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Next summer, at the end of this season, Shakhtar head coach Luis Castro ends his contract with the Pitmen. The Donetsk club is silent on the possible extension of the mentor agreement. The Portuguese himself is no longer talkative, saying in his heart not long ago: “I don’t know what will happen to me, it is not my responsibility.”
In principle, both sides of the “negotiation process” are in a normal paradigm, I would say, which is traditional for the Shakhtar in the last five years. Recall how predecessor Castro was re-signed: the agreement with Fonseca was extended only a few days before its completion, and the last months before that, Paulo also reacted very nervously to questions about his future. And only after the current helmsman of Rome extended his working relationships with the Pitmen did the club’s management see fit to publicly sign its sympathy for their contract worker. It is possible that the situation with Castro is repeated one by one, because the context is very similar. But in this case, there are still nuances that are not in favor of Luis Manuel. And they are not as few as it might seem at first glance.
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Castro’s first season at the helm of Shakhtar turned out to be quite good and, in some places, even successful. The national championship was won long before its end, and on the international stage, the team reached the semi-finals of the Europa League. On the other hand, losing the Super Cup and even the Ukrainian Cup, which for Shakhtar in recent years is an unaffordable luxury. And the fact of the LE’s semi-final defeat by Inter was also very indicative: not so much the crushing scoreboard itself, but the crushing dejection over the actions of the Pitmen in that match, the actions of their coach and the indestructible feeling. of the total superiority of Conte’s team.
It is also necessary to clarify, especially with regard to the heroism of the Donetsk team in the national arena, that their main opponent was a pity for the entire championship race. More precisely, he did not participate in this race at all. Yes, the Dynamo’s problems are not Shakhtar’s. And certainly not the Castro problem. But to understand how good the Portuguese is at long distance in the fight against the “normal” coach of the Dynamo, you just had to wait for Dynamo to have one. And appeared. But more on that later.
And ending last season’s theme, I would like to emphasize once again that the difference in Shakhtar was made by three slowly aging geniuses from our latitudes, not marred by a lack of standardization: Moraes, Marlos and especially Tyson. The fact that these three are simply individually stronger than anyone in our championship was admitted directly after the next classic even by Dynamo president Igor Surkis (more precisely, the IMS only spoke of the last two in this way, as the first, for obvious reasons, it’s still can’t).
And now a new season has begun, which, be you three times Zidane, will by definition be more difficult than the previous championship. Kashtra felt a colic in himself. So many things fell on his head that it could be spread over a couple of seasons. But in this case, it all fell into place only in about four months, which, for the Portuguese, apparently lasted an eternity. During this eternity, he even managed to be born again, but at the same time he made a lot of inadmissible mistakes, which in the end can come at too high a price.
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Castro’s difficulties as a coach this season had mostly objective roots. First, the cornerstone is the lack of normal off-season training. But what preparation is there? The team and the coach didn’t even have a normal vacation after the Inter game. On August 17, the Donetsk team played the grueling semi-final of the LE, and on August 21 they played the first round of the UPL against Kolos. It was necessary to skip at least the first round of the national championship. And even the initial two rounds.
But the Pitmen leadership felt that the team had enough resources to once again demonstrate its strength in the domestic arena. The calculation turned out to be incorrect. Not only were the “three heroes” of last season – Marlos, Moraes and especially Tyson – not on the “horse”, but with them two more iconic characters – Patrick and Pyatov, so also Dynamo, with the arrival de Lucescu, he stopped giving points to the right. and to the left. Shakhtar came into the season very hard. The victories alternated with draws. More precisely, draws, with victories. Last season, this wasn’t even close – then the Orange-and-Blacks won every game in the first round. There was no champions game, there was no champion lineup, there was no champion Tyson. There was also no Castro champion. Most likely, this is not so much the coach’s fault as his misfortune.
