The bleak fog surrounding Dynamo's prospects in European competitions.
Writing about "Dynamo" in the Europa League is frankly undesirable, as it's difficult to find appropriate words to characterize all that "nonsense" happening in the matches of the Kyiv club in European competitions…
At the start of the games, the Kyiv team holds up fairly well, creating chances, "successfully" failing to convert them, and then, as usual, conceding and losing without scoring. It all follows the same script... Today, however, they did score. One, and in the last minute. Could this be a sign?
Free Fall
The mind refuses to accept that "Dynamo," which for decades was the main point scorer for the Ukrainian European Cup ranking, now looks like a pitiful punching bag. And they are being beaten by anyone, with all due respect to "Ferencváros" and "Victoria"...
This is by no means the first season of failure in Europe; it’s the third in a row. Last year, Dynamo was eliminated in the playoff round of the least prestigious Conference League. In 2022, just like this season, they played in the group stage of the Europa League – also losing all 5 matches, but not consecutively: in the fifth, they drew (3:3 with Greek AEK). Before the full-scale war, in 2021, they still played in the group stage of the Champions League – against "Bayern," "Barcelona," and "Benfica" (one goalless draw at "Olympic" and one goal by Harmash in the home match against "Bayern"). Back then, the opponents were two heads stronger than now. The last moderate success for "Dynamo" was in the 2019-2020 season when they reached the Round of 16 in the Europa League, where they lost twice 0:2 to "Villarreal."
If even then those defeats were perceived through the lens of the glorious club's former battles with the giants of world football, and indeed battles at par, what can be said now? The bottom has been hit many times.
Year after year, we note more and more painful defeats for "Dynamo" against clubs whose rankings keep dropping lower and lower. Just 4 years ago, they won against "Ferencváros" at home 1:0 and drew 2:2 away. Now it's 0:4.
Is it that the Hungarians have risen or the Ukrainian team has fallen?
Lack of Qualified Players
Even taking into account the wartime realities and difficult travels – this is no excuse for the feeble and colorless play. In fact, it's hard to find players of European Cup level in the current "Dynamo," players of that class that has always distinguished the club from all others. In every match, the Kyiv players fight, they truly fight, rather than play. There are no questions about their fighting qualities, rather the concern arises when this extreme mindset leads to brutal play and ejections, making it even harder to play.
Perhaps Mykhavko is indeed a talented defender, but currently, this is not visible, as he is not ready for the level of even such a tournament as the current Europa League, where the class of opponents contrasts sharply with the level of teams in the Champions League. He gets lost in one-on-one situations, makes many mistakes, and cannot keep up with the pace. However, Mykhavko is the youngest, being only 19 years old. It cannot be said that other center-backs like Bilovar and Popov have stood out for their reliability.
The question "Who to replace them with?" hangs in the air unanswered.
One Must Score
In "Victoria," as in previous opponents of the Kyiv team, there were enough scoring opportunities today: the Czechs, just like the Ukrainians, were let down by their finishing. However, their attacking leader, – Vidra, unlike the Dynamo leader Shaparenko, who shot from outside the box, converted his chance. Unfortunately, the number 10 of the "white-blues" disappoints in virtually every Europa League match. As a leader, he is expected to make the decisive pass or take the decisive shot at critical moments, but… so far, Mykola is unable to carry the team on his shoulders.
Although in the first half, both teams played at cross currents and the Dynamo players did not look worse than the Czechs, rather the opposite. This only proved that the club from Plzeň is no better than Kyiv. Not at all. Just as the Czech national team was not stronger than the Ukrainian national team – the analogy was self-evident. It's simple – one must convert their chances. Or at least one of them... Otherwise, it's again chaos in the final stage of the attack, again haste, again time wasted on decision-making, and as a result, the moment dissipates like fog.
The main striker of Dynamo, Vladislav Vanat, has also "gone silent" for a long time. The forward has continued his streak of goalless games: in the penalty area, Vlad currently struggles to gain possession of the ball or even take a shot on target. A high percentage of errors in possession hampers him (14 ball losses, only 2 duels won out of 5 on the ground and 3 out of 8 in the air): almost every attempt at a speedy breakthrough in the match against "Victoria" ended in a loss of possession.
When It Rains, It Pours
A telling episode in the 90th minute: the "grave digger" of Ukrainian football, the Czech Schulz, is in the penalty area of "Dynamo" with the ball – he is confronted (literally) by Shaparenko and Bilovar. Schulz pulls the ball under himself, pauses to shake off his opponents, and deliberately shoots into the corner of Bushchan's goal, removing all questions about the match's winner. Here we have an ordinary 23-year-old Czech Schulz, whom no one outside of the Czech Republic had heard of until this autumn. Again, we find ourselves in disbelief – how many times have we been made fools.
In contrast to those who struggled today, I would like to highlight Brazhko and Buyalsky, who worked hard and relatively effectively (if only this could be multiplied by the team effort, we might see a different result).
And also Bushchan, who, especially in the first half, saved his teammates multiple times, but goalkeepers, as we know, are not omnipotent.
Against the backdrop of sporting failures, Dynamo continues to experience fatal bad luck, as in the episode when after Karavaev's cross, Vyvcharenko scored, but again, as happened before, there was a minimal offside.
Changes, Changes, Changes...
However, it is incorrect to explain what is happening match after match as bad luck. This is not just "bad luck," and it’s not only about the travels, although they do have a significant impact on the team's preparation and form. Clearly, the problem is more global and requires a restructuring of the game, approach, and, of course, reinforcement. "Dynamo" lacks qualified players, although, again, looking at the scores and opponents in the Europa League, the Kyiv team – in this lineup and under all circumstances – should not be in last place and in such a hopeless situation.
For instance, in this round, "Lazio" played to a goalless draw at home against "Ludogorets," which previously also played 0:0 with "Victoria," which "Dynamo" lost to.
As for "Dynamo," you haven't forgotten, they lost to "Lazio" – 0:3. For the Bulgarians, these two draws are their only achievements in this League, so they are only three positions above the Ukrainian team in the standings. Therefore, in this Europa League, everyone has a chance: the contrast with the "fat cats" is by no means decisive. The modern Europa League is a league for the "poor," and anyone with a well-coordinated game can win here.