Dnipro-1 coach Oleksandr Kucher commented on the 0-3 loss to Shakhtar, the end of the title race and the fight at the end of the match.
– We lost this match even after the game with Vorskla. After the fight, we tried to cheer up the guys, to influence them emotionally, but that match gave us a big taste. Well, an early goal today influenced the game, because it is, of course, very difficult to start a match with a team like Shakhtar 0-1. I would like to congratulate Shakhtar on the championship – they deservedly deserved their victory.
– Dnipro-1 strengthened its squad in the winter with many performers, but by the end of the season they still lacked strength.
– If we want to win and fight for the championship, we should not lose points where we did it. It showed up at the end of the season. As for the newcomers, yes, new players came, some at once, some halfway through the training camp, and they needed to play together, to feel each other. Such teams make two years, and we had little time to teach the guys to understand each other perfectly on the football field.
– In your opinion, how exactly did the fight start at the end of the match and will you make any organizational conclusions about the players who behaved, let’s say, incorrectly on the field at that moment?
– Shakhtar were winning 3-0 and there were moments when the opponents started to provoke us. The same Taras Stepanenko. Of course, that they win an important match and they have emotions. And the fight began, if I’m not mistaken, after Nazarina jumped from two legs into Peglow, whose emotions could not stand it anymore – the Brazilian grabbed the opponent, this crush began and in the end everyone ran to the field. But I do not support all this, and I already told the guys about this that these players will be fined. We can’t behave like that because even when we lose 0:3 we have to respect the opponent. For the guys, this will be a lesson and there will be fines. I won’t tell you the amount.
– What, in your opinion, are the reasons for the failure in the second round?
– You know, not all the guys coped with the pressure that the team takes first place. They were not always in such races. Someone just started playing in the Premier League. They could not withstand this pressure, perhaps, and that is why they acted like that.
– Today there were no combinations between Pikhalyonok and Dovbik that everyone is used to. It seems that the players have just had their fill of this season and are waiting for it to end.
– I repeat that after the game with the Poltava team, the players did not get out of this state. It is very difficult to restore them psychologically. But there is one more match in which we need a positive result. Of course, now we will talk with the guys, get them out of this state, because the game ahead is very important for us, for which we need to carefully prepare. We need to reach out to the guys, because they need to understand how important this match will be for us. If we succeed, it will be good. You saw that the team didn’t look like themselves today. The same Shakhtar players studied us and prepared for the match, and how Dovbik and Pikhalyonok act, what our leading players are and how to play against them. We are also preparing for our opponents.
