We showed the character and the winning spirit again
Monday, April 22, 2024
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Press conference of head coach of Shakhtar Marino Pusic after the match against Zorya (2-1)
– Mister, first of all, I would like to ask you about the goal conceded by your team: was it a loss of focus after the break? And how did this goal affect the further course of the game?
– Yes, I had to rewatch that moment, but it should not happen to us, because we controlled the game completely – the opponent almost did not have chances. Maybe in the second half they had one opportunity, one shot – and they scored a goal, but it should not happen to us. It was a moment when we were thinking more about scoring our own goal rather than defending. It should not happen. It was not a very good episode for us, although I have to say that the way we reacted was perfect again. I am going to say something about the game in general. In the first half, even if we did not play fast enough to create more chances, we still had four or five good opportunities to score, and sometimes you have to be a little bit lucky to beat the team that play very low and defend and counterattack all together. In that part, we did pretty well, preventing them from implementing these counterattacks. And in the second half we made some substitutions to attack even more, brought all our attacking players we could and were rewarded for our courage, way of playing and patience. So, I am very proud of my team and how we bounced back into the game after being 1-0 down. So, we showed the character and the winning spirit again, our style of play in the second half was pretty good.
– I also want to ask about the scored goals: both were scored after passes and with the head. Do I understand correctly that the substitutes were supposed to speed up the pace of the game, and that these tasks of making more passes were because the opponent’s team did not have tall central defenders today like they did in the previous match?
– You saw it very well. Good question. If we make substitutions, we do it to win. It means that you take more risks, but we also take into account some specific players, specific positions where I think the opponent is vulnerable. That is why I make these substitutions. And I have to say that all the players who came into the game perfectly did what I wanted to see. We sped up the game, and you saw that those goals were probably identical. It is difficult for the opponents to predict how they are going to defend in front of the goal, because we have a lot more people in the box, which is very important if we play against the team that play in such a low block like Zorya. Everything we do, we do with purpose, but sometimes you have to be lucky, of course, to realise the idea you have in your head. And I have to compliment all my players for the way they bounced back into the game after 0-1.
– Can we say that it was much more difficult to play against Zorya today than in the previous meeting?
– Yes, you can say that. But I think, although we did not play our best game in general, we created enough in the first half. Luhansk team have changed their strategy: they defended again with all players in a very low block, now they played 5–4–1, to mention some formations, and that is a change they made, but it did not surprise us, because we expected it. And we see a lot of teams that try to do that. But I think we controlled the game pretty well. You cannot create moments all the time playing against the team in such a low block, because as soon as you create a moment, there immediately has to be a moment in response, and then the game opens up, they have to move more, the space becomes bigger. In this case, we can say that it was a tough game, but not in terms of style of play. A week ago, I watched the game Manchester City vs Real Madrid, and you can compare it to that match, only we scored one more goal than Manchester City. So, such games are always difficult for the team that have the ball, want to play, to create, and it is not easy to play against the team that wait near their own goal with eleven players. We actually did what we had to do today: just win and create good moments. We had those good moments, found them in the second half – it was more than enough to win this game. I think we deserved it.
– Danylo Sikan has scored five goals in the last six matches. Today you decided to keep him on the bench, and Traore came on at the start. It can be said that Lassina saved the team in the previous match with his two assists, but today Sikan saved them with his goal as well. Is it a pleasant headache for the coach to choose between two quality forwards who are in good shape or vice versa?
– Look, Sikan has always worked fantastically hard for the team, he put a lot of energy into the last match, so we wanted to refresh the squad today. And of course we have Traore – he is also a very good striker. So, it is nice to have them in our team because they have special qualities, and sometimes it is also nice to make these substitutions without losing the quality, when even with the substitution there is the same high level. And there were several matches where I used them both together when we needed to achieve something and score a goal, like in the last game against Zorya. So, it is very nice to have such players, but it is also very nice to have not only those qualities, but especially their character. They both have great character, they are different players: Sikan is faster and attacks more in space, and Lassina keeps the ball and combines more. So, it is nice to have these different qualities in the team to be able to use them when we need them in the game. I am very happy with both of them today.
