The famous Belarusian coach Oleg Dulub commented on his appointment as the head of the coaching staff of the DYUSSH “Lviv”, which was officially announced yesterday officially.
“I have always been interested in why so many players disappear when transitioning to adult football. Now I know the answer”
— Oleg Anatoliyovych, I think for many your appointment to the DYUSSH “Lviv” came as a surprise. Can you tell us when and under what circumstances you received this offer?
— I was approached with this offer about two weeks ago. The head of the Lviv academy Roman Yevhenovych Mykhailiv called me and suggested this option while I had no specific job offers.
He asked for help in organizing the work of the Lviv academy. This involves forming a unified philosophy, a playing model, creating a training system, and assessing the quality of the current coaching staff.
— What personally guided you when you decided to respond to Mykhailiv’s invitation?
— There are several aspects here. I have long had the idea of uniting age groups in a vertical from U-14 to U-19, moving up to the first team. From experience, I can say that the majority of players disappear precisely when transitioning to adult football. I have always been interested in why this happens. So when Roman Yevhenovych offered me this option, our interests aligned.
The main condition he mentioned was that if I receive a specific proposal to lead one of the clubs, there would be no obstacles from his side.
— What are your impressions of the first days of work at DYUSSH “Lviv”?
— The impressions are only positive because I see how the Lviv academy is developing. While working as the head coach of the first team (2021−2023 — note of the editor), we constantly maintained contact with the academy. We always had three to four players training with the professionals. Perhaps this is what helped us, back in the day, discover Borys Krushynskyi and later assist in the development of Taras Mykhavko, who also went through the Lviv system.
— What is your work at the Lviv academy right now?
— Currently, I am working to transition everything to a new, unified training system. I am also assisting the team “Niva-Sambir-2”. Right now we are moving step by step. First, I met with the coaches, got to know each one personally, and observed the training sessions they conduct.
After that, we organized a meeting where I presented my vision of the situation. It was decided that we would not immediately implement new methods but would do it gradually. This is necessary so that the coaches become participants in the process. One can just come in and say: “Do only as I said”, but in that case, the opportunity for the coaches' development is lost. If we involve them in the process and explain step by step what we are doing and why, then at some point they may even suggest ways to improve the system, contribute their own ideas.
— At the end of March 2024, there was already information in the media that “Lviv” might return to professional football. Your arrival also seems to indicate the seriousness of the academy leadership's intentions. Have you discussed with Mykhailiv his plans for returning another club from Lviv to the football map of Ukraine?
— We did not discuss this topic with Mykhailiv. Right now, I am focused on helping the Lviv academy. In the long-term perspective, of course, one needs to ask the question: “What will happen next?”. Naturally, all this work must be oriented towards the first team.
An offer from another club may come to me in a week or a month, so I am trying to execute everything planned as quickly as possible without losing quality. The most important and the most difficult thing is to launch the process. After that, one can give consultations from a distance. The main thing is to convey to the coaches how exactly this should work so they can move forward independently.
“In Lobanovskyi's Dynamo, it was impossible not to fall in love”
— You mentioned earlier that you have always been interested in the topic of talented players who cannot realize themselves when transitioning to adult football. Do you have an answer as to why this problem is so widespread?
— First, it’s the mismatch in the training loads offered in the first team. Even at U-19, the loads are much lower, which makes it difficult for every player to adapt to the main team.
The second aspect is psychology. In practically all clubs, I hear the same thing: “The main thing is to teach the player to play until 19 years old”. Conversations begin about today's trendy terms — “build-up” and “passing”.
I had a period when I became interested in this topic and began to search for literature on how youth is trained in the West. I was just amazed! They teach playing only until 14 years old. From 14 to 16 years, players learn to win individual matches. And from 16 to 19 years, players are prepared to be able to win tournaments. These are completely different things from a psychological point of view.
There are examples from adult football where a team loses a match, but the players say: “At least we played well!”. I respond: “This is not figure skating; here they do not score for artistry.” When you obtain such knowledge, you better understand why so many players “break down”. Playing football and winning are different things. I can give a vivid example.
— Go ahead, I’m interested to hear.
— A few days ago, an agent I work with suggested I take a look at a 13-year-old boy. The video lasted five to seven minutes, but I hadn’t had such pleasure in a long time. Messi, truly a Ukrainian Messi! Shorter than his peers, but how he works with the ball is wow. I ask the agent: “Where is he?”. He replies: “Wait, let me show you more.” He sends a video where this boy is already 16 years old.
He is already losing speed. Why? Because the training methods that were applied to him did not correspond to his sensitive periods of development. They probably spent most of the time only working on “passing” and “build-up”. The explosiveness in the boy has disappeared.
Now he is about 20−22 years old, he plays in a different position that doesn’t correspond at all to his natural abilities. The player has simply dissolved, although he is a diamond in terms of talent. If you do not take into account sensitive periods and incorrectly select training methods, the football player just disappears.
— So, there can be no significant claims against such a young talent: they play as they were taught?
— Absolutely. Every player has sensitive periods for the development of certain game qualities. One of the main differences between all clubs in the post-Soviet space and Western clubs is that we all work in light mode. This simply kills players because neither “build-up” nor “passing” teach them to win. Victories are achieved in the penalty area through explosive actions.
Explosive actions are a separate training system. The development process takes a minimum of six weeks — and this is just reaching the first level of readiness. The entire training process in leading clubs is built on strength and speed training. This is what was in Ukraine, particularly in Kyiv’s Dynamo during the times of Valeriy Lobanovskyi. I remember his teams from 1986 and 1997 — in that Dynamo it was impossible not to fall in love.
— More and more voices are saying that there are fewer individual strong players in football who are not afraid to take the initiative, to push the game...
— What is football? It’s partners, opponents, the ball, the goal, the direction. And of course, the referee and the football field itself. If we take the same “passing”, it does not teach the player to make autonomous decisions. The main aspect of working with young footballers is to teach them to make decisions independently, to take the initiative, to create moments.
The entire football fitness is built on working with the ball and through game exercises. If you replace this with “passings” and “build-ups”, the focus on the opponent’s goal is lost. Players begin to make passes just for the sake of making passes.
— And far from always, ball control indicates the initiative of the team. I remember Mourinho responding to criticism regarding the low percentage of ball possession in a game against Manchester City saying something like: “They can take the ball home with them, but I’ll take three points”.
— Achieving results must be ensured by appropriate means, by building the game. You assess the available resource, and if you do not have players who know how to play while controlling the ball, then you need to act on counterattacks.
Recently, I read a statement by Manchester City’s head coach Pep Guardiola, who currently has significant problems with the same “build-up”. He said that if players do not have a passion for ball control, it’s better to switch to a counter-attacking game model. I just sit there reading: “Wow, that’s something.” And this is Guardiola himself saying it!
Vladyslav Liutianskyi
