Shovkovskiy temporarily (?) replaced Lucescu in the coaching staff of Dynamo. There are 5 questions regarding this appointment and Surkis’ decision.

On April 28, at 13:00, the match between Metalist and Dynamo opens the 23rd round of the Ukrainian Premier League of the 2022/23 season. Probably, under other circumstances, the match between the 14th and fourth teams, between which there are 22 points difference, would not have been so interesting, if not for one circumstance. Mircea Lucescu announced that he was going on sick leave, and FC Dynamo (Kyiv) announced that Oleksandr Shovkovskiy would be in charge of the team during his absence.

In this situation, there are many parallels and analogies. The club’s all-time record holder for most appearances is following the same path as Serhiy Rebrov, in the same stalemate that saw Dynamo on the brink of their worst Ukrainian league performance ever. However, we have too little initial data to draw global conclusions.

In our article, we put five questions on the decision of Igor Surkis to entrust Dynamo to Alexander Shovkovsky. Only by receiving real answers to them, one can understand the essence of this appointment.

Question one: how long has Lucescu been out and will he be able to work on the phone like Lobanovsky?

The duration of Shovkovsky’s work depends on the answer to this question. As the doctors explain, the operation itself is quite difficult, after it you need to stay in the hospital for a week and a half, then for about three months you need to learn to walk in a new reality. But at the same time, it is possible to manage the team remotely.

To what extent will Lucescu control the team and will he constantly control the work of Dynamo by phone and with the constant presence of Emilian Caras as a courier-intermediary between the head coach and the team? Whether he focuses on restoring health or keeps all the work in his attention determines the limit of his deputy’s independence and the source of decision-making.

How do we think? It is better for Dynamo that Lucescu restores his health normally, without nervous shocks. Shovkovsky must concentrate on work calmly and independently.

Question two: how ready is the club’s management to perceive the new reality?

There is a very real possibility that Dynamo will be left without medals. For the first time since 2014, when the Kiev team finished fourth under the leadership of Oleg Blokhin and Sergey Rebrov, they risk repeating this anti-record. And no one guarantees that it will not get worse – according to the results of the spring matches, Dynamo shares 6-7 places with Vorskla, and if Skrypnyk’s wards are on the rise (won three matches in a row), then the people of Kiev are still in a crisis that needs comprehensive intervention.

And there are two ways: either the leadership of Dynamo will give the coach (Luchesk, Shovkovsky or whoever else will be there) the opportunity to seriously replenish, or for several years – by no means for one season – to abandon serious tasks and hopes. Therefore, even regardless of the person, acting. head coach, changes are overdue and without them the team will not play as we would like.

How do we think? While there are no opportunities for qualitative improvement, we are talking about both the economic crisis and the legionnaires’ justified fear of going to a country with a war. On the domestic market, Shakhtar started the reverse of Ukrainian legionnaires from foreign championships much earlier, and Dnipro-1, Rukh and other clubs, from where replenishment could be considered, will not be given away so easily. This also needs funds.

Question three: what, in fact, are Shovkovsky’s preferences in football and what will he try to do?

We still don’t know what Alexander Vladimirovich’s favorite tactical scheme is, what teams he sets as a model, and finally, whether he would build something completely new or go from a set of players, and the further work of Dynamo would depend on this. Now, when you just need to finish the season with dignity, Shovkovsky will play with those who are. However, the same set of players can be used in different ways.

Shovkovskiy will stay within the 4-5-1 formation? Will he try some more unbanal schemes? He will risk playing three centre-backs like the other acting. Petrakov did the head coach in the Ukrainian national team? Will he introduce some completely new players into the roster, who barely came on as a substitute under Lucescu?

Here is a very good question. Shovkovskiy, during his work as an assistant to the head coach Mircea Lucescu, saw everything from the inside and had the opportunity, based on specific knowledge, to form his opinion about literally every Dynamo player. As an assistant to an experienced coach, he did not have to express this attitude, let alone draw organizational conclusions regarding his opinion about this or that player.

However, even the same starting lineup for the match with Metalist will somewhat show the general direction of Alexander Shovkovsky’s opinions and what he understands as the reason for the team’s failures in the previous part of the 2022/23 season.

How do we think? Shovkovsky has neither the time nor the resources to experiment. Even changing the tactical scheme (especially in terms of defense and support zone) is risky, the team does not have the practice of playing three center backs, for example. Consequently, in tactical terms, the new acting, most likely, will move away from the existing staff, and will not try to put in something radically new.

Question four: what can Shovkovsky change in terms of personnel?

