Andriy Pyatov, 39, spoke about the decision to end his playing career and commented on the start of his coaching career.
– What are the feelings in the new role? Two years ago, I realized that time is running out and the moment of coaching will come soon. We talked with my wife, with my family, and I concluded that I was ready for this.
– Share your impressions of your first days as a coach.
– I will say that it is very interesting. I am grateful to Patrick van Leeuwen for treating me warmly, as well as Dennis Gentenar, goalkeeping coach. The Dutch school is something new for me. I also see how the team works, there are certain tactical innovations. I am delighted!
– How difficult is the transition from a player’s career to coaching psychologically?
– Let’s be honest: I have hardly played for the last two years – I played about 15 games over the past seasons. Therefore, I understood that I would already become a coach, and I was psychologically ready for this. There is no such thing that something is pressing on me. I got a B coaching license, now I am finishing with a B goalkeeping license and I will take the next step – I will start training for an A license. I have ambitious goals – I want to grow with the team, bring up many great goalkeepers. I want to achieve this, there is such a fuse. And what will happen next – we’ll see.
– Before deciding to join the coaching staff, I had a conversation with Darijo Srna. What were they talking about?
– He said that this is a football life and it’s good when there is such an opportunity – to stay in my native club, where everyone is familiar to me, where I love everyone and continue to work. This will help me as a coach, because not every player is given a chance to stay in good shape after the end of his career. This is important because football is my life, I have been living like this for 20 years. I say that I talked with Dario, with Sergei Anatolyevich Palkin, with his wife and children, and made a decision. Thank you all for your support, especially my family.
– The day before, the first sparring took place at the training camp, where goalkeepers Denis Tvardovsky and Timur Puzankov played. What can be said about the younger generation of our goalkeepers?
– You know, I will always protect and love my goalkeepers, because every person, every goalkeeper is an individual. Everyone needs their own approach: there are many aspects in psychology, technology, physics. Therefore, we are working. As for the first sparring, somewhere it was good, somewhere something did not work out – we have already discussed some of the problems that were in the game with both legs and arms. This is our usual work, and as a coach, I can already suggest somewhere, direct somewhere. Dennis Gentenar and I are discussing this so that we have a common understanding.
– Being in the training process, what points should you focus on in order to prepare well for the season?
– Only the head coach knows this, and I have only been in the team for three days now – I am studying what kind of football Mister likes to play. I’m interested in this too. But I can not give advice to the head coach. He prepares the team, and we – his team of coaches – help. How it will be, the championship and European competitions will show.
– But how do you see Shakhtar this season?
– Shakhtar always have the highest goals – qualifying from the Champions League group, the title and the Cup. In all directions – only victory!