But the main thing in football is the score on the scoreboard. But it was not always in favor of Castro. Most of all: an offensive and humiliating defeat for Lucescu, yes, it was Lucescu in the first place, and only after Dynamo, in the Super Cup. Shakhtar manager Srna, speaking the words of club president Akhmetov, after that memorable flight, will say that, they say, it is better to lose than to win like this. Well, I don’t know … I know for a fact that the cash prize for winning the Super Cup was promised to Shakhtar and that the club management considered that match very, very important to them, given the personality of the new Dynamo strategist. It seems to me that this defeat is still a stain on Castro’s perfect suit. And it can hardly be erased with November 3-0 in the championship. A more convincing argument is needed. For example, winning the Cup final. Or in the championship as a whole.
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The Champions League is a separate topic, but it fits in very well with the complexity and eccentricity of this season. The Pitmen not only found themselves in the most difficult group, but on the eve of the opening match, away against Real, the team was painfully brought down by the covid. Castro had absolutely no way out: he took to Madrid those who, sorry, he managed to “scratch at the bottom.” In no way am I going to underestimate the merits of the Portuguese in the historic victory in the capital of Spain over the “kings of the Champions League”, it is silly, but at the same time I want to point out that the main “architect” of that mining team It was the coronavirus, and only then did Luis Castro. … If there was not an epidemic in the team, most likely the coach would have put the usual version of the lineup on Alfredo Di Stefano, and that lineup would probably have had its own midfielder. And so came those who, by age, simply had not yet had time to live with the fear of the “living” Kroos, Modric and Benzema, and put them behind Barcelona. Of course, one must give credit for that victory and Kashtra, but I stand firm: that victory was “made” by the covid. And underestimation of the “Real” crisis.
FC Shakhtar
The first match against Inter he did it with courage. Courage after Real Madrid. And luckily, this time he was on Castro’s side, not Conte. But then an even more serious mistake occurred by the Shakhtar coach, which is no longer a stain, but rather a place to shine on the club jacket: the always memorable matches against Borusia. In those struggles, Castro, as it seemed to me, put His Majesty Mother Courage first and foremost. Let’s say, in the first two cases, “was”, it should go in the third. Furthermore, objectively speaking, the weakest team in our group turned out to be the one that broke Shakhtar: in terms of the sum of matches with the other two teams in the group, it turned out to be weaker. But Castro, even after the first try, when he was put in his place, tried to play Gladbach in the same way that Kobin and his Minaj tried to play Shakhtar. It did not work. Kashtra hasn’t learned a lesson.
But Shakhtar’s second victory over Real Madrid is entirely his, his coach. As for me, this particular Victoria is Castro’s main achievement in his mining history. Because both the composition of the game and the tactics were already chosen by the coach, and not by external circumstances. Yes, there were also personnel problems, but the coach’s hand was visible first and foremost. And there was no doubt that Real Madrid underestimated him.
A draw in Milan is good. But not great. Let me disagree with the club’s general manager, Sergei Palkin, who gave the team and their coach an “excellent” for the Champions season. Yes, our champion had no chance to win at Giuseppe Meazza: the opponent is simply stronger from the head. First of all individually. Well done, they held out. Bounced. However, I repeat, in my opinion, this is a four with a minus. Because at least one point should have been removed from Gladhab. And then there would be a completely different evaluation.
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But Castro’s final assessment will be given only at the end of the season. It seems to me that the club’s management will wait for those results, and not intermediate ones, to evaluate Kashtru’s work. And in this sense he will be right in his own way. And not in his own way.
“Trusting the young”, “education of the younger generation”, “a supporter of attacking football”, “Shakhtar’s DNA is in the blood” are just words. Beautiful, but still airy, without meat or weight. And especially the title. Luis Castro’s future at Shakhtar depends directly on whether his team becomes the champion of Ukraine this season. I am sure that this fact will be the main criterion. Although, of course, successes in the Europa League will work for Castro too, if there are any.
If in mid-May, after the match with Ingulets, Kashtru and his players again organize the championship runner in Olimpiyskiy, then everything will be fine: the Moor has done his job perfectly, he will stay. But if the championship runner is organized in Kovalevka by the former Shakhtar legend by his new apologists, then 99 percent Kashtru will be gone. And in this case, surely a hint of injustice and understatement will remain, but logic, which you cannot break with the forehead, will quietly fill a glass of port in honor of the new creative successes of the really interesting coach Luis Castro in his new place of job.
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