scares me even more than the three unresolved problems I mentioned. A coach who constantly dodges questions, does not provide objective answers, and cannot acknowledge what everyone else sees, I think, has questionable qualification.
Pushich's resignation? There are more than enough grounds for this. 3-4th place in the Ukrainian championship and one victory against a consciously weak team — «Young Boys» in the Champions League, absolutely does not improve the impression from other matches in terms of game quality. One can talk a lot about the match not won against PSV, but 35 shots on your goal and then to claim that the game was superb is just to say that white is black. Moreover, the match against «Bayern» showed that if the opponent exerted a little effort, everything would fall apart for «Shakhtar». It is impossible and wrong to defend one’s reputation and qualification by claiming that 4 points were earned in the Champions League. There are a lot of questions regarding the starting lineup, substitutions, and game management. If all this can be called technical and tasty football, then I don't know what bland, tasteless, and sleepy football is...
Oleg Semenchenko
