Mircea Lucescu: I haven’t forgotten Fulham and Sevilla

12-03-10 18:51:04

During today’s open training session ahead of the clash with Metalist Kharkiv the Hirnyky's head coach answered some of reporters’ questions.

- Mr. Lucescu, have you already got over the defeat in game with Fulham? Have the players recovered yet?

–– At least I still haven’t forgotten that game. I watched their game with Juventus yesterday and once again I understood that we could have defeated Juventus and we could have advanced to the next round. Unfortunately, we weren’t focused enough when we conceded that goal in London as well as during the home game. After that unfortunate fixed position situation there happened something that shouldn’t have happened and we got thrown out of the Europa League tournament. Obviously, Fulham were not that lucky in their game with Juventus yesterday – Juventus scored twice as a result of corners, moreover with the ball bouncing off the goalpost, returned to the player who eventually scored the goal… For all I know Juventus got lucky yesterday. I never forget such games. Same as I never forgot Sevilla. I think that football players shouldn’t forget such games either. This should have inspired us so that we could participate in the Ukrainian Championship and the Ukrainian Cup according to the original plan.

- What do you think of Juventus today?
- They had a consistent play. I cannot say that Juventus had any advantages. Rather they got lucky. If while playing with us Fulham did not cross the midfield area no more than three times, yesterday they played on equal terms. It may be so, I repeat, but I don’t think that the English clubs dominated the pitch the way we had done. I also think that Willian’s being injured at the very start of the game affected its outcome. He had been and still remains one of the best players on our team, and if it were not for his absence from the pitch the game might have gone the other way. 

- Vytsenets who was on the team as a free agent has left the team too suddenly…
- He needs to play and to have more playing practice. If we were continuing to play in Europe he might have stayed on our lineups, as he would have had more chances to show his talent. We got thrown out of the European Cups, and this means that there will be less rotation than during European Cup campaign.

- If Metalist gets beaten by Shakhtar it can lose its chance to try qualifying for Champions’ League. Do you think the Kharkiv team will play open football with you?
- This is a team that plays nothing but open football. Metalist has a great many of highly skilled players who have profound experience. Their average age is very old. Metalist is an experienced team well versed in the ways of the Ukrainian Championship. So it is going to be a tough play for both teams. I ask the fans to support us. At such moments we really need them. The attendance of the fans and their support is what matters. The team always feels it, and hopefully will return the favor. 

- With the Metalist head coach also coaching the Ukrainian national team, do you think those Shakhtar players that also appear on the national level feel more motivated?
- I don’t think that’s the cornerstone moment. Every player on the squad realizes the importance of this match and the three winning points. 

- It has become known the other day that Ukrainian national team will meet Romanian cap during one of the first pre-season games…
- It’s too early to talk about that just now. When we are closer to the game I might be able to give some answer to that. For now this does not really matter. 

- Picking up on the subject of Vytsenets transferring:  it is the way he got transferred that is surprising, for the he was granted the status of a free agent after the closing of the transfer window.  Are you not afraid that this will set a precedent in Ukrainian football?
- I don’t think it will. This was made for the sake of the player’s having more playing practice. This will work well for the Ukrainian national team in the first place, and, perhaps, Zoria which he must help. And we will keep an eye on him if he gets more practice. He is a young but still a promising player. Few players of his age actually appear on first team lineups. If he joins first teams in future he will prove his competence and his qualities. If I were sure that we could give him more playing time I wouldn’t let him go. But letting him only subbed in for 10-15 minutes is not sufficient. We thought the better of it and let him go… 

- Do you have any problems with the lineups before the encounter with Metalist?
- Chyzhov, Khudzhamov and Rat do not practice with the rest of the team. The rest of the players are getting ready for the clash. 

- Is the absence of Luis Adriano a considerable disadvantage?
- Yes, it is a considerable disadvantage. He must learn a lesson from what he did. It was unprofessional and incorrect of him to have left the team at such a moment. He is still young. We hope that this situation will teach him a lesson and it won’t be repeated. He had been provoked but he nevertheless had no right to react in a way that he did. 

- Does Aghahowa stand any chance?
- If he trains well he does, and if he continues to train in a way that he does now – he doesn’t. 

- Markevich mentioned after Metalurh’s fixture with Shakhtar that your rivals have a chance as long as they do not lose the midfield area…
- I cannot give my comments on this. He might be right. We picked the lineups for the clash with Metalist in such a way that we could win more easily. We worked out the winning strategy tackle the rival. The game might not have been the most spectacular one, all that mattered was the three winning points. One could say that Metalurh outplayed us at some points of the game and had the upper hand in the midfield area. But by and large they created no special moments except for the one with Yankov hitting the goalpost. But we didn’t create any opportunities to score either.  And they only had the advantage in the midfield area because we played with only two forwards.  That is, Metalurh outnumbered our midfield area players by one.

FC Shakhtar
Press Office