first conclusions about the results of the Romanian’s work – football.ua

Mircea Lucescu, photo: FC Dynamo Kiev
October 16, 2020, 11:38 am

Mircea Lucescu and his Dynamo will start the campaign in the group stage of the Champions League next Tuesday, and on Saturday the Kievites will also have a game against Ruh at UPL. Football.ua offers to dive a bit into the statistics and understand what has changed in the team’s game with the arrival of the Romanian specialist. Let’s make a reservation right away that this text contains only the first impressions of Lucescu’s work at Dynamo and that the trends will be described.

One of the fundamental components of the Dynamo of the 2020/2021 season is ball control. Now the kievists hold the ball for a long time, make a lot of cross passes and undermine the opponent’s defense. Alexei Mikhailichenko took a different approach last season. That team did not hesitate to give the ball to their rivals (at UPL, some do not know how to play the first number at all) they expected a mistake and quickly carried out their attack. As a result, Dynamo allowed opponents to perform approximately 3 counterattacks on average per game and approximately 22 positional offenses. Now there is an average of one counterattack and about 19 positions.

Why is that? Dynamo have more ball possession and opponents have less time to attack… Under Lucescu, Dynamo makes on average more than six hundred passes in 90 minutes with an accuracy of 88%. With Mikhailichenko – 550 with an accuracy of 85%. Don’t forget also that this season Dynamo twice – against Shakhtar and AZ – played with a low block, giving up control of the ball. Without these matches, the number of passes would have increased.

The next topic of discussion is the quantity and quality of the moments created. The Dynamo de Lucescu players began to shoot less at goal from unfavorable positions, now the team is much more careful preparing the moment for a goal… As a result, the percentage of accurate shots increased, from 39 to 46. The indicator of successful scoring opportunities also increased slightly, but increased from 2 to 2.4. Surely at a distance, these two indicators will only grow. What does this all mean? Dynamo have been playing the ball for a long time, players have become less likely to “hit” from a distance and more often to seek positions from which it is easier to score. There are fewer hits, but they are more dangerous.

Also, under Lucescu, indicators such as the number of martial arts, tackles, punches, sheds fell (here it is insignificant, we will talk more). All this is a consequence of the control of the ball. With all the positive aspects of improving attack indicators, there are areas where the coaching staff still has a lot to work on.

How does the team get the ball into the penalty area? The Dynamo is less likely to enter the opponent’s penalty area with the ball. Here is a simple explanation: Lucescu’s team is increasingly playing with a medium-low block. It is more difficult for the current Dynamo to find the ball in the penalty area than it is for Mikhailichenko’s team, when the Kievists attacked more frequently in the transition phases. Assume that the entry rate to the penalty area will only increase during the course of the race.

Now the Dynamo, when they do not know how to throw the ball into the 16-meter zone, usually resort to the canopies. Here, unfortunately, so far there are very few differences with Mikhailichenko’s team. If last season the Kiev fans made an average of 16 innings (4.5 accurate), now – 14 (4 accurate). Dynamo algorithms in the last third are still in development, so when the team doesn’t know how to hack the rival’s bus, they turn to sheds. There are also problems with the quality of the awnings.

All of the above are the key team stats for the current and previous season. They talk about new trends in the Dynamo game with Mircea Lucescu. The Romanian specialist still has a lot of work to do.

For now, let’s touch on the role of footballers in midfield as a seed for the next few chapters. The Dynamo de Lucescu began to play 4-2-3-1 with two defenders. On defense, the team rebuilds to 4-4-2, where the offensive midfielder moves in the same line as the attacker, as was the case with the two previous mentors. First of all, the changes concern Nikolay Shaparenko.

Lucescu began to use the attacking midfielder from below, in the central zone with Sidorchuk. In fact, Mikhaylichenko has also used Shaparenko as a central midfielder in his last two games at the Dynamo. So the current sports director’s ideas were taken with derision. Now only sloths do not mark Shaparenko’s progress in Dynamo.

The tenth number acts from the deep, where in most matches it has a priori more space than in the entrances to the penalty area. Now in Dynamo Nikolay plays the role of the “eight”, that is, the link between the defense line with Sidorchuk and the attacking players. Shaparenko is very good at assists in the final third, running balls, and also improved his game on tackles.

Sergei Sidorchuk at Dinamo Lucescu is helping a pair of defenders launch attacks. The team captain sits lower and helps with a small play from goal. Vitaly Buyalsky’s role is to find space in the last third of the field. You must open up partner zones, thus removing the opponent’s players. Buyalsky opens in different parts of the field in the middle of another person, does a lot of execution work. It is irreplaceable for the current team.

Let’s remember another important footballer for Lucescu: Georgy Buschan. Because it is important? Considering how the Romanian specialist tries to make a positional attack, he simply needs a goalkeeper who knows how to play with his feet. Buschan gives this option to the coaching staff.

With the help of George’s long passes, the team can successfully break through the opponent’s high pressure, which will be of great use in Champions League matches. On average this season, the goalkeeper gave 10 long passes, of which 80% were accurate… If we talk about all transmissions, Buschan has an accuracy rate of 91%. An impressive figure.

We will continue to closely monitor the tactical aspects of Lucescu’s work. To be continue.

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