Dynamo head coach Ihor Kostiuk answered questions from the media after the away match of the 2nd round of the Ukrainian championship against Veres Rivne, which ended in a 2:1 victory for the “white and blues”:
– Why were Oleksandr Pikhalionok and Vladyslav Dubinchak absent from the squad today?
– We gave Dubinchak a rest, while Pikhalionok has a minor injury. Unfortunately, we could not use him today.
– Your team has looked sluggish in attack lately. How can you fix this? And, in general, what goals are you setting for the team for this season, which will be an anniversary one for Dynamo?
– I wouldn’t say that our team looks sluggish. It’s just that our finishing in the final phase is letting us down. You can see that we have different combinations of players. Unfortunately, we are not scoring our chances. Before this, we played against good opponents who defended well. Both PAOK and Qarabag played very actively. So it’s not quite as you say.
As for our goals for the season, Dynamo always have the task of winning the championship.
– Comment on the incident involving Bilovar’s yellow card. What is your assessment of this episode?
– I don’t want to comment on the referees’ actions.
– Dynamo have already signed four footballers. Is your activity on the transfer market over, or will you continue to be active?
– Of course, we are working in this direction. Will there be new signings? We’ll see.
– Dynamo have started playing in two tournaments. How are the players feeling physically with two matches a week?
– You saw that today we made rotations. We are counting on having sufficient squad depth. We have it. The workload needs to be distributed equally among everyone, so that each player makes their contribution, regardless of whether we are playing in European competitions or the Ukrainian championship.
– How can you assess Pierre Mounguengue’s first match in the starting lineup? Are you satisfied with his performance?
– Of course, there are still questions regarding his understanding of how to play within our structure. I believe he had a fairly good game today. He did not score, but he has the desire and understanding. That is the most important thing.
– Why isn’t Shola Ogundana playing? Does he have health problems?
– Shola had a minor injury, so there was no opportunity to use him today.
– In your opinion, was Surkis at fault in the episode with the conceded goal? How did this affect Dynamo’s subsequent play?
– I believe there was no mistake. There was a scramble, he reacted to the ball, after which the opponent followed up and scored. It did not affect us in any way. Of course, we need to score our chances, avoid mistakes in transitional phases and bring such a game to its logical conclusion when we are leading 1:0.
– Are you satisfied with the team’s performance up to the moment when the penalty was awarded? Were all the coaching instructions followed?
– The game is forgotten, but the result remains. Therefore, today the result was more important, in the context that there was a lot of rotation. We came here and earned three points today. We will draw conclusions and reorganize. And, of course, I already told the guys: when you give 100 percent, luck will smile on you.
