U Kraine Do it: A Build the Nation Save

On the field

So we are now in the winter break after an early finish due to Qatar 2022 and we are roughly at the half way mark in the league and we are still undefeated, making it now 44 games in the league without loss. An incredible feat and one that gives us that previously unlikely hope of being Ukrainian Champions


Now don't get me wrong, it is going to be incredibly hard with Dynamo Kyiv just behind us with a game in hand and so technically its not in our control. However, it feels like a top 4 finish is very likely and therefore another European campaign

Talking of Europe, we had a bit of a mare in the back half of the group. First up we went away to APOEL and a win here would have guaranteed us a 3rd place finish and also put us in a very strong position to grab 2nd. However, we lost 2-0, had a man sent off and were generally off the pace. It was our 3rd red card in 4 games and it was only at this point, i realised our tactic had get stuck in set to on. Which is weird considering i dont remember touching the tactic once since the save has started and we had no red cards last year. Either way, i quickly removed it as suspensions were killing us and that red card certainly lost us this match.

We then went away to Monaco and we were simply outclassed as we lost 2-0 for the second successive game and it meant we were in 3rd going into the final group game with the final game now going to decide whether we were going to play Europa league, Europa Conference or leave Europe altogether and we were at home to Atletico Madrid.

Not the team i would have liked to play but at home this team wins, In fact over the last season and a half we have played 30 games at home, won 29 and drawn just one and we can now chalk up a win over Atletico as we beat them 2-1 as we came out of the gates hot and just about held on.


It wasn't enough to get us into the Europa League but we will be playing Europa Conference after Christmas. Find out our draw below.

Finally, we had the Kubok Ukrainy Cup and as holders we entered in the 2nd round. We beat Oleksandria 2-0 in that round but just couldn't get the goal to beat Chornomorets in the Quarter final and three missed penalties saw us go out in the Quarter finals


Off the field

We definitely had our trickiest period of games as we actually lost a few but in the league we are still going strong. Now during this period that pesky Dynamo Kyiv decided to recall both Voloshyn and Brazhko from their loans due to lack of game time / wanting to weaken us and it means we are going to need to go into the January market to look for another central midfielder and also a right winger to keep our push going

Ukraine in Europe

Three Ukrainian sides in Europe after Christmas is a good 2nd season.

Shakhtar – A 2nd place finish in their group means Shakhtar go into the 1st Knockout round and will play away to Lyon in a tough tie

Dynamo Kiev – Dynamo sealed a 3rd placed finish in the Champions League and so dropped into the Europa League where they are facing Danish side FC Midtjylland at home

Metallist - Then you have ourselves as we drop into the Europa Conference side where we will play Vojvodina of Serbia at home.

Transfers

So the winter window gave us another opportunity to add to the squad and we signed two new players to help bolster our team for the rest of the season. With Brazhko's loan being cancelled by Dynamo Kyiv we needed a central midfielder and so i went to Dynamo Kyiv and signed transfer listed Olexandr Andrievskyi for £500k. He is a decent playmaker and also counts as home grown at the club as he originally came through Metalist as a youngster making him the only home grown at club player in our whole squad.

Our second signing was another goalkeeper as first choice Yurchuk got injured in the winter break and so we couldn't go a few months relying on my regen keeper so we signed Vladyslav Kucheruk for the rest of the season on a free transfer to step in and be the No.1 whilst Yurchuk recovers.

In terms of outgoings, we released a couple of players in the 2 side that were taking up some wages but other than there was nothing significant to really cover.

On the field

So our first match back from the winter break was a home tie against FK Oleksandriya and there wasn't any ring rust as we smashed them 5-1 despite having to play regen Musaev in goal whilst we waited for the Kucheruk transfer to go through. The next game was a crucial one as we entertained Shakhtar and we couldn't afford to drop points if we wanted to be able to chase down a strong Dynamo Kyiv side and within the first 45 minutes we had the game won as we blew Shakhtar away with three goals from Peixoto, Gugganig and Riascos to win 3-1. A massive win and one that meant we took 4 points off them this season in the league. In fact in 4 matches against shakhtar we have a record of W2, D1 and L1. A great early feat.

Next up was an "away" match against Metalist 1925 Kharkiv who were struggling near the foot of the table. Despite that, the Kharkiv derby has been a tough one for us so far but Peixoto got an early goal in the 9th minute to seal a vital 1-0 victory. The Europa Conference then took our attentions away from a tight league title run in but Vojvodina of Serbia were no matches for us as we ran away 4-0 winners to seal a 2nd round tie away to Olympiakos.

We had a small scare against Lviv away from home in the league going behind but we powered into life scoring three more to seal another victory. We then ended the month away to Vorskla who were doing well in 4th and giving Shakhtar a run for the money in the fight for league position. The first half was a tight affair with no highlights and then the game exploded into life in the final 10 minutes where there were 4 goals. One small problem is there was 2 apiece as we came away with a 2-2 draw. That draw now means Dynamo Kyiv have a 3 point lead over us with 12 games to go

On the field

A quieter month with just 4 games but a great chance for us to concentrate and get the most out of each match to give us the best shot of Europa Conference progression and chasing down Dynamo Kyiv. It all kicked off with a trip to Greece and Olympiakos for a place in the quarter finals. Away from home in Europe so far it was a case of played 4, lost 4 and so my hopes were not high.

