Senior coach of Kyiv “Dynamo U-19” Ihor Kostiuk summarized the home match of the Youth Championship of Ukraine against Zhytomyr “Polissia” (0:0).
Ihor Kostiuk— It was a difficult game today, a loss of points, and the second one in a row. What are your emotions after the match?
— It was indeed a difficult game. You saw we were missing players we had been working with during the preseason. But we are communicating with the players, many of whom are from 2008, who have come from the Academy, and for now, they cannot fully take the initiative or become team leaders.
However, amid all this, there are positive moments and negatives that need to be worked on for better understanding of how we can play and execute the instructions we give before the game or at halftime.
— It seemed today that the players were not going into dribbles much and also were not creating individual threats. We saw an episode at the end of the match when one player managed to beat two opponents, and immediately a sharp moment appeared. Perhaps this is lacking—such sharp actions?
— We have many injured players who usually play in those positions. For example, Hubenko played as a defender and currently lacks qualities to create chances through individual actions. We also invited Bekersky, but he is still shy and cannot fully reveal his potential. Our game is built around wing attacks and quick transitions. Unfortunately, today the players who were available did not execute this fully. There was insufficient understanding and skills to carry this out.
— It’s the end of summer, “Dynamo” returns to the home arena—having played at home for the first time this season. How nice is it to play here again?
— I told the players that our stadium always has a quality pitch, which is necessary to quickly adapt, swiftly transition from defense to attack, and move the ball quickly to create moments on such grass. It is enjoyable and indeed possible to do this. However, we see that so far, they do not fully understand our structure, and the players who should be team leaders are unfortunately not demonstrating their leadership qualities enough for us to achieve victories.
— There will now be a small break related to national team matches. Some players will go to the national teams. What are the plans for the team? Is it possible during this period to catch up on what we missed and return stronger after the break?
— We are in training every day. Therefore, during the break, we will also use this time to develop the players, improve them, and instill the understanding that is necessary for the game. I think some injured players will return to the group and will train. We are moving ahead systematically.
