In their last Ukrainian Premier League match of the 2024 calendar year, Polesie unexpectedly beat Shakhtar. The victory for the Zhytomyr team was brought by Bohdan Mikhailichenko’s accurate shot in stoppage time for the second half – 1:0. What is also important: the “wolves” won their second match against the “miners” in the current championship, simultaneously proving that the victory in the second round, also with a score of 1:0 in the match that took place on August 11, was not accidental.
On December 15, Polesie’s win, although unexpected, certainly did not look undeserved, no matter how the Pitmen’s head coach Marino Pusic tried to prove the opposite. In words, the Bosnian could say anything, however, according to the proverb, after a fight one does not wave one’s fists. And in the match with the still reigning champion, Polesie looked very confident, especially in the first half, when the pressure from the team from Zhytomyr on the opponent was such that Shakhtar’s players were forced to act extremely unpretentiously and resort to banal clearances, as if They are not playing a routine UPL match, but at least they are facing off against some giant of European football in a Champions League match.
A brave, aggressive and well-coordinated game from Polissya, whose players for the most part also demonstrated incredible dedication on the field, brought Imad Ashur’s charges three points, as well as the status of a very important rival for Shakhtar, at least in the near future. But in general, even during the match, a completely reasonable question arose: why didn’t the Zhytomyr “wolves” demonstrate such football in their previous eight matches? Why didn’t the Polesye football players with the same desire and dedication go against, for example, Left Bank (0:0), Kolos (1:1) or Rukh (0:1)?
The figure of eight matches was chosen by the author for a reason. This is exactly how many games before the match against Shakhtar Ashur’s team could not win in the UPL. In the period of the calendar from October 19 to December 9, “Polesie” scored only 4 points, which they were able to get by four draws, and the “wolves” lost four more matches in this time period…
Fans who closely follow the ups and downs of events in the UPL were probably able to give themselves the answer to this question during the match with Shakhtar, which ended for the Zhytomyr team with a triumphant strike from Mikhailichenko. It all looked like the Polesye players were overly motivated, and here, obviously, it was not just about some fiery speeches by Imad Ashur before the match, but about the potential amount of prize money that the president and owner of the club could pay for the victory over Shakhtar Gennady Butkevich.
Even after the victory in the second round over the Pitmen, it became known that Butkevich generously thanked his players for the work done. Then the president of Polesye paid increased bonuses to the players of the first team. Moreover, not just increased, but practically cosmic, since their usual size was multiplied by five. The current generation of Ukrainian football players is not as spoiled by this kind of payments as those who saw the “golden years” of oligarchic battles in the UPL, when not only Shakhtar and Dynamo, but also at least Dnepr and Metalist fought for the highest award “, to which, to one degree or another, either “Karpaty”, or Donetsk “Metallurg”, or “Tavria”, then “Chernomorets”, then someone else.
After the December victory over Shakhtar, the owner of Polesie did not change the previous tradition, and again guaranteed his players substantial bonuses, and although their size remains unknown, there are rumors about an increase factor of 7-8 times. What can I say – the “wolves” deserved it, but for Butkevich himself it is important to realize that strategically such actions and victories can turn out to be Pyrrhic for the club…
The fact is that at one time Rinat Akhmetov started with something similar at Shakhtar. The owner of the Pitmen, who at that time were still at the beginning of their path to the top and the status of the hegemon of the UPL, tried to prepare his team in a special way for important matches of the championship, which at that time were the fights against Dynamo. Over the long haul, the Orange-and-Blacks could not compete with the White-Blues for several championships in a row, but beating them in a head-to-head battle was extremely important for the image of the Donetsk club and the pride of the ambitious president of the Pitmen.
However, globally, such tactics did not bring anything significant to Shakhtar. Yes, someone can say that the Donetsk team was able to get rid of the idea that it was not capable of winning against Dynamo, to change its mentality to some extent, but still, in order to win the championship, the Pitmen needed structural changes in the club and first team. It took the “right” head coach, the “right” foreign players, the “right” Ukrainian football players…
The way Polissya’s players and coaching staff jumped and danced cheerfully and fervently after the recent victory over the Pitmen, throwing out their emotions, testifies to only one thing: this team under the leadership of Imad Ashur is mentally still very far from real competition with Dynamo ” and “Shakhtar” for the championship. They celebrated these, in fact, routine three points in the championship as if they had already become the strongest team in the league. But let’s be honest, Gennady Butkevich came to the UPL and invested considerable money in the team by today’s standards not for the sake of fourth or fifth place in the standings, two matches in the Conference League qualifying and relegation from there from the Slovenians, as well as two victories in the championship over Shakhtar. The owner of the “wolves” is interested in the maximum peak in domestic club football – the “gold” medals of the UPL.
And in order to achieve maximum goals, the Polesie players must go out with maximum dedication and concentration not only to matches against Shakhtar, where they are promised exorbitant prize money, but also to absolutely every other match of the national championship. It has long been known that in football “golden” medals are won not in a couple of confrontations with fundamental rivals or favorites, but in games with the “main peloton” and outsiders. It is important not to lose points there in order to end up on top. And at Shakhtar they know and understand this very well, because it’s not for nothing that Mircea Lucescu, while still the Pitmen’s coach, tried to flaunt that Dynamo, they say, are not real champions, when in the 2015/16 season the Kiev team lost both matches to the “miners” with a score of 0:3, but these were the only defeats of the capital team in that championship, and at the finish the “white-blues” brought the eternal opponent a seven-point championship handicap. And even then everyone understood perfectly well: the Romanian mentor can say anything, but the fact remains that Dynamo won the championship.
Something similar is happening in the case of Polesie. The team beat Shakhtar twice, but left for the winter break only in fifth place in the standings, 16 points behind the leading Dynamo! Agree, this is a weak reason for fun and dancing, if we take into account the implementation of the club’s ambitious plans, and not the banal receipt of a luxurious bonus from the owner.
However, it is possible to understand the Polesie players. They play for money, and what is important to them is what is happening here and now. After all, tomorrow some of them may find themselves in other teams or in free agent status, so they will not look far beyond the horizon. This requires management and a coaching staff, who are obliged to prevent situations where, for eight rounds in a row, a team counting on at least a medal zone does not know the joy of winning the championship…
But let’s not be too harsh on Polesie. This club is just hitting its first bumps, making mistakes from which it will probably be able to learn something new, and simply understands what it’s like to fight on equal terms with the giants of the league. However, even now it would be nice for Gennady Butkevich and his advisers to think about how not to spoil their players, who at some point may decide that it is financially more profitable for them to strain themselves once every two months and beat Shakhtar rather than consistently win against other competitors in the Premier League, working for one salary and, at best, “regular”, not “holiday” bonuses. In the end, strategically, the victory over the Pitmen gave the Wolves only three points, and no more, and in eight rounds before that, the Polesye players lost at least 20 scoring points. Wow, that’s such a difference, right?..
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