The famous manager and expert Vyacheslav Zakhovaylo shared his impressions from the first match of Kyiv’s Dynamo against Cypriot Paphos (0:1) in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League, which took place last Tuesday in Lublin.
Vyacheslav Zakhovaylo“Now there is an understanding of the form in which the Kyivans approached the playoff start.
The criticism will be huge. Fans can be understood and forgiven. I confirm that the club ranking of Ukraine corresponds to our level.
I will try to analyze what I saw in this particular match without emotions.
In my opinion, we conceded in tactical preparation against this specific opponent. Before the game, all the trump cards of the Cypriots were clear. The decision to field two nominal defensive midfielders against “Paphos” was a mistake. Proof of my words is that the most dangerous player of “Paphos,” Ja-Ja, found himself in half-open spaces, in one-on-one play. Of course, we do not know what the instructions were and whether the “Dynamo” players followed them. But the game was clearly not going according to our scenario.
In fact: looking at our ball possession, at our defensive line plus the goalkeeper… Everything was slow, with a huge amount of errors. The milk is souring. Our players looked frightened, which is very strange. Pressing was expected from the opponent, but the Dynamo players were stubbornly helping the Cypriots with their actions.
In football, anything can happen. I understand that we missed with our choice of tactics and the starting lineup. But there was plenty of time to adjust. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. When the opponent predictably "drifted" physically and substitutions were made in hopes of speeding up the game, instead we conceded a ridiculous goal in our own net.
The first match was deservedly lost. I hope the right conclusions will be made, and in the return match we will see a different "Dynamo." I really hope so.
Peace to all! Glory to Ukraine!” — wrote Zakhovaylo on his Facebook page.
