Self-confidence is gained through such victories
Saturday, September 14, 2024
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Press conference of head coach of Shakhtar Marino Pusic after the match against Karpaty (5-2)
– Are you satisfied with all components of the game? First of all, I mean the set pieces, because the goal by Karpaty came from there, and in general, it was noticeable that set pieces were inconvenient for Shakhtar. Do you not think that the team should improve in this aspect?
– First of all, I would like to emphasise that conceding in this way is unacceptable with such style of play and prepared variations that we worked on during training sessions. Unfortunately, we made such a mistake. It is a great lesson from which we will draw conclusions for the future and, once again, will focus on practising such variations. Of course, with such fantastic style of play that my team demonstrated on the field, it is unacceptable to concede two goals, but it is what it is. We were extremely good in everything else. And the only thing I was not satisfied with is the moments of the game with our prepared variations. In terms of everything related to the general flow of the game, events on the field, how everything happened – I am fully satisfied with my team and the result. During this period when the busy schedule begins and there are intense matches twice a week, the main thing is self-confidence that is gained through such matches and victories. In such moments I think that the most important thing is the result. And now we managed to achieve it.
– Mykola Matviienko was absent in the squad list for the match. What happened to him and will he be ready for the Champions League match?
– Mykola returned from the national team, after playing in both matches, with a small injury, we talked and decided that we will let him rest and recover to better integrate into the training process. In general, I am sure that he will be back on the field soon, I think, his participation in training can already be expected in two or three days.
– Bondarenko was also injured at the end of the match. Is he all right?
– He was not injured. Yes, there was a small collision at the end of the match, but he is fine, he was just tired. In general, I have to say that we played this game at a high level, including Bondarenko who showed a great performance. And as I said to my team, I will share it with you, individual performance is always the result of great team effort. And that is exactly what we saw: Bondarenko scored a hat-trick, showed himself at the top level. But, as I emphasised, individual achievements always come as a result of team effort.
– Continuing the topic of Artem Bondarenko who played excellently and is, generally, a regular player at Shakhtar: does it not surprise you that he is not called up to the Ukraine national team?
– First of all, I want to note that I am not the coach of the Ukraine national team, so I cannot make decisions about Artem’s future in the national team. As a coach, I have to respect the decisions of other head coaches. Of course, I think Bondarenko has a whole set of skills and great qualities that allow him to play at the top level and be a part of the Ukraine national team. Now he showed on the pitch that he is a very useful player who can give incredible performance. He should add stability to his game and continue to play at such a high level that we could see in this match. And I am sure that he will be called-up to the national team in the near future if he continues to work like this.
– The start in the Champions League is ahead, so how do you rate the readiness of the team for Bologna? It is clear that now you played a spectacular game and everything was fine, but the start of the championship was unstable for Shakhtar.
– In terms of the way of playing, the start of the championship was very good, but you do not always get what you deserve, and this is the beauty and the difficulty of football. I think we also deserved to win in the matches we lost. And that is a big difference. When we conduct an analysis, my job is to analyse without emotions; for people around, it is always about the result, about the emotions. It is normal, it is part of the job. I think we deserve much more, we showed a lot, but at the same time, we have to learn that you do not always get what you deserve. So we have to work even harder, more consistently and be more focused in certain moments, prevent the opponent from coming back even more. This is what we should learn, and we are doing it. Mostly, I was satisfied with how we played. Actually, if we set the goals aside, the first half of the match in which we played against Oleksandriia and lost 4-3 was the best half since I am in Ukraine. It is amazing, you lead 2-0, and all of a sudden, out of nothing, it is 2-2, so the game changes mentally. We should not let the opponent come back too easily. And it is what we did not do very well. But the way we played, the way we approached the match, our style of play which even improved in certain details – it was pretty good. I said to someone: “Can you show me one team that won the title in the first five matches in the championship?”, and you cannot, because it does not exist. Championship is a marathon. Maybe, national Cup, Champions League is a sprint, but the national championship is a marathon. And in this marathon you have to be able to speed up in the certain parts of it to make a difference. If you think that it is easy to win the games or to win the titles, only those who won know that it is not easy. This is a long and difficult process, it needs consistency and a brave heart. So calm down, the competition has just started, we have so many games to play. Even after winning now, we stay calm, stay humble and continue to work very hard and go game by game. The fate of the competition will be decided in the second half. And until that point, we, other teams, all of us should be at a certain level to speed up at the right moment, like we did last year, winning 17 times in a row. Do you know how difficult it is? Do you have children? Girl? Boy? Try to play with her and win five times in a row, it does not matter what kind of game it is, you will see how difficult it is. I am sure that she will win at least once. I am just making a life analogy. So, of course, like every team, we have many young players who develop to reach the next level, learn with every game. We stay humble, work hard, do not panic, go game by game and try to be consistent in everything. And I agree with you on your first question about the set piece, I