Mircea Lucescu: I’m pleased with the second half

Press conference by Shakhtar head coach after defeating Olimpik.

- Good game, spectacular and very intense. Perhaps, everyone liked it, even if we consider how the score was changing. I think we won deservedly, although we made mistakes in the two episodes when they were scoring goals against us. I am pleased with the second half: everyone proved their mettle, the desire to score and win was noticeable! I’ve just congratulated the players on it in the dressing room. But I do not want to remember anything else about this game. I did not expect that we would take to the pitch being so complacent. And that we would be left with just ten men fifteen minutes later ... On such a small field as they have at Bannikov stadium, it is very difficult to find any open spaces in order to enter the final attacking phase. It happened in the second half, when the opponents were not that fresh any longer, playing not that tight against our footballers. I’m happy with the outcome.

- Did your substitutions refresh the game at all? And the second question: did you spare your strength before the Champions League?
- Substitutions were made to speed up the game, to change its rhythm. It was successful. Both Bernard and Kovalenko entered the game well. With no one sparing their strength in the matches for three points.

- During the match, you sometimes shouted towards the ref: “Time, time!”...
- The game was often interrupted. They spent nearly one minute on every foul, on every goal kick. Probably the match officials need to consider the fact that the performance on the pitch should be dynamic. If the wall advances by nine metres, maybe it’s not necessary to use any vanishing foam. Then the game rhythm will be much faster than today. And I was shouting ‘time’ not only towards the officials, but also to my players, so that they would develop their actions faster. I ws reminding them that we had less and less time to level the scores and then win.

- Are the spot kicks fair?
- Hard to say. There are other people who watch it on TV, see the replays and analyse it. I find it hard to talk about at the moment. From my point of view, all the penalty cases actually happened. The player failed to catch up with Taison and fouled on the latter. Naturally, that was a penalty situation. In the second case, the same thing happened. While dribbling, Teixeira made his opponent foul upon him. At half-time, I told the players to boldly challenge the defenders who’d got yellow cards in the first half. This led to the fact that they sent off an Olimpik player and we scored. Plus they very well converted the spot kicks – both Teixeira and Darijo. The rest will I say after reviewing the game. 


Roman Sanzhar: We didn’t make the best use of what we had

Head coach of Olimpik shared his take on the game and answered questions from the media.

 - Today it was an interesting match, tense from the first to the last minute. A key factor was the ending – the referee’s blunder, which affected the outcome of the meeting. To make such blunders ... It's disappointing that so much energy and effort has been spent, and that just the ref’s error was decisive in this match. I feel sorry for the guys! It’s not easy to play at two o’clock: it’s very hot and humid, so the two teams found it tough. We tried not to just waste time in our box, actively launched counterattacks, scored goals, but then we also made errors: two penalties and the crucial decision of the referee, which affected the match outcome.

- What was the ref’s error – the offside situation while scoring the third goal?
- I’ve just reviewed the video – they really were offside. I think so.

- How would you comment on the actions of the players who, it seemed, played just carelessly in the decisive moments?
- I think this is due to fatigue. The lads got weaker by the end of the game. And what else could be the reason? Plus the weather – the hot muggy day. Plus we were left with just ten men towards the end, although it was also the case with the opponents. In general, it’s very hard to play against Shakhtar – featuring fast, creative, individually strong players. Plus somehow the volume of work performed by the lads affected it. Naturally, towards the end of the match, all this affected the game pattern. There were so many mistakes – both defensively and offensively. We had the possibility to make transitions to some promising counter-attacks, but again they erred due to fatigue. Probably, we didn’t make the best use of what we had.

- Could you assess Ohyrya’s performance, who often let his opponent go in the holding area?
- It’s necessary to watch the game and comment on it then. The game plan was not to drop deep, but rather advance up front to prevent the opponents from launching attacks. Maybe, in some episodes, he just threw himself forward and called upon the rest of the guys just to follow him.

- How fair were the penalties against you along with Konde’s suspension?
- It’s difficult to answer this question. Of course, it all seemed unfair from the bench. But these episodes should be reviewed and analysed. As there’s some 50-60 metre distance from the coach area to the point where everything was happening. We could have missed something. In the case of a second penalty, Sekou aggressively tackled his opponent, although he shouldn’t have done that as the player was not moving towards the goalmouth, but was moving away instead. That’s a major error. Those who well know Konde, also know that that’s his soft spot on the pitch. He earns many cards. A physically strong guy, but not always he correctly uses his power in challenges. Being a competent striker, Sekou just lacks experience. If we remember our match against Karpaty, he underperformed there. I always tell him to play carefully. Because of this, Konde doesn’t challenge his opponent in some episode, letting the latter to take a shot. He either overdoes it challenge wise or simply underperforms. Only through playing, he can get into shape and rediscover the necessary form.

- What was the personal assignment of Hryshko? Initially he was closely marking Teixeira, failing to do so later ...
- Of course, his task was to prevent the opponent from receiving the ball, not to expose any spaces, which the opposition players might run into. There were numerous tasks! I believe that in some episodes Dmytro did well, making mistakes in some others.

- What kind of mistakes?
- You know, it's hard for me to tell you: I wasn’t watching Dima alone. I followed the overall game pattern. I will closely review the match, and only then I’ll be able to specify the errors. It’s hard now to speak in general terms.

- They were calling this match the Donetsk derby.
- Right. While advancing to the Premier League, we were saying that the Shakhtar vs Olimpik games must be derby-like. I think that our team have still grown up a bit! While last season we clearly failed to adequately play Shakhtar, today the audience attending the stadium were satisfied.

- For nearly two halves Olimpik played enjoying the numerical advantage. What was the game plan after the break?
- To move as much as possible without the ball, to quicker get clear, creating a numerical advantage on the pitch, to actively cover and try to put pressure since Shakhtar were short-handed. Partly we succeded, partly we didn’t. We wanted to keep the score and at times just parked the bus. Maybe we didn’t charge forward that actively.

- Will this game be the starting point to enhance the performance before the next rounds?
- We would like so. In this league season we play decently, although lacking skill, teamwork, and even luck in some episodes to achieve a positive result. But the boys have to endure it. If they continue to give their all on the football field just like that, the success will surely come.