Dynamo Kyiv head coach answered questions from the media during a press conference on the eve of the UEFA Conference League match against Zrinjski at Arena Lublin.
– Tell us about the team’s current squad situation. Do you have any absences before the game?
– As of today, from the players who were in the squad preparing for the match against Shakhtar, we have only one loss – Volodymyr Brazhko. Unfortunately he won’t be able to help us at least in this match. He stayed in Ukraine, went to Kyiv to recover and undergo the necessary procedures in order to prepare for the next game. This absence adds to the continued recovery of Kristian Bilovar.
– How would you describe your team’s current state – are they in good form, peaking or struggling?
– The team is in a working rhythm right now. With such a tight schedule it would be inappropriate and incorrect to talk about being in a crisis or on the rise. We don’t even have time for a full training cycle. We only have time to recover and prepare directly for the next match playing every two or three days.
– After qualification matches and the first group stage game against Crystal Palace what’s your impression of the pitch in Lublin and the match atmosphere?
– First of all I want to thank the organizers and everyone working to make us feel at home here. This means a great deal to us. Unfortunately we cannot play our matches in Kyiv, in Ukraine. The reason for that is the war – the war we are fighting for our independence against the aggressor country, the russian federation. Almost 80 years have passed since Kyiv was liberated from the fascists and now we are fighting against the rashists. We are defending our independence and our right to freedom in this war. We are deeply grateful to our Armed Forces of Ukraine, to all our defenders – men and women alike.
Of course, we would love to play in our home city and feel the support of our fans – that would be our twelfth player on the pitch. But the situation is such that today we are forced to call Lublin our home city. We are very thankful to this city for their hospitality, for the opportunity to play here and for ensuring that the pitch is in excellent condition and that we truly feel at home.
– The opponent can be unpredictable. Are there any particular aspects that could prove both unpredictable and decisive in tomorrow’s match?
– Football is always an unpredictable game. It’s not mathematics – it’s not an exact science. Any player, with their individual traits and abilities, can either make the most of them or make mistakes. These mistakes always influence the course of the game and the final result. That’s why millions love football – it’s the number one sport in the world.
Unpredictability is primarily about individual skill and sometimes it’s about an excessive desire to show your best qualities. That can serve as motivation – but it can also become a burden.
– Sometimes it seems your team “sleeps” in the first half and only “wakes up” in the second showing more aggression. How can you find the right balance?
– Great question. Maybe we should bring you into the dressing room so the players can hear that too! We always talk about this, always emphasize the importance of smart aggression. But indeed it often happens that only after certain events on the pitch the team truly wakes up. We notice this, we repeat it, we emphasize it and we take targeted steps to address it. Honestly sometimes it’s hard to explain why it happens. It’s a real issue and we can’t ignore it. If we see it we must understand it and keep working on it – and we are working on it.
– Dynamo has improved in set-piece situations recently. Is that the result of focused training?
– We try to work on various aspects that occur during matches. Set pieces are one of the key elements on the football field and can be an additional advantage. So yes, we’ve been working on that too.