hate it. Believe me, I hate it, and I hope that it will not happen again soon. So we try to learn from such moments, luckily for us, it will not be decided today. It is like in life, you cannot always be at the top level, win all matches, even being the big club, especially as a big club you have a certain level and certain ambitions, but it does not mean that you will win everywhere. You know, I learned something from one famous Croatian player, Mario told me a story about it. Do you know Alen Boksic? He was a famous striker, played for Lazio, played in England, won the Champions League with Olympique de Marseille, a very big player, a big personality. And you once said two things, one I am not going to mention because it is a kind of advertisement for someone, but sometimes football is a very big lie, not a very fair game, because you do not always get what you deserve, but this is both the beauty of the game and the difficult part of it, and we need to respect it, accept it and try to always look for something that gives the opportunity to win. And it is not always easy. That is why the championship is one big marathon. Do you do sports? Do you run a marathon? Yes, it is difficult. I know one guy from the Netherlands who runs a marathon, I learned that from him. He told me: “When I speed up at the beginning, I am dead somewhere in the middle, and probably I will not make it to the end, so I have to measure my rhythm.” I would like to always be first, to always be ahead, to always win, but it is impossible. This is football, this is competition, the beauty of the game. Look, this is life, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but it is all about how you bounce back and what you show in a long period. Somebody asked me in the Netherlands about the level of the Ukrainian League, its difficulty, etc. And I said that it is not a well-known competition in Europe, and this is how it is, but it is a very, very difficult competition, with a lot of good teams, which are hard to play against, and it requires a lot from everyone. So it is not easy. And I have to say something about the players, I am talking especially about my footballers. Last time I said that they are really sports heroes for me, and I will tell you why: because of the schedule they have to follow. Playing for the national team, travelling a lot, of course playing in the national league, unfortunately, under such circumstances, dealing with it, always feeling the pressure and having to manage it, having a lot of matches and less recovery time. You know, nobody is perfect, nobody can give 100 percent every time, no player, not even the best in the world. So they deserve much more respect, and I have a lot of respect for my players. This is what I wanted to share with you.
– It seemed that Shakhtar played more vertically, in contrast to previous matches. Is that right?
– Maybe, actually. Already during the season we started increasing the number of vertical moves, but you have to understand that every game has its own story, and every match is different from the previous one. In general, I try to develop team’s flexibility and ability to change the game depending on the circumstances or to a specific style of play. This is what we practise. If we talk specifically about this match, then of course we made many vertical moves, tried to find a lot of free space, play between the lines. I think now we managed to show ourselves very well in this aspect – we had great timings, good running work. And we could have scored much more goals.
– First of all, I would like to emphasise that conceding in this way is unacceptable with such style of play and prepared variations that we worked on during training sessions. Unfortunately, we made such a mistake. It is a great lesson from which we will draw conclusions for the future and, once again, will focus on practising such variations. Of course, with such fantastic style of play that my team demonstrated on the field, it is unacceptable to concede two goals, but it is what it is. We were extremely good in everything else. And the only thing I was not satisfied with is the moments of the game with our prepared variations. In terms of everything related to the general flow of the game, events on the field, how everything happened – I am fully satisfied with my team and the result. During this period when the busy schedule begins and there are intense matches twice a week, the main thing is self-confidence that is gained through such matches and victories. In such moments I think that the most important thing is the result. And now we managed to achieve it.
– Mykola Matviienko was absent in the squad list for the match. What happened to him and will he be ready for the Champions League match?
– Mykola returned from the national team, after playing in both matches, with a small injury, we talked and decided that we will let him rest and recover to better integrate into the training process. In general, I am sure that he will be back on the field soon, I think, his participation in training can already be expected in two or three days.
– Bondarenko was also injured at the end of the match. Is he all right?
– He was not injured. Yes, there was a small collision at the end of the match, but he is fine, he was just tired. In general, I have to say that we played this game at a high level, including Bondarenko who showed a great performance. And as I said to my team, I will share it with you, individual performance is always the result of great team effort. And that is exactly what we saw: Bondarenko scored a hat-trick, showed himself at the top level. But, as I emphasised, individual achievements always come as a result of team effort.
– Continuing the topic of Artem Bondarenko who played excellently and is, generally, a regular player at Shakhtar: does it not surprise you that he is not called up to the Ukraine national team?
– First of all, I want to note that I am not the coach of the Ukraine national team, so I cannot make decisions about Artem’s future in the national team. As a coach, I have to respect the decisions of other head coaches. Of course, I think Bondarenko has a whole set of skills and great qualities that allow him to play at the top level and be a part of the Ukraine national team. Now he showed on the pitch that he is a very useful player who can give incredible performance. He should add stability to his game and continue to play at such a high level that we could see in this match. And I am sure that he will be called-up to the national team in the near future if he continues to work like this.
