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Shakhtar and Dynamo will continue to suffer losses in the first part of the season
COVID-19 negatively affected not only the past, but also the current season. Due to the fact that the last campaign officially ended only at the end of August, teams are forced to catch up quickly. The calendar spares no one, and clubs that play in European competition will play two games a week. And so far, our greats are not prepared for such a test.
The Donetsk club has already stumbled three times in the championship, having painted world matches with Zorya, Desna and Rukh. And this is when it is played every five or six days. Now imagine that in the middle of the week the Pitmen will meet Inter, and then at the weekend they will play against the motivated Vorskla or Kolos. There is no old baggage that can continue without losses in the championship with a tight schedule, so Castro will be forced to rotate the roster and release young players. There is no way out of this.
The situation in Kiev is the same, if not worse. Lucescu’s team already plays two games a week and has lost two points in the championship. Unlike the main rival, “Dynamo” does not have such an extensive arsenal of players, and even if injuries bypass Buyalsky, Supryaga and Mykolenko, they will not win every round from long range. Lucescu’s romantic stage ends and the return to routine is approaching.
The main conclusion is that serious competition is expected in the first part of the Ukrainian championship. Shakhtar and Dynamo will have to take the lead, but the gap with Desna, Zarya, Vorskla and others will not be huge, which will only add interest to the audience. But all this will be before winter. In the spring, the flagships of Ukrainian football will return theirs and will not allow anyone to interfere in the race for gold medals. Georgy groshev
“Mariupol” will not fight for European cups because of the bench
In the first four rounds, Ostap Markevich’s team scored seven points, sensationally beating Zorya. If “Mariupol” managed to win on Sunday, the Azov team would go up to third place. And the prerequisites were the same: in the first half, Kostyshin spent all his spots on substitutions due to injuries, Stasyuk and Sikan had good chances. But the guests did not score, and in the second half they appeared as a completely different team.
Obviously, the constant movement (and “Mariupol”, we remember, does not play at home now due to the reconstruction of the stadium) affected the physical condition of the team. But Ostap Markevich used only two changes in the second half. At the same time, he was forced to pitch a nominal striker in place of the team leader, Mishnev. The problem is that he didn’t have more resources to at least maintain the current level of the game. 19-year-old Vyskrebentsev, 18-year-old Kuliev, 17-year-old Ocheretko, 20-year-old Velev – the departure of these inexperienced guys from playing at the highest level in conditions where an aggressive opponent is playing against you, constantly pressing and impose a fight, it would be extremely risky business. Therefore, Markevich took no chances.
Of course, this time the fans can say that the referee stole the tie. But “Kolos” could have been lucky at numerous moments in the second half. To prevent such failures from becoming a trend, the club must expand its talent pool. Another thing is how to do it, if you are forced to run in the youth of the Shakhtar. Sergey shvets
The “Vorskla” break should be beneficial – difficult for the team to play with a lineup
After three initial rounds, everyone, including us, showered Maksimov’s team with compliments. Nine points, one-man leadership, maturity and safe play on defense – all of this was present in Poltava’s game and it seemed to everyone that this was the new third force for the current season. However, from praise to critics, there were only two draws, and between experts and others, conversations began that we praised Vorskla in vain, which would start to rain against medium and strong teams. There is no need to rush to such conclusions.
In all the Ukrainian championship games, Maksimov was able to pitch practically the same lineup (for example, only Stepanyuk did not play against Dnipro-1, and that was due to injury). It is difficult to play with little or no rotation, so it is logical that the team does not always win. However, there is an international hiatus ahead, it’s time to take a breather, work on the mistakes, and then start the Poltava express again.
Day by day, the transfer window will be officially closed and the Poltava leadership should listen to Maksimov’s words. He said for a long time that the team needs a new defensive player, as it will not be possible to stretch the entire season with Puzlin alone. Also, the match with Dnipro-1 showed that the team can only count on two forwards, and if one of them is injured (now we are talking specifically about Stepanyuk), there is simply no replacement for him, there is no offense for Child. The battle for bronze promises to be hot and whoever has a longer bench will have a better chance of winning the final. Georgy groshev
“Kolos” repeated the mistake of “Dynamo”, showing that he does not care about justice
In October 2019, the Kovalevites gave many interviews: – saying they lost to the Dynamo on a made-up penalty in the championship game. The defeat of the Kovalevites began from that “point”. Now “Kolos” himself finds himself in a situation where the referee team is stupid, but nobody cares.
