Former 'White and Blue' forward Viktor Khlus shared his impressions of the 'Shakhtar' — 'Dynamo' game in the 11th round of the Ukrainian championship.
Viktor Khlus— I haven’t seen such a game for a long time. I got such satisfaction. Both 'Shakhtar' and 'Dynamo' played well. The score was fair, of course, as 'Miners' had more chances. Especially in the first half. In the second half, 'Dynamo' added, but Kyiv lacked something.
— What do you think, why did Dynamo look better in the second half of the match, which was yet another Ukrainian classic? It happened three days ago in the cup match, and the same was in the championship meeting.
— Yes, we noticed that. There are many reasons for this. Perhaps it was planned tactically: to give the ball to 'Shakhtar' in the first half and play on the defense. In the second half, Dynamo realized that they couldn’t just sit back at their goal, they needed to move forward too. There could be various tactical schemes being developed.
— There is a lot of talk now about Andriy Yarmolenko and his role as a forward in the two games leading up to the meeting of giants in the UPL. What do you say about his current game?
— Yarmolenko also did not play in his usual position this time. But the high class of the player is still evident. The guy played at his level. As in the matches with 'Kryvbas' in the championship and 'Shakhtar' in the Ukrainian Cup, Yarmolenko played in attack. Then, in the second half, Guerrero came to his aid.
— Everyone says that Andriy Yarmolenko looks quite confident and effective in the forward’s position.
— Quality is quality. He certainly knows how to play well everywhere, but I think Yarmolenko does his best in his usual position — right midfielder.
— Do you think with time, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi will return him to his usual place?
— Perhaps Shovkovskyi simply has no choice if he puts Yarmolenko at the center of attack. Although we don’t know, maybe at this stage, he looks better than other attacking players — like Guerrero and Blenukh who was bought in early September. So it turns out, among these two, Shovkovskyi chooses... Yarmolenko. On the one hand, it’s strange because in football we should demand efficiency from people precisely in the places where they are accustomed to playing constantly. That is when the footballer does everything at his best in his position. It seems to me that leaving his usual place, he is now missing it. And in the attacker’s role, maybe he is finishing something off to some extent.
Andriy Pysarenko
