FC Dynamo Kyiv head coach Oleksandr Shovkovskyi has commented upon the Europa League matchday 7 game against Galatasaray SK – 3:3:
- Once again I want to thank Turkey for the warm welcome our team receives being at the training camp here. We feel the support related to the situation in our country. We totally knew Galatasaray are in great shape, lead the Turkish league table, have a great attacking line.
Unfortunately, we made mistakes early in both halves after corners. We know we need to work on this aspect.
Another story is the support Galatasaray have playing at home. This is a compliment for Turkish fans. It feels great to play at a stadium like this. Unfortunately, we don’t experience that in our country because of the ongoing war.
Speaking about the fans, I drew the attention of our players to the fact that it’s important to cope with our emotions before the game, so that they didn’t interfere with our actions when organizing both defense and attack. On the other hand, we talked about how important it is to make the right decisions when organizing the game, both in defense and attack. And we had problems in this regard, especially in the first half. We didn’t make the decisions that we agreed on. I hope this is precisely because of the emotional state and the crazy support that the stadium gave and because of the pressure that our players felt during the match.
We should’ve been a little calmer with the ball in the transition phase, because there were very good episodes that we had to use. The decisions made and the technical imperfections didn’t let us attack more successfully. I’m not talking about the finishing actions, but I mean the phase when we had great opportunities to conduct very effective attacks with high chances of scoring.
But the key aspect is that even being 0:2 and 1:3 behind we kelp playing and looking for opportunities.
- Was this Dynamo best game in the Europa League?
- When analyzing any game, we shouldn’t always be entirely focused on the final score. Of course, it’s very important, but sometimes the result may not objectively reflect the information. Of course, the first point in the seventh game is not what we expected at the beginning. But we have what we have, unfortunately, the situation developed this way, and this is a certain coincidence. Today we took the field to show that the team has character, and no matter what the situation is, we will fight.
- Did you think before the game Galatasaray wouldn’t manage to win?
- We try to adjust our football and strive to play for the maximum result in any match. The strategy may differ depending on the opponent, situation, circumstances, but in each game we try to win.
- You were 0:2 down early in the game, but pulled one back before the break. What were your thoughts before the second half?
- Before the second half we made two substitutions to enforce the team and stabilize the midfield. We counted on individual skills of Andrii Yarmolenko, his confidence and experience.
- Yarmolenko and Pikhalionok were subbed in in the second half. Do you agree this was the key moment of the game?
- Of course when a substitute scores two, it means the substitution was a success. Oleksandr took a corner after which Yarmolenko scored. So both substitutions were important. I always tell my players that we have a starting lineup, but our total squad consists of 28-30 performers, and everyone must be ready to take the field at any moment.
