Column by Sergei Tishchenko. Why Shaparenko needs to remember his “ten” skills

Nikolai Shaparenko’s home position is attacking midfielder. It was in this role that he moved to the capital club in the summer of 2015 from Mariupol. In this status, he was unable to gain a foothold in the first team. Former team coaches Alexander Khatskevich and Alexey Mikhailichenko did not particularly see the talented midfielder in their teams.

Everything changed in the summer of 2020 after Mircea Lucescu joined the team. The experienced Romanian coach transferred Shaparenko to the supporting zone from the position of an attacking midfielder. One player in the supporting zone worked more on destruction, while the other was creative. Shaparenko works well with the ball, has a good pass, vision of the field, and understanding of the game. It was his responsibility to start attacks, get out of defense, control the ball, and deal with the opponent’s pressure. In his new position, Nikolai’s game shone with new colors. He not only became one of the leaders of Dynamo, but also the main player of the national team.

Now Alexander Shovkovsky has slightly changed the structure of the game. The team started playing with one defensive player and two players above. Something similar already happened during the time of Rebrov-Raul with an inverted triangular in the middle of the field. One player in the support zone and two above. All functions of starting an attack and combating pressure were transferred to Vladimir Brazhko. There are two players playing higher up who are more focused on attacking and should be creative.

Shovkovsky tried various options. Vitaly Buyalsky and Shaparenko were out of the game for some time. Therefore, the Shepelev-Tsarenko pair played in Krivoy Rog, and Shepelev-Buyalsky played against Rukh. Buyalsky-Andrievsky was supposed to play in Uzhgorod. The most prestigious pair of central midfielders Buyalsky-Shaparenko came out against Metalist-1925.

It is clear that Nikolai is not in very good playing shape right now. He actually missed last season. He’s just post-injury. You need to gain general condition. This is what he will do during the winter training camp. In addition, you will need to remember the skills to play in the “ten” position.

Sergey TISHCHENKO

Dynamo.kiev.ua

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