Mircea Lucescu: "I do not experiment with the squad."

On 14 March, Shakhtar held their open training session in which the team’s head coach answered journalists’ questions.

- Mister, the Italian media reported...

- We're playing against Chornomorets. Besides Douglas, Ismaily and Kucher, who had his leg stitched up, the rest of the players are preparing for the upcoming match. We are expecting a very difficult game. Chornomorets have been showing a decent game of late. This team boast good organization and morale; it concerns almost all the matches that I have seen. The last games have seen the opponents earn important victories, so we are going into this match focused.

- Shakhtar won 5-1 in Odessa...

- There is no connection between that game and the one which will be held the day after tomorrow. Chornomorets are now in a different state, especially since they started the second half of the championship with two victories. They have been showing a good performance. They have nothing to lose in this game - only win. We can lose - in terms of image and all the other things.

- Will you continue to experiment with the squad, as it was in the match in Poltava?

- These are not experiments. I spoke at a press conference in Dortmund on the need of freshening up the team and after four days I started doing that. Sobol began playing, Grechishkin made his debut, Kanibolotskiy, Kryvtsov played - young players who still have something to prove. That's what I was talking about. They need to grow in terms of their skills, obviously, being close to the experienced and skilful players. It implies that they need a match experience that will help when the time comes, when we need someone of them. Thus, they will blend into the team without any difficulties. My own personal interest and that of the team is to accelerate the development of these young performers. I am pleased with their attitude. Newcomers have played many friendly matches, but they are not comparable to the official ones. At the training camps, we have played 18 matches. All the players have participated in at least 10 games. But again, these meetings are not comparable to the official fixtures. They have different intensity and different stress on each of the players.

- Still, do you see yourself at Shakhtar in the next season?

- Today I am talking only about the preparation for the Chornomorets game. I don’t want to talk about the next season. Arrivederchi!

FC Shakhtar
Press Office