On Sunday, August 31, in the match of the 4th round of the Ukrainian championship, Kyiv’s Dynamo defeated Zhytomyr’s Polesye with a score of 4:1. The match took place in Kyiv at the Dynamo stadium named after Valerii Lobanovskyi. Here is the post-match press conference of the head coach of the capital team, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.
— Throughout the match, it was clear that your team was better prepared physically than the opponent. What do you see as the reason for this?
— First of all, I congratulate the Dynamo fans on an important victory. We’ve had a rather challenging period, and with this match, we draw a line under it. We had Eurocup matches and Ukrainian championship matches, but now some of our players are heading to the national and youth national teams, and we will have a chance to take a breather.
Regarding your question. Usually, on the day after the match, the players who were in the starting lineup do a light warm-up, while the others have a training session. But after the return match with Maccabi, I gave the team a full day off. I canceled everything and said, "Do what you want, go where you want." We worked a lot during the pre-season preparation and in this period that I mentioned. Perhaps this unexpected change played its role. Although, I cannot say that it was easy for us today. The weather, the fact that we played two days on the third day, and logistics—all of this had an impact. I know the style of play of Ruslan Petrovych’s teams (Rotan, the head coach of Polesye—ed.), I know the ambitions of the president of Polesye. And for today’s match, we chose a tactic that we managed to implement. Although it wasn’t without mistakes.
— How do you see the rotation in your team’s attack line during the season in case of personnel gaps?
— We will solve problems as they arise throughout the season.
— How is Mykhailenko feeling?
— Unfortunately, he felt discomfort in the back of his thigh. And to avoid complicating the situation and prevent a more serious problem, we substituted him.
We indeed had a busy schedule, and the work was challenging. We understood this and warned the guys before today’s game: everyone must be ready at 100 percent, and if anyone has any problems during the game, they need to speak up immediately. There’s no need to endure and then complicate the situation. Mykhailenko had certain problems, but he opted to play from the start. And when he encountered problems, he signaled, as we agreed, and we immediately made the substitution. I would like to add that the player who took his place, Brazhko, played at a good level.
— Today your team played somewhat differently than usual: it didn’t hold onto the ball but executed more vertical passes. Is this a result of the new coach’s influence?
— (Smiling). We hired a coach who will help with set pieces. That is essentially his role. So let’s be cautious when drawing any conclusions. Because sometimes those conclusions lead to situations like the recent story that was much talked about and written about.
Once again, I want to congratulate the Dynamo fans on the victory, and I want to say that our third star on the emblem is a star of soldiers, a sign of our respect for them; we remember all our fans. And thank you to our fans for their constructive criticism. We will do everything to bring positive emotions to our fans.
And I wish you victories in both small and big matters, and our main desired Victory. Have a good, peaceful evening. Glory to Ukraine!
The post-match press conference of Polesye’s head coach Oleksandr Rotan will be available in the next few minutes...
Oleksandr POPOV from the Dynamo stadium named after Valerii Lobanovskyi