Dynamo midfielder Valentyn Rubchynskyi commented in an interview with the “Pro Football Digital” programme on the first home game of the Ukrainian championship in the new season against Kolos and the White and Blues' 2:1 victory.
– The mood is bad because we failed in European competitions. Today we came onto the pitch to at least make the fans happy with a victory in the championship. Now we have only the championship left, where we need to win every match. We will strive to do that in order to at least partially redeem ourselves in front of the fans.
– Do you feel that there are problems?
– Of course. How can we not feel them if we don't make it to the main stage of European competitions, when this is expected of us? So, of course, there are problems.
– Regarding the match against Qarabag: have you understood for yourselves what went wrong? Can you share your thoughts?
– If we are talking about the second match, I believe that we did not play the way we wanted to. We had good chances that we could have converted. We need to improve our game because things do not always work out, especially at the beginning of a match. We will try to make things work out better in the championship.
– What was the game plan in Baku: to play defensively or press actively? It seemed that you dropped back and tried to hold on to the result.
– Since in the first game we gave the Azerbaijanis more of the ball, in the second match the coach chose the same style – for us to give them the ball at the beginning. We were simply scored against quickly, after which we had to play more with the ball. It is very difficult when you win the ball back for two minutes and then immediately lose it. It's not easy to play like that. We tried; sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. The plan was to play defensively at first.
– You are being heavily criticized by fans and journalists for the pattern of play, as they want to see it more clearly defined. In your opinion, what should the Dynamo Kyiv's style of play be? And is it different in matches against Qarabag and against Kolos?
– Of course, it is different: in the championship we play more aggressively. We are Dynamo Kyiv, we should act more aggressively and dominate on the pitch. So we have a different style in the championship, while in European competitions the coach chose this one. If we had made it to the main stage of European competitions, we could have said that this plan worked and was the right one. But we did not progress, so something did not work out. Perhaps the problem is with us as well.
– In the first match, you played according to a more defensive model. This is not quite your style of play. Did you personally have to change your game?
– If the coach tells us to play this way, we have to follow his instructions – to play defensively, attack or press. We cannot play separately: one person wants to run forward while another wants to stay behind. So we try to play as a team. We do what the coach tells us and what we work on in training.
– How did the team react to the rumours about Igor Kostiuk's last match? What did he tell you? Did you react to this situation at all?
– This is being written about on the internet, we do not react to it in any way. The coach did not react either. He simply said that we needed a victory today, and that's all.
