New Season, New League, Same Old Story




At the weekend the all new Ukrainian Premier League kicked off and I went to see Dynamo take on Illychivets, and despite shouty bloke on the tannoy getting all excited about it and the game kicking off with the national anthem being played (Dynamo actually started with 6 Ukrainians on the pitch) it was really hard to notice the difference. The crowd was low, celebrity loser Paramon was annoying the police dogs and the majority of the fans were more interested in semechki than football. In fact the only real difference was that the dugouts had been kitted out with comfy chairs like the ones Real Madrid have.


As for the football, that was also as predicted. Mikhailyk put Dynamo ahead in the second minute and then Dynamo continued with a bombardment of the Illychivets goal without actually looking like reall putting the boot in. Bangoura was back in action and he had a lot of chances, but shots that would have been flying in in the first half of last season seemed to be attracted to the goalkeepers gloves on Saturday. Aliev was just infuriating in that he was again shooting from anywhere, even if there was a forward in the box in a better position.


Dynamo didn't extend their lead until Ghioane came on and put in a lovely cross for Milevskiy to extend the lead to 2-0. I thought Ghioane had been one of the better players last season, so I was shocked when he didn't start, especially as when he came on it paid off almost straight away. However, a couple of minutes later he did one Ronaldoesque step over too many and lost posession.


All in all, this was a fairly typical display by Dynamo and although illychivets didn't have many chances I think their defence will be solid enough for them to stay up this season, although I doubt they will finish in the top half. Dynamo still need to convince more if they are serious about winning the league this year.
Notes on photos:
1. Dynamo come out to the National Anthem
2. The bombardment commences
3. Dynamo put the ball in the goal, but it is disallowed for a foul in the box

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