This is a challenge for us

- Tell us, please, about your responsibilities.

- I am the first assistant coach, my duties include nearly everything. I control the work – from fitness to tactics  and set play. Everything in football is related to me.

- How long have you known Igor Jovicevic and how long ago did your joint work begin?

- We've known each other since the time we played together for Karpaty, although it was a short period. Then we worked together at Karpaty: when he started his coaching career, I was the club's sporting director, helping him back then. We started together, then we worked in Slovenia and at Dnipro-1, so we went all the way together, except for the period of Igor's spell at Zagreb.

- What were your emotions before the start of work at Shakhtar, did you discuss it within the coaching staff in any way?

- This was unexpected news, because we were preparing with our previous team. Despite the fact that many things were up in the air, we were still preparing for the league campaign with Dnipro-1. Everything happened unexpectedly, although there were a lot of rumours in the press, without any details though.

- How are the first days of the training camp going, what do you focus on?

- We understand that all players are in different physical and mental form. The main objective for the first week is bringing them to the same level. It’s necessary for the players to be more or less on the same level.

- During training, the players and you worked on set pieces, tell us more about it.

- Each coaching staff has its own ideas about set pieces. The players need to understand what to do during certain kinds of defensive set pieces, that's what we worked out.

- That is, you practise just defensive actions?

- Yes, defensive pieces. It’s not easy for a footballer to perceive everything at once, and it’s hard to do it within some short time, so everything is dosed.

- Did you practise set pieces of zonal, individual or mixed type?

- Everyone uses mainly a mixed type of defence these days. We have never supported just one type, but always adjusted to the opponent individually. Each team has its pieces, the number of players, their location. The head coach focussed our attention on the fact that for each team the defensive formation can be different.

- How does Igor Jovicevic see Shakhtar's perfect play?

- I hope we will see it, although this is not a quick process. He has always been a fan of the dominant style, that is, the team must have possession of the ball. We must boss it on the pitch, not them.

- How difficult will it be without Shakhtar's Brazilian leaders?

- This is one of the factors that contributed to the fact that we’ve ended up here. As I said, this is a very big challenge for us. We understand that such a loss would be really tough for any club, not just for Shakhtar. For many years, those players had been the face of the team, they were decisive. In many ways, the club's success was due to the right mix of Ukrainians and Brazilians, where the Ukrainians were responsible more for defending, and the Brazilians were responsible more for attacking. This is a challenge for us. I love challenges, I love fighting, otherwise life is boring.

- Is it difficult to rebuild the team's play now?

- We know the capabilities of the players because it’s not our first day in this league. The only issue is that everyone missed a different amount of time, while some are recovering from injuries, and this makes a really big difference. Be that as it may, they all graduated from the Shakhtar school, and that is a sign of quality.

- What are the stages of current training work?

- Those are the preparatory period stages. The current week is introductory. Again, we want to bring everyone to the same level. There is also a selection component: we give everyone a chance to prove themselves. Perhaps someone thinks that he was underestimated, so everyone has a good opportunity to prove themselves now. Everything depends on them, their feet and, most importantly, their brains.

- After training, you talk with the players. What are you talking about?