I dunno, I'm starting to be more convinced about Dynamo's chances of doing something this season. It may be the new signings, who admittidly I don't know a huge amount about, but as I pointed out before, it was needed, badly. There was some debate about who Blokhin should bring in; foreigners or Ukrainians, a debate that most teams in every country have. Blokhin has done both and I'm convinced he's going to let the young Ukrainians have a go at proving themselves, which I think is great. I don't mean players like Bezus and Selin - they are internationalists - but young guys like Bogdanov, Makarenko, Kalytvyntsev, Kravets and Sydorchuk. Of course you'd expect some of them to be in the Dynamo-2 side or be loaned out, after all there are other big money signings who wouldn't take to kindly to be sitting on the bench as opposed to a bunch of unexperienced youngsters.
So now here's my thoughts on the squad. I did this in the last entry but I'll do a little more in depth this time; starting with the goalkeeping situations and work my way down the pitch.
I'm not particularly worried about the goalkeepers; Blokhin got rid of Denys Boyko! Whey! Maksym Koval is continuing his development and is now the established number one in my book, of course the legendary Sasho cannot be ignored and still gets a regular game, and never lets the club down. I don't expect many changes this season although when Sasho finally hangs his gloves up may be sooner rather than later.
Defence is still a worry. With Taras Mykhalyk leaving, that is a major concern for me. I know it's reasonably still early doors, but trying to piece together a suitable defence is proving rather difficult. Vida has been pretty solid since his arrival in the winter and will quite rightly be first choice right back. Left back is up for grabs in my opinion. With no Taye Taywo, you're looking even at the two defenders that were out on loan last season; Betao and Goran Popov. Both are reasonably ok, have proved they are good enough to play at this level but I wonder what plans Blokhin has for them. He must have some idea as unless there's a new left back coming in, he will have to draft one of them in.
Khacheridi simply cannot be sold, under any circumstances. Lose him and there goes the spine of the whole team. The other centre half spot is again up for grabs. Vida can play centre back, which could pave the way for Danilo Silva to get back his place at full back, I don't think that's the worst move in the world but realisticly you'll be looking for a more solid, experienced back alongside Evhen.
My views on the midfielders is full documented and I don't think Oleh has listened to them. It's still quite congested and in a way it is frustrating because there's a good player in all of them somewhere. The two holding players will be Denys Garmash who I gave a LOT of stick to before last season but he has been the most improved player in the entire sqaud for me, and one other. I'd have laughed in your face if you told me he'd be one of the players in the team you could rely on but he's proved me wrong. I think the other should go to Vukojevic and I'll need to explain this one. The other player, and who I think will get that spot is Miguel Veloso. Veloso came with quite a good reputation from playing in Italy and is a regular for the Portuguese national side. I simply cannot think why. Every time he plays, he does the same things over and over. He came as a "dead ball specialist", and I think has scored one free kick, at PSG in the champions league when Dynamo were 4-0 down. His deliveries from corners and free kicks are often dreadful and makes me wish Aliyev didn't fall out with Blokhin as he is a proper free kick taker. Veloso can pass the ball well enough but isn't a tackler and doesn't have a chance at dictating the play. If Dynamo are struggling, he will not improve things. Vukojevic on the other hand is far more consistent and reliable. Not only can he score a few, he gets forward, helps back, tackles and gets onto the ball as much as possible. There's no hiding from him.
The signing of Belhanda raised a few eyebrows, not only the style in which he was bought (hijacked another move at the eleventh hour and just sort of turned up at the Zenit game and said I'm a Dynamo player), but the fact a big money signing (12m euros he cost) has came in with both winger positions obvious (Yarmolenko on the right cutting inside, Gusev the same on the opposite). I think Belhanda will take Gusev's spot and I have to say I'm looking forward to see what he can do. If anything it's a good move in terms of strengthening that area as it is quite thin in terms of options.
Towards the end of last season saw the rise of Lukman Haruna. He exploded onto the scene with his goals and excellent performances and has nailed down the "AMC" role to himself. Niko Kranjcar, who has a good start to last season then dissappeared, will have to work his way back up the pecking order in that instance, as will Roman Bezus.
Up front has seen two new strikers appear on the scene; Jermain Lens and Dieumerci Mbokani. Both comes with decent reputations from Netherlands and Belgium respectivvely. Dynamo normally play with just the one striker, Brown Ideye, so it will be interesting to see how that develops. Ideye is an established scorer in the UPL and I don't think he'll take kindly to being replaced if that indeed does happen, however both Lens and Mbokani must be tried out to see what they can bring to the table.
So here's my stab at how the 11 will look like:
-------------Koval
Danilo Silva, Vida, Khacheridi, Popov
--------Garmash Veloso
Yarmolenko-Haruna-Belhanda
------Ideye/Lens/Mbokani
There's still a defender or two needed there as pointed out but I think that's solid enough. Obviously I wouldn't have Veloso in there but it's inevitable that he will. That was the shape Dynamo played last season so that is what I based the formation on.
In terms of the league; I think Dynamo have taken notice that Metalist last season wasn't just a one hit wonder. They will invest heavily and also have the Champions League to entice players, something Dynamo don't have. Shakhtar continue their policy of signing Brazilians in Willian and Fred but are having a real battle to keep Mkhitaryan, the standout player of the UPL last season without a shaddow of a doubt.
Right I'm working in just over an hour and I need my lunch. Thanks for viewing, god spead and Вперед Динамо))
