On Thursday, March 6, in the match of the 20th round of the Ukrainian championship, Kyiv’s Dynamo defeated Cherkasy’s LNZ with a score of 2:1. The match took place in Cherkasy at the “Cherkasy-Arena” stadium. We present to you the post-match press conference of the head coach of the home team, Roman Grigorchuk.
Roman Grigorchuk. Photo — A. Popov— How did you find your first match in Cherkasy as head coach of LNZ?
— Since we didn’t win, it’s hard to say it went well. We are not satisfied. Given what happened on the field, taking into account all the moments in the game, we have reason to feel dissatisfied with the result. Today we should have earned points.
— In the first half, your team seemed asleep, passive, and the game plan was not visible. Then there was a transformation. What was the reason?
— I agree, in the first half we absolutely did not look like ourselves. You watch and think: what is happening? Everything was completely wrong on our part. Everyone is interested in the reason why it was so. Now I am 200 percent sure that the reason lies in the realm of psychology, confidence, the ability to go out and play against any opponent, quickly reacting to any changes from the opponent.
Today, our first half was inadequate. At halftime, we talked to the team. I understood that we were not present on the field. We can play better. We aimed to change the attitude of the guys. We know how to play football and we want to show it. The fact that we are playing against Kyiv’s Dynamo should not matter; we must play in our own style in any match.
After the second half, we can say that our state in this segment of the match was fundamentally different, and it allowed us to play a completely different type of football. Based on the game and the moments, we had the right to expect a different, better result for us.
— It seemed that your team was trying to maintain the score 1:1...
— I don’t think the guys were thinking about preserving the score. Perhaps this impression was formed due to the great order in our defense. We want to attack, but in order to attack, there must be order in defense, there must be a system. If in a match against Kyiv’s Dynamo you attack just like that, without looking back, you can get hurt, because this team has players of the highest level.
I believe that when the score was 1:1, it was impossible not to feel that we were about to win. I felt that we would win this match. But it turned out otherwise.
Post-match press conference of Dynamo head coach Alexander Shovkovsky.
Alexander POPOV from Cherkasy