– The start in the Champions League is ahead, so how do you rate the readiness of the team for Bologna? It is clear that now you played a spectacular game and everything was fine, but the start of the championship was unstable for Shakhtar.
– In terms of the way of playing, the start of the championship was very good, but you do not always get what you deserve, and this is the beauty and the difficulty of football. I think we also deserved to win in the matches we lost. And that is a big difference. When we conduct an analysis, my job is to analyse without emotions; for people around, it is always about the result, about the emotions. It is normal, it is part of the job. I think we deserve much more, we showed a lot, but at the same time, we have to learn that you do not always get what you deserve. So we have to work even harder, more consistently and be more focused in certain moments, prevent the opponent from coming back even more. This is what we should learn, and we are doing it. Mostly, I was satisfied with how we played. Actually, if we set the goals aside, the first half of the match in which we played against Oleksandriia and lost 4-3 was the best half since I am in Ukraine. It is amazing, you lead 2-0, and all of a sudden, out of nothing, it is 2-2, so the game changes mentally. We should not let the opponent come back too easily. And it is what we did not do very well. But the way we played, the way we approached the match, our style of play which even improved in certain details – it was pretty good. I said to someone: “Can you show me one team that won the title in the first five matches in the championship?”, and you cannot, because it does not exist. Championship is a marathon. Maybe, national Cup, Champions League is a sprint, but the national championship is a marathon. And in this marathon you have to be able to speed up in the certain parts of it to make a difference. If you think that it is easy to win the games or to win the titles, only those who won know that it is not easy. This is a long and difficult process, it needs consistency and a brave heart. So calm down, the competition has just started, we have so many games to play. Even after winning now, we stay calm, stay humble and continue to work very hard and go game by game. The fate of the competition will be decided in the second half. And until that point, we, other teams, all of us should be at a certain level to speed up at the right moment, like we did last year, winning 17 times in a row. Do you know how difficult it is? Do you have children? Girl? Boy? Try to play with her and win five times in a row, it does not matter what kind of game it is, you will see how difficult it is. I am sure that she will win at least once. I am just making a life analogy. So, of course, like every team, we have many young players who develop to reach the next level, learn with every game. We stay humble, work hard, do not panic, go game by game and try to be consistent in everything. And I agree with you on your first question about the set piece, I hate it. Believe me, I hate it, and I hope that it will not happen again soon. So we try to learn from such moments, luckily for us, it will not be decided today. It is like in life, you cannot always be at the top level, win all matches, even being the big club, especially as a big club you have a certain level and certain ambitions, but it does not mean that you will win everywhere. You know, I learned something from one famous Croatian player, Mario told me a story about it. Do you know Alen Boksic? He was a famous striker, played for Lazio, played in England, won the Champions League with Olympique de Marseille, a very big player, a big personality. And you once said two things, one I am not going to mention because it is a kind of advertisement for someone, but sometimes football is a very big lie, not a very fair game, because you do not always get what you deserve, but this is both the beauty of the game and the difficult part of it, and we need to respect it, accept it and try to always look for something that gives the opportunity to win. And it is not always easy. That is why the championship is one big marathon. Do you do sports? Do you run a marathon? Yes, it is difficult. I know one guy from the Netherlands who runs a marathon, I learned that from him. He told me: “When I speed up at the beginning, I am dead somewhere in the middle, and probably I will not make it to the end, so I have to measure my rhythm.” I would like to always be first, to always be ahead, to always win, but it is impossible. This is football, this is competition, the beauty of the game. Look, this is life, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but it is all about how you bounce back and what you show in a long period. Somebody asked me in the Netherlands about the level of the Ukrainian League, its difficulty, etc. And I said that it is not a well-known competition in Europe, and this is how it is, but it is a very, very difficult competition, with a lot of good teams, which are hard to play against, and it requires a lot from everyone. So it is not easy. And I have to say something about the players, I am talking especially about my footballers. Last time I said that they are really sports heroes for me, and I will tell you why: because of the schedule they have to follow. Playing for the national team, travelling a lot, of course playing in the national league, unfortunately, under such circumstances, dealing with it, always feeling the pressure and having to manage it, having a lot of matches and less recovery time. You know, nobody is perfect, nobody can give 100 percent every time, no player, not even the best in the world. So they deserve much more respect, and I have a lot of respect for my players. This is what I wanted to share with you.
– It seemed that Shakhtar played more vertically, in contrast to previous matches. Is that right?
– Maybe, actually. Already during the season we started increasing the number of vertical moves, but you have to understand that every game has its own story, and every match is different from the previous one. In general, I try to develop team’s flexibility and ability to change the game depending on the circumstances or to a specific style of play. This is what we practise. If we talk specifically about this match, then of course we made many vertical moves, tried to find a lot of free space, play between the lines. I think now we managed to show ourselves very well in this aspect – we had great timings, good running work. And we could have scored much more goals.