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“Everything that was cooked outside died in the opponent’s penalty area.” “Go to the goal like Calvary.” “We return to the 2018 World Cup, without goals and errors from De Gea.” “Second half lazy, everyone yawned.” “They waited for us to lose patience.” “Panic mode”. “Today we are not favorites against anyone and we are capable of losing against everyone.” “Spain is below zero”. This is how the Spanish media welcomed the first defeat of their team in 23 months. But even without those words, it is clear how important and significant this victory is for the Ukrainian team, the first over “Furia Roha” in its history. I will try to explain what he allowed to happen.
Spain has done a lot for Ukraine’s success
The team plays as the opponent allows. At the end of the game in France, I spoke about the crisis in technical thinking in the Ukraine team. But after all, almost all the best teams in Europe suffer the same. What is reflected in the results. Germany won only one game out of five, with difficulty. Spain has two wins out of five. The Germans abuse long casts, they are very poor in defense, their 3-5-2 scheme is criticized by everyone, but their cancellation yesterday did not help. The former Barça player yesterday lined up 11 players from 11 clubs, betting on long shots, but yesterday he was stopped at 41st instead of 71-76.
Furthermore, neither of them had forwards in Kiev. Only the defender and the defender scored. In fact, Fury Roch, unlike Mannschaft, has deployed a forward. The problem is that Rodrigo Moreno, 29, having done nothing in the National Team, already seems to be his past. It was the subject of the strikers who stepped on the heels of the Spanish media. Pointing out just one scored in the last three games, saying Rodrigo is struggling with the goal. And adding that the best striker in the application is Sergio Ramos, who played in the final at Buschan’s door.
Even defensive midfielder Rodri admitted that there are no world-class forwards on the team.
The press also spoke about David De Gea. So much so that Luis Enrique violently defended his goalkeeper after the game, speaking of his obsession with criticizing David and even threatening to leave the press conference.
Shevchenko headquarters fired up brains
However, it is not just the players who have no one to replace. Previously, Enrique sent two players capable of acting in front of the rival penalty area and within it. Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo and Fabian Ruiz. I didn’t show any of them yesterday. Thus, Shevchenko’s team had few tasks left: to cover the flanks and complicate sets from there. As a result, the Spaniards scored far more crosses from the wings than in their previous matches (including against Ukraine at home): 36 versus 19-25. At the same time, Traore and Fati, glued to the flanks, were not fed anywhere. It was only with Torres’ release that it temporarily became more difficult.
This tactical move was far from the only one by Andrei Nikolaevich. And not even the most important. The most important was used against the Germans. The coach himself directly admitted that he was wrong, wanting to play defense through a short pass in games against the best teams. Therefore, in both Kiev matches, SBU played completely differently: fast and with long balls (79 of them yesterday!). Demanding speed and pressure on the center block even before precision. Yes, on Saturday there were 23 turnovers and the passing game looked very complicated. Today (14 defeats), especially in the second half, everything looked much better.
I would like to point out that the statistics of the Ukrainians on ball possession, shots on goal and the total number of passes deteriorated from one game to the next. Against the French, for example, the possession score was quite acceptable: 45:55. All problems arose from this. Yesterday and Saturday did not exceed 28 percent! Frequent possession of the ball is unnecessary and sometimes it hurts to win. Shevchenko understood this before Joachim Loew and Luis Enrique.
The method started to work
In the aforementioned article, I said that for the coach-methodologists, who are the headquarters of the Ukrainian team, the loss of the first team is a disaster. Their stunt doubles are generally not played and they don’t even understand what to play. This manifested itself in France. But then the trick began. Newcomers Zabarny, Zubkov, Shaparenko, who did not play in the starting lineup of the national team Sidorchuk, Makarenko, Buschan, understood the requirements a bit. Also, it is much easier to understand the principles of the long ball game than it is of short passes. And for Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Zubkov, fighting for those balls is a familiar element of the clubs.
The aligned parts
However, it was impossible to polish the method in a week. Therefore, much depended on individuals. And they did not disappoint. Even those who played quietly helped. Roman Yaremchuk recalled his important tactical ability. Yesterday he didn’t get stuck in the center, but he made his way down the right flank and helped create an advantage there. Useful for the team. Eduard Sobol can be criticized for playing in both recent games. At the same time, he left the stormy and violent Traore with a single shot on goal and did not allow him to move to the center as he should. And only one Adam “cross” of ten led to a hit.
Well the rest played well. And I don’t want to focus on the obvious heroes: Buschan, Shaparenko, Zabarny, Mykolenko, Tsygankov (it turns out that Victor is better as a substitute than in the “beginning”?), But on those who were expected to fail. Karavaev has already eaten the star Fati in small quantities. Sidorchuk touched the ball indecently for a little defensive midfielder, but alongside Makarenko he fought like mad. Perhaps, for Sergei, fighting, not playing with the ball, is the best style. Well, the main news: Andrey Yarmolenko woke up. And it’s not just about attendance. The West Ham player played a remarkable overall.
Andriy was simply destroyed by criticism after the first two games in October. And, as one of the terminators, I will not deny his justice. But yesterday he seemed to look younger. The speeds are not the same, many things did not go well. But desire and intelligence were at their best. In previous matches, for whatever reason, he tried too hard to shift the ball to his weak right foot and then go through the flank. Against the Spanish, he played with the foot he knows, he moved to the center, he helped the defenders there. There, and with that leg, I found a great pass for Tsygankov. He also helped in defense, becoming one of the best on the team in terms of goals scored (4).
Well, and the “control shot” – Yarmolenko became the best of the national team in terms of total number of touches of the ball (50) and passes (36) per game. The best! For gears! When did that happen! It is these data that best indicate the level of your dedication, your effort.
The team found a European character
In 2018-19, we often talked about the fact that the Ukrainian team is building a modern European-type game that was previously alien to them. That game is lost. But the European character has been preserved. 4-5-10-15 years ago, after a failure like in France, the division in camps would begin, the rumors of mutual accusations and disputes, the coach would make excuses, show off, while losing influence in the team. The same team directly admitted failure, did not build pyramids of excuses, and promised rehabilitation. And he kept his word. Even without its most European player: Ruslan Malinovsky. Respect!
