We absolutely did not deserve to lose
Sunday, December 15, 2024
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Comment from Shakhtar head coach Marino Pusic after the UPL match against Polissia
– Mister, this year ends with a disappointing result for Shakhtar. How can you analyse the match against Polissia and what conclusions can you make?
– I think we played very well especially in the second half, we dominated, created a lot of opportunities and several good moments, unfortunately, we did not score. You need to stay focused and concentrated until the last seconds – unfortunately, we did not do that. And we got a goal in the last minutes of the game again. You should feel these moments to defend well. However, we did not deserve to lose, let me say that, we absolutely did not deserve it. But this is football sometimes. It was a very brutal first half of the season for us.
– Recently, Shakhtar conceded goals after the 80th minute quite often. What is the reason?
– Yes, the reason is very simple: there are individual mistakes, of course, but we as a team should also feel the timings – the moments that now we have to defend very well. Especially because we do a lot of good things in attack during the game and press well, but there are moments when you need to feel that it is very important to defend well in that part, and we did not do that in the match, unfortunately. What more can I say about it? We did not deserve to lose, but this is football sometimes, and we need to learn from this and move on.
– How can you sum up the first part of this season and the year of 2024?
– Not the whole year because we started the season in July. We did a lot of good things, played a lot of good matches in domestic and international arenas. It is not easy to play after the Champions League, tough Champions League, where we showed ourselves very well. And I think today we had good energy, dedication, but, one more time, we need to win, finish the match earlier. We conceded in the last minutes in several games – and this is something we should think about.
– But if we talk about 2024 in general?
– The whole year actually was fantastic, if we sum it up. We achieved the double last season, we performed very well in the Champions League – those are the things that we should remember and cherish. But we need to climb up again, and it is going not that easy in the second half of the year, especially in this first half of the season. Although, I have to say, we work very hard and played well in many matches, we deserve much more, but you do not always get what you deserve. To get more, to be satisfied and not depend on such circumstances, we have to do much more – win and have that mentality, bring the game to the end and take advantage of all the opportunities that we create during the matches. We lacked that in the second half.
– I think we played very well especially in the second half, we dominated, created a lot of opportunities and several good moments, unfortunately, we did not score. You need to stay focused and concentrated until the last seconds – unfortunately, we did not do that. And we got a goal in the last minutes of the game again. You should feel these moments to defend well. However, we did not deserve to lose, let me say that, we absolutely did not deserve it. But this is football sometimes. It was a very brutal first half of the season for us.
– Recently, Shakhtar conceded goals after the 80th minute quite often. What is the reason?
– Yes, the reason is very simple: there are individual mistakes, of course, but we as a team should also feel the timings – the moments that now we have to defend very well. Especially because we do a lot of good things in attack during the game and press well, but there are moments when you need to feel that it is very important to defend well in that part, and we did not do that in the match, unfortunately. What more can I say about it? We did not deserve to lose, but this is football sometimes, and we need to learn from this and move on.
– How can you sum up the first part of this season and the year of 2024?
– Not the whole year because we started the season in July. We did a lot of good things, played a lot of good matches in domestic and international arenas. It is not easy to play after the Champions League, tough Champions League, where we showed ourselves very well. And I think today we had good energy, dedication, but, one more time, we need to win, finish the match earlier. We conceded in the last minutes in several games – and this is something we should think about.
– But if we talk about 2024 in general?
– The whole year actually was fantastic, if we sum it up. We achieved the double last season, we performed very well in the Champions League – those are the things that we should remember and cherish. But we need to climb up again, and it is going not that easy in the second half of the year, especially in this first half of the season. Although, I have to say, we work very hard and played well in many matches, we deserve much more, but you do not always get what you deserve. To get more, to be satisfied and not depend on such circumstances, we have to do much more – win and have that mentality, bring the game to the end and take advantage of all the opportunities that we create during the matches. We lacked that in the second half.