Oleksandr Sopko: «The motor of Shakhtar is really weak»

Famous football expert Oleksandr Sopko assessed the current play of Shakhtar midfielder Artem Bondarenko.

Oleksandr Sopko (photo: V. Perehnyak)

— The game against Brest showed that his position in the starting lineup is not as solid as I considered it (Marlon came on instead of Bondarenko from the first seconds — ed.). Overall, this match is a very good reason for many players to think about whether he can compete with the Brazilian players if the game continues to be built on this tactic. If he can't, then most likely his career at Shakhtar will end.

Playing at Shakhtar just to perform at the level of the Ukrainian championship should not be interesting for such a player. Second — this is not interesting for the club. And third — there may be enough buyers who would want to acquire such a player. But this will not be the kind of money that, perhaps, would even compare with what they could get for Sikan.

A modern footballer must not only be able to stand with the ball, lift his head, look around, make pauses, play back, reduce the tempo, and so on. A modern footballer cannot be an anchor — he must be a motor. And the motor is really weak. Therefore, I think one of the questions for today's Shakhtar is what to do with Bondarenko. Pedrinho against Brest made as many dribbles and did as much dirty work as Bondarenko has not done throughout the championship, — sums up Oleksandr Oleksandrovich.