Jovicic: The result at Feyenoord was better than the game we showed

The head coach of Donetsk Shakhtar commented on the result of the first match of the 1/8 finals of the Europa League.

In the match against Feyenoord, Shakhtar was not able to play well and aesthetically. So says the head coach of the Donetsk team, Igor Jovicevich. According to the specialist, the team’s defensive problems have greatly affected the quality. The Pitmen’s defense played in such a combination for the first time, hence the lack of teamwork. At the same time, the mentor said that the result in Warsaw leaves Shakhtar with a chance to reach the quarterfinals of the Europa League.

“The result was better than the game we showed. Maybe the opponent felt a lack of teamwork in the last line and covered us more actively than he usually does, which made our life difficult, because it was impossible to play well in defense because of a set-up. For our game in the defensive phase, I can only thank the whole team, even if we did not show our level. I think this reserve of potential depends on our chance for second leg. If we play as it has been shown, then everything is possible in football. And what seems impossible now, it will become a reality, although there is a result and we are alive.

The fight looks tough. Feyenoord is a great team that is unbeaten for 14 games in a row. If at this level you drop a player, it can become a problem. We are still fighting for the quarterfinals, and many teams have already watched our match on TV. We should be proud of the team that fought for Ukraine. There is no need to ask about what someone has done wrong. Who failed? Everyone on the field was literally tearing up, and we should be proud of it. The high quality and aesthetic game that we showed before did not come out – I agree. Feyenoord really deserved a goal because the team was good and outplayed us. We’re not that fast with rebounds, if they’re in fifth or sixth gear, we’re only fourth. If we add up, and we’ve shown so many times that we can do it, then there’s a chance to go further. We must believe it, because this round consists of two matches. It turned out so, but the result left us in the game. We didn’t score three or four goals, as the bookmakers said, although I didn’t count them. Everyone said we were the absolute underdogs of this pair and we should have scored a whole bag of goals. We played without Mikhailichenko and Konoply, and this defense was played for the first time in the installation, but the guys fought. Let’s make a conclusion, we will be even stronger in the next match. You can be a hundred-time champion of the Netherlands, but it is very difficult to kill us, so we believe!

Marjan Shved is back from injury, but the renewal process and physiology must be respected, five months without playing training is a lot. I would still put him in the squad, but I can’t, because the risk of re-injury is too high. At first he will play for 20-30 minutes, somewhere in half, and then he will get a full load. Undoubtedly, with his quality he helped us. Against Leipzig, the Swede already showed how he can be a decisive player. But we respect the renewal process and we don’t want to lose a player. To all the problems was added the fact that Matvienko and Topalov were ill yesterday. The result reflects the inner essence of the players. We are not somewhere in the third league, it is top-level. We came to the match with the champions of the Netherlands without five clip players, besides, Kriskiv had just come. We must regain momentum, and the road also takes its toll. It takes 20 hours to get here from Ukraine, then another 20 hours to go to Krivoy Rog to play a championship match. The decisive match will be in the hell of Rotterdam, but we will play to win. We took one point and added points to the overall rating of Ukraine, which we are proud of.

Time and again we showed the level of our game. Of course, the result is better than the game itself. It is important that even with the temperature, some players brought results and lived in this game. It happens that the fight does not continue, but you endure and fight for each other. Then God gives you an opportunity for a purpose, just as the enemy did today. Yes, they deserved it, because Feyenoord played well between the lines, served, thousand. If the match was new, as long as there were six players out of their positions, someone told us the result, maybe we would have been satisfied. Everything is possible in football, there are moments in a match when you endure, control the game, continue the counterattack, but the plan of the coach and the players themselves does not always work.

This is a very important game, because we are playing and fighting for our people and the Armed Forces of Ukraine that protect us. Our strength is that, despite the sirens, we keep training, keep going down to the storage facilities, and get fights in 20 hours. There was a massive Russian attack today and we woke up to this news – it’s not easy. Yesterday we drove 20 hours to Warsaw, and tomorrow we will have 20 hours to get to Krivoy Rog for the championship match, so again it will take 20 hours to get to Rotterdam. Not a single club in Europe is in this condition, but we keep fighting because we believe it’s possible!

Recall that Shakhtar failed to beat Feyenoord in a nominally home match of the Europa League playoffs.

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