Former Ukrainian national team player and the author of its first goal, Ivan Hetzko shared his impressions of the match of the 1st round of the knockout stage of the Conference League between Kyiv’s Dynamo and English Crystal Palace (0:2), which took place last Thursday in Lublin.
Ivan Hetzko— Honestly, I couldn’t imagine anything else. It’s good that it wasn’t a rout. In principle, Dynamo wanted to do something, but it looked very creepy and futile. Palace is Palace — the team is currently in third place in the Premier League, so it was very hard for the Kyivans to show anything. Shovkovskiy’s team didn’t surprise me at all, everything was as it should be.
— Karavaev said that there are positives. Did you notice them?
I wouldn’t emphasize anything. At moments they tried to create something, but it was too little to play decently at this level against such an opponent. I wasn’t surprised at all because Dynamo showed an average level of play. Again, there’s a problem with the attack: there are no fast forwards, they created practically nothing. I didn’t expect anything else, to be honest. I had already said that it would be very hard for Kyiv with such a team. And that’s how it turned out.
— There was a strange episode with Mykhavko’s substitution. He wasn’t substituted immediately: he couldn’t play, left the field, and the substitution came too late.
I don’t know, it’s better to ask the coaching staff about that. The same doctor who examined Mykhavko was supposed to make the decision. Maybe the hematoma appeared right at the moment he returned to the field, and it swelled significantly during the match.
— On social media, Shovkovskiy is criticized for the late substitution. Is this fair?
When a player gets injured, he is asked: «How are you?». The team doctor should obviously make the decision. Shovkovskiy is not to blame here. If the player says he feels fine, the coach trusts him and believes nothing serious is wrong. There have been many such cases when players had cuts on their brows, head wounds, had tampons placed, were bandaged, and continued to play. This is a moment that should be on the conscience of the team doctor.
— When Mykhavko left, the team was down a man and conceded. Was this a turning point in the match?
Perhaps this played its role too. The opponent quickly adapted, stepped up, achieved their goal. But overall I would say: this is not the «Dynamo» I would like to see in European competitions.
— At halftime, Yarmolenko was emotionally explaining something to Bilovar, and then had a harsh conversation with the bench.
— I think that, of all people, Yarmolenko definitely has a right to speak in the team. Because first of all, authority is a leader, a big person who can both advise and reprimand. This is absolutely normal.
— Before the second goal, Pino easily outplayed Brazhko…
— Very, very easily. I understand that you can’t play harshly in the penalty area, but he went past as if he was standing still. You can’t allow yourself to be outplayed like that.
— Then the defenders allowed Nketiah to play…
— The defenders were facing their own goal, and this already indicated that no one was marking anyone. Somewhere the instructions were violated, most likely, because in such moments everyone is responsible for the player who breaks into the penalty area and can shoot. There was a slackness, they didn’t orient themselves in the moment, they fell asleep — and were immediately punished.
Andriy Pavlechenko
