We must not concede three goals in a game

– I have been working in the U19 championship for several years and I have come to the conclusion that as soon as the decisive stage of the competition begins, for example, the final matches, after international breaks or ahead of a head-to-head meeting with Dynamo U19, something unclear starts happening on the part of the referees, because not awarding penalties like the ones that were not given in the match against Zorya U19, and issuing unjustified yellow cards – this is difficult to explain. Similar things happened last season and the season before, when a fair penalty was not awarded for Oharkov or Yushchenko was shown a card for nothing. And when we played against Karpaty U19, key players missed the match due to suspension. Referees come and do not respect the work of the coaches. I will speak to the management about the fact that he should not be appointed to such matches. I do not want anything negative to happen, but I will draw attention to such cases. We were not awarded a penalty at the end of the first half, and a goal was disallowed due to an alleged offside. Also, in the second half, after a throw-in, the ball hit an opponent’s hand in the penalty area, but the referee ignored this moment. Zorya U19 committed quite a few fouls, and the referee had grounds to issue bookings to the opposition, but did not do so. One needs to be more careful in these situations and more competent. As for the match, we must be honest: we were not at our best, and this concerns more directly the work of the defensive line. Yes, all groups on the pitch work when defending, but our defenders want to play on the ball, to pass and are not aggressive enough. I understand that these are primarily young footballers, but probably after the international break we will work not only on passing or attacking actions, but also on reliability. Our quality is enough to score three or more goals against the opponents, but the defensive line at the same time must act more disciplined and focused. We managed to score three goals, but did not play reliably in defence and conceded the same number.

– Zorya U19 are statistically considered one of the most reliable teams defensively. What is special about this team and why is it so difficult to play against them?
– It is an organised team that, for the match against us, used players with experience of playing in the UPL. They are organised, but we scored three goals and could have had more. I cannot say that their game structure caused us problems. There is only one reason: we must not concede three goals in a game. We managed to create quite a few chances, and if the referee had been competent, we would certainly have scored more.

– An international break is coming up. What is known about the team’s plans?
– We have players who will join their national teams. I do not like long breaks and do not understand when, in a competitive rhythm, many days off are given; on the other hand, the lads need to rest. Based on the match against Zorya U19, the team did not deserve four days off, but I trust them. However, on the third or fourth day off they should not simply lie and rest; instead, they must give their bodies some load in order to come out of the break in good condition.