However, we put in our best performance so far, we were tight at the back but still creating chances and in the end Brayan Riascos broke the deadlock in the 58th minute and secured us a massive victory in this one legged tie. A 1-0 win and just like that we are in the quarter finals. From here on out it is back to two legged affairs and we have Marseille standing in our way. Could European glory be on the cards?

However, our joy was shortlived as we must have had a hangover going into into the game against Zorya as we lost our first league game in this save as we lost 2-1. Our 48 game undefeated league streak is over and Dynamo Kyiv capitalised by winning meaning our unlikely hopes of a league title are getting slimmer as we sit 6 points behind them despite only dropping 11 points all season!

We rebounded well though as we then beat Kolos 1-0 before smashing Veres 7-0 with Matheus Peixoto bagging 5 in that game. It leaves the table like this


Youth Intake

Our second youth intake and it seems like the improvement we implemented earlier in the save have already paid off as we had an incredible youth intake. The preview a few months back said we would have a good intake but they always seem to be off but this time it was truly good. By my reckoning we have 7 prospects who could actually possibly make it in one way or the other. So lets meet them

Artem Savchenko - A creative attacking midfielder with great flair (19), First touch (16) and Passing (14). Physically he needs work and at 5"3 he is incredibly short but he looks to be a player that could challenge for a first team spot with the right development.

Inal Magomadov - A central midfielder with a short stature but again some good technical stats to work with of first touch (13), Passing (14) along with solid Bravery and decision making. Some rounding out needed for sure but another who could become a squad player.

Denis Akhmetov - A second attacking midfielder that doesn't quite have the showy stats of Savchenko but has a good smattering of double figures whilst also being a slightly more respectable 5"7 in height.

Denis Pavlov - A defensive midfielder this time and compared to the three above he doesnt quite have the current ability but there is supposingly a lot of potential there. One that will need to improve a lot over the next few years

Ruslan Pukhov - A Centre back sitting at 6"0 means he is a giant in this very short intake. The mentals are what stand out here.Bravery (18) and Determination (16) are two very good stats. 14 for jumping reach is also good to see. A bit of work on the key defensive stats and we might just have a back up centre half

Nazar Kovalchuk Another central midfielder whose physical ability is the key stand out for him. Another determined personality with high determination (16) and good tackling (14) meaning we might have a passable ball winner here

Volodmyr Kudymov - We finish off with a goalkeeper who at 6"4 has the size and he certainly has the technical skills. His major weakness is his poor passing and first touch which might just hold him back but this guy is better than last year's regen and is good enough already to be our 3rd choice keeper. Definitely one to keep an eye out for

On the field


The league is going to the wire as we go into May with 4 games to play and a 5 point gap off the top. Our game in hand should mean we close that to two points and with Dynamo and Shakhtar playing on the penultimate game of the season, we could steal an unlikely league title.

All of this has been possible after we beat Dynamo Kyiv in the opening game of April as Brayan Riascos bagged a hat-trick to seal a 3-1 win. That loss for Dynamo hit them hard as they then lost their next game but unfortunately we couldn't completely take advantage as we dropped some rare points at home ourselves as we drew 2-2 with Kryvbas.

From then we won our last two league games of the Month 2-0 as we secure European football and a top 3 finish guaranteed. If Shakhtar win the Ukrainian cup as expected then I am pretty certain it will be the Europa League at worst this season. However, the Champions League is in our hands which is a good place to be.

However, our European Journey continues as we played Marseille in the Quarter finals of the Europa Conference. At home we secured a 2-1 victory with goals from Mudryk and Gugganig to give us a slim 1 goal advantage as we went to France. We then had a magical night in France as Sidy Sarr rose like a salmon to score another goal from a corner to seal a 1-1 win and send us to the Semi Finals.

Our Semi final opponents are Sassuolo and the first leg in Ukraine couldn't have gone any better as we won 2-0 thanks to Sarr and Peixoto meaning we have one very big foot in the final. Could we also add a European Trophy so early in the save?


Off the field

Off the field we have been busy as we increased the number of scouts allowed which we are using to scour South America for young talent. Based off of Zealand's latest scouting video we are going around each nation with a Spanish speaker to try and find the next hot talent for this team.

We will also keep looking to improve the player's that come through the youth teams as we increased both our Junior Coaching and our Youth Recruitment as we look to hoover up the best local talent saving ourselves the hassle of potentially high transfer fees.

Fees that at least we might be able to afford as our initial budgets have been released for next season.


£21m in transfer fees is very healthy indeed and the wage budget has increased by another £25k per week which should cover at least two very solid players for us. It would still leave us with a considerably smaller budget then both Dynamo and Shakhtar but the gap is closing for sure