Of course we’re talking about the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on football teams. The White-Blues coach has emphasized that this situation gives him extra motivation to use his incredible experience to deal with lineup issues.
- How do you deal with current situation? How difficult is it from the point of view of psychology?
- Of course what’s going on isn’t normal. The whole world is suffering, not only football. It’s a great challenge for all of us and it’s important to demonstrate our best qualities under these circumstances.
I have significant experience which is vital nowadays. Speaking about our team in particular, the most difficult thing is that we can hardly predict which players we can count on. They can get sick any moment.
For example, Volodymyr Shepelev did a great job against Barcelona and we hoped he would play against Shakhtar, but he was tested positive for coronavirus. One can’t predict that.
Anyway, it’s not a problem we can’t deal with. Dynamo have lost points in the Champions League and domestic league, but we can still fix that.
- Beside COVID-19, there’re constant rumors concerning you. For example, some say that Mircea Lucescu feels lonely in Kyiv and wants to leave Dynamo…
- There’re always rumors around famous football people. Media use players’ and coaches’ names to get more popular.
As for me allegedly wanting to leave Dynamo… Do you imagine how much time I’ve spent at training facilities of different clubs throughout my career? Days, weeks, months, years. That’s not something new for me or my family.
All these talks are nonsense. I’m very motivated to work with Dynamo and win with Kyiv side. The rest are rumors. Besides I’m not afraid of lineup issues. I’ve been through similar situations before.
- What’s the situation in the team like?
- Our players have competitive spirit. Dynamo are UPL leaders, besides we perform decently in the Champions League. We want to keep that up and the team must demonstrate progress.
I’m glad that players stick to doctors’ recommendations. Those, who don’t participate in the training process, do their best to step back into ranks. This is a proper approach.
Those, who haven’t been infected, work with great dedication. We know how difficult it is to win the domestic league and to put up a good show against European top teams in the Champions League.
- Is picking the lineup the most challenging task at this stage?
- We actually have to “piece up” the lineup and look for some uncommon solutions. Some of them are quite risky.
For example it took us some time to decide who would feature as left back against Barcelona. We analyzed all pros and cons of each option.
It turned out that de Pena lacks experience of the kind while Vivcharenko had health issues. We took a risk and used Shabanov, who hadn’t played this season before.
I want supporters and journalists to understand: current difficulties give me and my coaching staff extra motivation. Giving up is not my style, so I’m looking for best ways for Dynamo.
