Serhii Shyschenko took charge of Shakhtar U19

Turning 41 years old on January 13, Serhii Shyschenko took charge of the team. On his birthday, the mentor of the Pitmen's youth team has given an interview to shakhtar.com. 

– Serhii Iuriiovych, accept our sincere birthday greetings and congratulations on your appointment.
– Thank you. I am very happy with having a chance to work at Shakhtar. It is a great club and every coach dreams of belonging to it. I am approaching a challenging period in my life in terms of prestige and responsibility that will give me knowledge and huge coaching experience. I am happy that my career’s milestone will be associated with nothing but Shakhtar.

– You had already been playing for the Pitmen when a footballer. What memories of that time do you recall?
– I had been at Shakhtar for five years and a half, from 1994 to 1999, but I have played only 2 seasons for the team. It was a stage of my life that I am very pleased with and take pride in. Shakhtar have always been a great club, it has been an honour at all times to play for this squad. Surely, the club have changed a lot since then – the rest of Ukrainian outfits are looking up to Shakhtar, nowadays. The club have a top-level management, having collected professionals in all club's structures. Respectively, their objectives and performance are top-level. I am happy with Shakhtar being an important part of my career of a footballer and that my path as a coach has crossed with the Pitmen again.

– Who will join your coaching staff?
– Grygorii Churylov and Mykhailo Starostiak will hold the positions of head coach assistant, with Volodymyr Savchenko taking the appointment of goalkeeping coach. We are going to employ a fitness coach as well.

– What football must the team under Serhii Shyschenko play?
– As any other coach, I prefer game discipline. It is essential to maintain order defensively and demonstrate a great attacking performance at the same time. Those two elements must be as a single set, the balance of both of them is necessary. Shakhtar academy teams stick to a certain game structure, which we intend to employ. The lads must know the way to run the ball on the pitch and to move from defence to attack.

– How do you intend to build your work throughout the winter pre-season break? Did you manage to meet the players?
– Not yet. The team will come together on January 18; the following two days will be devoted to a medical, after that we will get back to work. We are planning to participate in the competitions to be held in Kyiv. We have a long preparation spell ahead of us; since the domestic league resumes in April I have already looked through some games and highlights of Shakhtar U19 meetings, though I am going to make a detailed study of the video material. In general, the team have made a good impression on me. They have had bad games, too, but I see their great potential to be developed further. They are men of great gifts, so we will try our hardest to make their performance even better. 

– In view of the current standings, what goals do the team set for this season? What objectives do the coaching staff set from now on?
– Certainly, we want to win every match. We will try our hardest to close the gap behind the leading team: it will be not easy to make it, but with our team being strongly motivated, the guys will give their all. We are also going to engage the footballers born in 2000, as we should be looking forward. We will do some work to make them ready for participating in the Ukrainian League matches. 

– Do you keep in mind team’s possible involvement in the UEFA Youth League in the following season?
– Definitely, all of us are longing for that. Every player and coach want to participate in European competitions, especially in the Champions League and UEFA Youth League, respectively. We are hoping to make it, but let's not run ahead and wait for the closing stage of the league.

Photo google.com