In seven matches of the spring part of the season, Dynamo have already lost 10 points, scored only seven goals, conceded in four meetings, and won only the first two halves. In short, all the signs of a crisis are there. In such a situation, club presidents often resort to coaching castling in order to revive and shake up the team. Sometimes it works.

But in our situation, we must take into account that Shovkovsky replaces the ailing head coach at the end of the season and does not have the opportunity to make personnel changes – if only because no one will sign free agents for eight, and there is no practical thing in dismissing players with an early break now. meaning.

Hence the conclusion: Shovkovsky will work within the framework of exactly those frames that are now. However, if you think that this is a limited circle, then no. Mircea Lucescu has involved 39 players in the Ukrainian Championship this season – for example, Shakhtar has 35, Dnipro-1 has 33, and Kolos has 30 in general. Only Zorya (41) and PFC Lviv (43) have used more Kyivans.

But, as they like to say from this sphere, there are people, but there are no players.

16 players out of 39 in Dynamo have played less than 10 matches. This still shows that Lucescu really used a limited clip on 13-15 players whom he trusted, and released others from time to time. Shovkovsky, we hope, has his own opinion in relation to all players. Will the most talented young people like Vanat, Tsarenko, Voloshin have a chance to finally establish themselves in the base? Will the same Yatsik, Bol, Gorbach, Matkevich, Gusev have a career breakthrough? The season is over, you can give a chance to the players who deserved it in the U-19 championship.

Finally, the players whose contract is expiring. Goalkeeper Boyko, right back and midfielder Karavaev, winger Benito. Even for an experienced coach, it is not an easy task to correctly motivate the players who were predicted by insiders to say goodbye to the club. Moreover, as of today, these are quite combat-ready units for the team.

How do we think? Shovkovskyy will definitely take a new approach to personnel, and some players who have lost personal motivation, who do not progress or do not know how to restrain emotions on the field, can prove themselves beyond even the bench. But it is difficult for us now to predict the degree of radicalness of SaSho’s decisions on personalities – I repeat, Shovkovsky avoided in-depth interviews with a public assessment of certain players, certain tactical schemes. He kept all this to himself.

Question five: what will happen next with Lucescu, Shovkovskiy and Dynamo?

Lucescu is a perpetuum mobile, a person who lives for football. At 77, he hasn’t had his fill of the game, and there’s no doubt he wants to keep working. Rumors about the interest of Nice, Turkish giants, unnamed teams – it’s all from there, from a great motivation to stay in football.

Shovkovsky is only at the beginning of the journey. Even when it was additionally emphasized that Alexander Vladimirovich was starting to work in the national team not as a goalkeeping coach, but as an assistant to the head coach, it became clear what ambitions he had in football. This is a solo work, and from a high start. We have no idea what other twists and turns will be in his football work – the national teams should not be forgotten either, but it is clear that the performance or poor performance of the start will set the pace for his career.

SaSho’s great teammate, Sergei Rebrov, also started in a difficult situation. He was thrown into the water, he stayed on the surface, swam out and consisted as a specialist. A strong personality and a sportsman who is ready for challenges, on the contrary, loves such challenges – when the team is so bad that it seems to be worse than ever, and good work will immediately make itself felt, the result will be highlighted against the dim background of the results of predecessors.

Finally, Dynamo. There are teams in our championship that realize their potential not even 100%, but somewhat higher. You can look at the standings, examine the lineups and track record of the players and easily spot such teams. So, even after the sale of Tsygankov and Zabarny, after the departure of Verbich and Kendzera, after the injuries of Buschan and Shaparenko, Dynamo is a team that has no right to remain in the UPL without medals.

Only the motivational crisis that hit the coaching staff and the team of players after relegation from the Champions League could drive a team of this level into such a deep tournament depression. Many players do not realize even 50% of their potential. This is the material that Shovkovsky will work with, and, first of all, his talent as a communicator will determine whether this mechanism will start.

How do we think? Of course, a long-term result is impossible without deep structural changes. But in the short run, Shovkovskiy has the leverage and opportunities to fight for a place in the top three. Zorya and Dnepr-1 have their own problems, in many moments on the field and the nuances of work, they could only envy Dynamo. Kyivans have several players with colossal experience at once. They have talented youngsters who live in the UEFA Youth League or on loan.

If Zorya, with its inequality and limited composition, overtakes Dynamo, then this is exclusively an extra advantage due to the good coaching work of van Leeuwen and the selfless work of properly motivated players. Dynamo (Kyiv) is underperforming this season and may be a pleasant surprise if three factors coincide: Shovkovsky will work hard, find the right leaders in the team, and the personnel situation will be favorable. In such circumstances, bronze medals are still real, silver medals would already be an incredible achievement.

Alexander Shovkovsky at the start of his work, let’s see what he can do.