Why, then, did neither Drought, nor Maksimenko, nor Kostyshin Sr. make statements that there was no penalty at the door of “Mariupol”? How is it that you, not only the people of Kovalev, but everyone around him, the taste of such a victory? It smells rotten? Do they really smell three points and for such a victory the players are ready to sell their souls? It is clear that all the d’Artagnans cannot be. But I would like to see at least some of them in Ukrainian football. Then it would be more interesting to watch football. Alexander Ryzhenko
Stepanenko is a key Ukrainian player right now
It makes no sense to raise the issue of the Pitmen’s current troubles, lack of team play and other reasons for the draw with Desna again. We have said everything a long time ago, for us and not only. However, after the Chernihiv match, you need to focus on one player, without whom Shakhtar’s midfield does not become a concrete wall, but a fence with a huge hole in the middle, through which the opponents pass when and how they want. We are talking, of course, about Taras Stepanenko.
Pitmen’s defensive midfielder did not start at Desna as he had not yet fully recovered from the damage. Those who could see the first part saw with their own eyes how calm and relaxed the attack of the Ryabokon team felt. Maicon, who is now apparently considered an alternative to Taras, has failed time and time again, but it doesn’t make much sense to criticize him. By definition, he performs other duties in the field and cannot be a cleaner. After Pikhalenok’s departure, as well as Malyshev’s disappearance, the question arises: Does Shakhtar expect injuries and viruses to elude Stepanenko?
Not to mention that after leaving in the second half, Taras showed an ideal game. Much must be attributed to the fact that he is not yet particularly ready to play due to injury, as well as the fact that the midfielder’s immunity, as it became known later, was fighting COVID-19. However, yesterday’s game made the following clear: against more or less organized teams that know how to play ahead, it will be difficult for Shakhtar without Stepanenko. I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened yesterday if the conditional “Real” or “Inter” were in the place of “Desna” …
The foregoing fully applies to the national team. Stepanenko is definitely not an assistant to Shevchenko’s team in the upcoming games, which means that we will witness Ukraine take on France without a key defensive player and once again ensure that neither the club nor the national team can play. without Tares. Spain already showed it a month ago. Georgy groshev
Zorya uses careful play to bury her potential
Impudence, as you know, is the second happiness. “Dawn” simply lacks this feature. Literally in the summer, the people of Lugansk applied for a ticket for the Champions League qualification, but decided to be content with a tit in hand. The trajectory of the fourth UPL team last season – “Desna” – in the current European competition showed that everything could have ended with a defeat for “Wolfsburg”. But hey, what about the Champions League dream? After all, it never comes true, if we thank heaven only for what it is now.
Why did I remember this? On Sunday, Zorya played very carefully against the Dynamo. The rival is bleeding with the loss of six base players, he is exhausted by the fight for the Champions League group, where the Lugansk team could have been. But instead of taking advantage of this, Viktor Skripnik’s charges again thank heaven for the tie. What is very possible will make itself felt before the last round of the current championship. Alexander Ryzhenko
“Desna” played perfectly well and could well beat the champion
Last season, Ryabokon’s Chernihiv team fell in love with many. The “Northerners” showed an interesting football, used different schemes and could always beat any team. Desna could not conquer only one peak: beat Shakhtar Donetsk. However, yesterday the citizens of Chernihiv were close to their goal and were able, and in a sense deserved it, the final victory.
Having conceded an early goal, which is already tradition in matches against the Pitmen, the hosts of the match did not swim, but instead came together even stronger and began to play the first number. Gutsulyak and Totovitskiy did what they wanted, the flanks added activity, and therefore two goals from “Desna” are not an accident, but a logical course of events. Furthermore, in the second half, when the “Northerners” sat at their gates, they not only did not give Shakhtar a chance to think of something, but also very competently created opportunities during counterattacks. Each footballer knew when and where to run, and if Budkovsky or Totovitsky were a little more accurate, the winner’s question was removed beforehand.
Without exaggeration, “Desna” played her best game this season, however, we will not say that the Chernihiv team is ready to intervene in the fight between the two giants. It’s one thing to tune in to the champion and the favorite, and quite another to deliver a stable result every week. After shedding the weight of the European Cup, the Chernihiv team, with a fairly good set of players, became the favorite for third place. But jumping over your head is unlikely to be successful … Georgy groshev
Photos of FC Kolos, FC Dynamo, SC Dnepr-1 and FC Shakhtar are used in the material
