Roman Petrenko analyzes the main aspects of the continuation of the alliance between the Donetsk club and the Portuguese specialist.
Hold and keep The other day it became known that the management of Shakhtar deliberately prolonged the relationship with his mentor for another two years, and improved for the Portuguese Mr. Financial conditions. This step seems to be absolutely logical and predictable, especially given that Paulo Fonseca has several options for continuing his career. I've heard about the Italian and English ways of further employment of the Portuguese, but it's unlikely that a promising specialist will decide to leave Shakhtar after only one and a half years of working in the club. In a club with high goals, and with which he already managed to reach considerable heights. These include the win of the championship and the Cup of the country in the past season, but it's still an autumn performance in the Champions League, where miners managed to get out of a difficult company. Only stellar Manchester City was in the final table above Donetsk, while the formidable Napoli and Feyenoord were left behind the "orange-black car". Certainly, this achievement is largely due to the fruitful work of Fonseca and his staff, who managed in difficult circumstances to achieve the most important element in football - the result.
Very good things are going on at the Donetsk club and on the domestic front. For the winter period, the team Fonseca left on the first line in the table, and in the Cup of the country, albeit not without problems, but fell into the semifinals. What kind of leaders will want change in such a disposition? !!. As is known, good is not sought for from good, and the meaning of this old, as the world, proverb in Shakhtar's leadership is well understood. Therefore, few doubt that the Donetsk club will try as much as possible to bind themselves by ties of contractual relations with the Portuguese Zorro who came to court.
Legacy Lucescu Whatever anyone says, and over the Donetsk kingdom there is still a shadow of the Romanian cunning. Undoubtedly, to argue that Fonseca did not bring anything into Shakhtar's game - it would be the height of injustice, but nevertheless the legacy of Lucescu continues to play in the team's success an important (and sometimes decisive) role. Yes, the tactical scheme has undergone some changes in terms of adjusting the range of actions of a number of players, but these same players, in fact, remained from the Romanian cadence period. Judge for yourself, who determines the game of the team? Correctly, the Brazilian attacking attacking fist, or rather Tyson, Marlos and Bernard. These guys even at Lucescu were leaders, and only the youngest of the trio Bernard stayed in some shadow. Further. Where does the main threat from the attacks of the Donchans come from? True, from the flanks, where Ismaili is soloed with the substitute disqualified Dario Srna Bogdan Butko.
Minimum changes and in defense. At the last frontier, Andrey Pyatov is still in full control, and only in the center of defense Yaroslav Rakitsky is now represented by Alexander Kucher who has not left for sunny Turkey, and someone from the trinity Sergey Krivtsov, Ivan Ordets or, in rare cases, David Khocholava. The latter, by the way, appeared in the team already at Fonseca. In the attack that the former that the current Mr. used a lone striker, which is previously unstable Facundo Ferreira. The Argentinian can also consider himself a "man of Fonseca," because in the era of Lucescu he could only dream of a place in the basis. But progressing under the Romanian Victor Kovalenko over the past year fell completely out of the first eleven, going to the field is not always, and even - from the bench. There he is a company bought already at Fonseca Gustavo Blanco-Leshchuk, once candidate for the Ukrainian national team goalkeeper Nikita Shevchenko and hopelessly ridden earlier on the rents of the Brazilian Alan Patrick. And now just count on the fingers of one hand, how many new players appeared in the basis of the Portuguese. Enough fingers?.
Motivation For sure, Fonseca is driven not only by the financial component of the work in Shakhtar. It makes no sense to hide that in Ukraine in the last four years to invite a qualified coach and football player has become a very difficult task, and the fact that the promising coach of Braga still agreed to take the Donetsk club, testifies to the generosity of the Ukrainian proposal. In addition, the Portuguese, of course, showed himself as an expert, striving for constant growth and personal development, and there is no doubt that sooner or later he will still venture to move to the European top championship. To this can push the successful performance of miners in the Champions League, where the chances of passing Roma are seen not so unrealistic. In this case, Fonseca regularly states (or maybe just misleads?!). ), that the priority goal of his team is to win the national championship. Hence, the internal motivation to win, if possible, on all fronts the Portuguese did not run out.
Do not forget about this important and striking factor, like the coincidence of the interests of the club and the coach. Miners demonstrate high-quality football, not forgetting about the result and the accompanying progress, and the mentor - hones his coaching talent, raising his own rating, as they say, by deeds, and not by loud promises. In this connection, the hypothesis that Fonseca and Shakhtar are created for each other has every chance of assuming the shape of an axiom.
Author: Roman Petrenko.