The head coach of Kharkiv’s Metalist 1925, Mladen Bartulović, commented on the draw with Dynamo in the 8th round of the Ukrainian championship.
Mladen Bartulović (photo: metalist1925.com)— You always have to believe. We can already start a series, and the guys believe because one victory, another, a good match against Shakhtar — and it went on from there. Regarding today’s match, I can say that the first half was not what we wanted. We acted a little differently, but that is the merit of Dynamo, which played very well after about the fifteenth minute.
They pressed us, we made many mistakes. I won’t say I’m dissatisfied with the first half, but after talking to the guys during the break and reviewing the moments, we understood how we could act differently. A completely different team came out for the second half, we scored a deserved goal, and the final draw is a fair result.
Six matches without defeat — that’s inspiring. Every victory adds confidence. We have an entirely new team, many new players, a new coaching staff. I always emphasize to the guys that we must be hungry for victories and play every match only for the win. That’s how we are focused and how we will continue to work.
We work a lot in training, and the guys give their all. We have a good team, and everyone fights for each other. When I came, I immediately said that the most important thing is what kind of team we will have. And I believe it is indeed good. Thanks to this, we achieve results. Plus we have good footballers who carry out everything that the coaching staff requires.
Today the team celebrated the first goal for Metalist 1925 very emotionally. In the morning the guys congratulated me at lunch and promised to make a gift in the match. They scored and ran to me. I was very pleased. They did well — they showed character in the second half and played well, ' said Bartulović on the broadcaster’s air.