– Yes, I had to rewatch that moment, but it should not happen to us, because we controlled the game completely – the opponent almost did not have chances. Maybe in the second half they had one opportunity, one shot – and they scored a goal, but it should not happen to us. It was a moment when we were thinking more about scoring our own goal rather than defending. It should not happen. It was not a very good episode for us, although I have to say that the way we reacted was perfect again. I am going to say something about the game in general. In the first half, even if we did not play fast enough to create more chances, we still had four or five good opportunities to score, and sometimes you have to be a little bit lucky to beat the team that play very low and defend and counterattack all together. In that part, we did pretty well, preventing them from implementing these counterattacks. And in the second half we made some substitutions to attack even more, brought all our attacking players we could and were rewarded for our courage, way of playing and patience. So, I am very proud of my team and how we bounced back into the game after being 1-0 down. So, we showed the character and the winning spirit again, our style of play in the second half was pretty good.
– I also want to ask about the scored goals: both were scored after passes and with the head. Do I understand correctly that the substitutes were supposed to speed up the pace of the game, and that these tasks of making more passes were because the opponent’s team did not have tall central defenders today like they did in the previous match?
– You saw it very well. Good question. If we make substitutions, we do it to win. It means that you take more risks, but we also take into account some specific players, specific positions where I think the opponent is vulnerable. That is why I make these substitutions. And I have to say that all the players who came into the game perfectly did what I wanted to see. We sped up the game, and you saw that those goals were probably identical. It is difficult for the opponents to predict how they are going to defend in front of the goal, because we have a lot more people in the box, which is very important if we play against the team that play in such a low block like Zorya. Everything we do, we do with purpose, but sometimes you have to be lucky, of course, to realise the idea you have in your head. And I have to compliment all my players for the way they bounced back into the game after 0-1.
– Can we say that it was much more difficult to play against Zorya today than in the previous meeting?
– Yes, you can say that. But I think, although we did not play our best game in general, we created enough in the first half. Luhansk team have changed their strategy: they defended again with all players in a very low block, now they played 5–4–1, to mention some formations, and that is a change they made, but it did not surprise us, because we expected it. And we see a lot of teams that try to do that. But I think we controlled the game pretty well. You cannot create moments all the time playing against the team in such a low block, because as soon as you create a moment, there immediately has to be a moment in response, and then the game opens up, they have to move more, the space becomes bigger. In this case, we can say that it was a tough game, but not in terms of style of play. A week ago, I watched the game Manchester City vs Real Madrid, and you can compare it to that match, only we scored one more goal than Manchester City. So, such games are always difficult for the team that have the ball, want to play, to create, and it is not easy to play against the team that wait near their own goal with eleven players. We actually did what we had to do today: just win and create good moments. We had those good moments, found them in the second half – it was more than enough to win this game. I think we deserved it.
– Danylo Sikan has scored five goals in the last six matches. Today you decided to keep him on the bench, and Traore came on at the start. It can be said that Lassina saved the team in the previous match with his two assists, but today Sikan saved them with his goal as well. Is it a pleasant headache for the coach to choose between two quality forwards who are in good shape or vice versa?
– Look, Sikan has always worked fantastically hard for the team, he put a lot of energy into the last match, so we wanted to refresh the squad today. And of course we have Traore – he is also a very good striker. So, it is nice to have them in our team because they have special qualities, and sometimes it is also nice to make these substitutions without losing the quality, when even with the substitution there is the same high level. And there were several matches where I used them both together when we needed to achieve something and score a goal, like in the last game against Zorya. So, it is very nice to have such players, but it is also very nice to have not only those qualities, but especially their character. They both have great character, they are different players: Sikan is faster and attacks more in space, and Lassina keeps the ball and combines more. So, it is nice to have these different qualities in the team to be able to use them when we need them in the game. I am very happy with both of them today.