We took advantage of our chance
Sunday, September 23, 2018
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The Shakhtar U19 head coach Andres Carrasco reflects on the game vs Oleksandriia
- A well-organized team arrived, which did a great job today. We knew that it would be difficult against Oleksandriia because this week we’ve had an international match, preceded by the game against Karpaty. Both meetings were emotionally tense, but we managed to prepare the guys for the game. Throughout the match, we were patient and took advantage of the chance provided.
- Have you got used to the fact that many teams just park the bus against Shakhtar in the league?
- I think any opponents have the right to use the opportunities that exist in football. Each coach chooses his team’s playing style himself, and whether people like it or not is quite another matter. All are focussed primarily on the outcome and strive to achieve it in accessible ways. Naturally, if we score against them early doors, they all will expose themselves straight away. As you may have noticed, after our goal the opponents wanted and tried to attack more, but we are not particularly interested in the opponents’ tactic, because we dictate our football.
- In the first half, Shakhtar were building their play around ball control, but after the break, you made some adjustments. What brought you success?
- Yes, there was a situation when we tried to regroup in the course of an attack to find some open spaces and take advantage of our higher pace. Of course, the talent of footballers decides a lot: you might have a good positional play, but if there’s no player to provide an assist, as, for example, Bondarenko, who is in excellent shape, if you’ve got no finisher like Biblyk, who’s always as accurate as possible, then it will be very difficult. Well, it's also absolutely important to be confident of your defence, as we’ve been today.
- Have you got used to the fact that many teams just park the bus against Shakhtar in the league?
- I think any opponents have the right to use the opportunities that exist in football. Each coach chooses his team’s playing style himself, and whether people like it or not is quite another matter. All are focussed primarily on the outcome and strive to achieve it in accessible ways. Naturally, if we score against them early doors, they all will expose themselves straight away. As you may have noticed, after our goal the opponents wanted and tried to attack more, but we are not particularly interested in the opponents’ tactic, because we dictate our football.
- In the first half, Shakhtar were building their play around ball control, but after the break, you made some adjustments. What brought you success?
- Yes, there was a situation when we tried to regroup in the course of an attack to find some open spaces and take advantage of our higher pace. Of course, the talent of footballers decides a lot: you might have a good positional play, but if there’s no player to provide an assist, as, for example, Bondarenko, who is in excellent shape, if you’ve got no finisher like Biblyk, who’s always as accurate as possible, then it will be very difficult. Well, it's also absolutely important to be confident of your defence, as we’ve been today.