Patrick van Leeuwen: The main positive today is that we saw a team that is ready to fight

Head coach of Kryvyi Rih Kryvbas Patrick van Leeuwen summed up the results of the away match of the 12th round of the UPL against Lviv Karpaty - 0:1.

- Today the match did not develop according to the scenario of our team at all, especially after Kemkin's expulsion. How would you assess this situation and the actions of the players in the minority?

- First of all, we need to say about the first five minutes of the game. We started too nervously, without proper concentration, giving the opponent moments that should not have been allowed for nothing. Unfortunately, the referees again influenced the game, and not in our favor. I believe that in the first minutes the fouls against us were evaluated incorrectly. An elbow in the face is a direct red card.

But the referees take everything too lightly, even with a smile, saying, "it's too early to give anything," although the violation is obvious. When they see a torn T-shirt, they immediately consult among themselves, and if it is a really serious moment, they simply wave it away.

After our goalkeeper was expelled, we were forced to make a substitution: they released Volodymyr Makhankov. We tried to act more compactly in defense, but quickly switch to counterattacks, involving more players in the attack. I think we acted well before the break. In the second half we also started well, and despite the goalkeeper being sent off, we continued to play our football.

This is probably the main positive today - we saw a team that is ready to fight. Although, of course, we would have liked to see this fight from the first minute, and not after five minutes of "waking up". We created chances and, in my opinion, at the end we had one or two good opportunities to snatch at least one point.

- How would you rate Makhankov's game?

- He could have played differently when he conceded a goal, but you have to understand: it is always difficult to go out on the field without warming up. But despite this, he entered the game confidently, immediately helped the team in many episodes, so overall he played well. There was one moment in the second half that I will discuss with him separately, but the overall assessment is positive, he added stability to the team in a difficult situation.

- How would you assess the game of young Kamenskyi?

- During the week, we considered different lineup options, different combinations and ideas. We chose the one that best fit into our system, did not require significant changes or permutations, in particular, we did not have to move players from the center to the wings. Therefore, the decision to start the match with Oleksandr on the right wing was logical for us. And, I think, he coped well.

- How would you assess Karpaty's game today? Is this the result of your substitution or were they really stronger?

- I wouldn't say that Karpaty played an outstanding game. The episode with the goal, frankly speaking, was the result of a mistake by our goalkeeper. We also had our good moments, but after the sending off we had to spend much more energy compensating for the loss of a player. In the end, the opponent took advantage of their numerical advantage and won. But even in the minority, we stayed in the game and fought until the end.

Media of FC "Kryvbas" Kryvyi Rih