On December 18, Shakhtar Donetsk inherited Olympique de Marseille in the round of 16 of the Europa League. King of the Premier Liha (7 coronations in the last ten seasons), the Minors club continues to perform despite a very difficult geopolitical context. Championship matches are played without spectators and interruptions linked to bomb threats caused by Russian bombing have become commonplace. A conflict which also pushed Shakhtar to go into exile in Hamburg (Germany) to play its European Cup matches, after having been in Warsaw (Poland) last season. For its shock against OM, the Ukrainian team must also deal with a championship on pause. The team coached by the Batavian Marino Pusic (former assistant coach at Feyenoord and AZ Alkmaar) has not played an official match since the 6th day of the group stage of the Champions League and its match lost on the pitch of FC Porto (5-3).
An unprecedented break for the new coach
Going two months without playing is obviously inconceivable to prepare for the duel against the Olympians. Especially after changing coaches last October. Just two months after Pusic’s arrival, the club was unable to hold a series of meetings to get used to the ideas of its new strong man. “Yes, it’s a short time, but I’m happy with what I’ve seen so far, with the way the players are trying to understand my philosophy. As I said, I see a lot of potential in this team, but it is obvious that, like any team, we have room for improvement.”, Pusic told club media. The latter also admitted that this two-month “break” is a situation that can be debilitating and above all an unprecedented scenario for him to manage.
“This is a specific and unusual situation, but I am able to adapt, I adapt quickly to the circumstances, and I always think about what we can do in such conditions, in such a situation, to prepare our team as well as possible. I analyzed the situation with many staff members and we made a training plan for this month in Antalya. The program is ready, we will work very hard according to this program in order to be ready for the first match. This is very unusual, because other teams are already playing at that time: Marseille will play several official matches before meeting us, and we will only have friendly matches. That’s a big difference. But that’s how it is. We will try to prepare as best as possible for this match, given its toughness, and to prepare at this level during the friendly matches that we will play during the preparation period. It’s not easy, but we will do our best during training sessions and matches to be ready, which I must say is not an advantage, because the teams are already playing official matches, feeling this high level of competition”he declared last December.
A preparation very focused on the physical
Since then, Shakhtar has organized itself to arrive in good shape on February 15. After an express return trip to Japan at the end of December to play a charity match against Avispa Fukuoka in Tokyo, Shakhtar granted a few weeks of vacation to its players before holding a training camp in Turkey. A course organized from January 14 to February 13 and during which Pusic scheduled no less than six friendly matches. The start of the course was marked by traditional physical sessions, small numbers of oppositions and finishing exercises. On January 22, Shakhtar won their first friendly match against Pyunik (2-0), the current leader of the Armenian championship. A warm-up match. “The aim was to reach the benchmark level that we normally have during matches, with a lot of running. It’s about playing conditions. As far as how to play, I’ve seen a lot of things that we’ve been working on. I have to say that in the first 10-15 minutes we made too many unnecessary technical errors, but that’s also the nature of the first match and the first minutes on the pitch after almost two months without playing. »
Three days later, on January 25, the Miners scored a second victory. Pusic chose to field a very revised starting lineup compared to the previous match. “Because I want to find the best possible combinations. I want to see how other players interact with each other. I’m always looking for player pairs that work. » Which did not prevent Shakhtar from beating Poles Lech Poznan 3-1 in front of 200 spectators. “I’m very happy with what we showed, except maybe the first five minutes, where we were a little too careless and made a few tactical errors. We didn’t concede a single goal in the first half. We created several more chances and played with great intensity with and without the ball. That was the objective of this meeting, so I am satisfied. This evening, I would therefore give 7.5/10 to my team”explained a coach satisfied with the rise in power of his team.
Shakhtar feels ready to face OM
On January 28, it was the Slovenians from Maribor who showed up for a 120-minute match (4 periods of 30 minutes each) intended to make the Ukrainians’ physique work a little more. A meeting which ended 0-0 and which marked the end of the first phase of this training camp. “We trained almost every day, only one day was dedicated to recovery, which was not easy. I am very satisfied with the way the team worked and progressed. As I said, we had two objectives: to increase our physical condition and to improve certain elements of the game, with and without the ball. During this time I have seen a lot of good things, so I am very satisfied. The objective of the second part is to continue to progress, to give more minutes to the players and to stay at our level. Next week we will probably play two matches in one day, we will go from 60 to 90 minutes, and it will also be physically difficult, but that is what we need to be ready for the serious matches against Olympique de Marseille », confided Pusic. Unfortunately for Shakhtar, the rest of the program was less conclusive in terms of results.
On February 3, two matches were scheduled on the same day. Pusic obviously proposed two different starting elevens, but each time, his players lost. The first time against the Czechs of Hradec Králové (0-2) then against the Bosnians of FK Velež Mostar (2-3). Nothing to worry about the Miniers coach, for whom the most important thing remains the physical development of his flock. “It’s very important for us to have 90 minutes of training, and we did it with a pretty high intensity. The intensity was maybe a little higher in the second game than in the first, but we worked hard. As for the result, of course it is not very good, because it is not good to lose, even a friendly match. To be honest, I don’t pay much attention to the result of friendlies. We are disappointed when we lose. But I saw the team constantly fighting and working hard, trying to beat two opponents who were playing pretty low on defense. We created a lot of chances in both matches, but our conversion was poor. »
This training camp ended on Thursday February 8 with the last two friendly matches. On the program: one against the champion of Turkmenistan, Arkadag, and another against the Poles of Lechia Gdansk (4th in Polish D2). Against Arkadag, Shakhtar easily won 4-1 thanks in particular to a double from the young 19-year-old Brazilian striker Eguinaldo, before conceding the draw against Lechia (1-1). Two positive results which allow Shakhtar players to approach the meeting against Marseille with ambition. “They are a very strong and prepared team, we have already analyzed their game. If we stay focused, aim for the result and play our football, we will be able to win and progress”, confided Eguinaldo. OM has been warned.
Pub. THE