Recap
Even the players themselves didn’t believed that they left Prague with a mere 2-0 defeat. If one were to look at the scoreboard, you would have guessed that Zorya held strong for a long time, conceding 2 goals in the 81st and 94th minutes. But the truth is that they suffered unbearably, especially in the first half, even though they got a clean sheet, with big credit to the goalkeeper Turbayevskyi who helped to avoid a crash. The word “passive” is too little for their image, which was not even that of organized mass defense, since Slavia entered their area comfortably and at least 3 times saved the goal by a „miracle“. The same picture was in the second half, but finnaly score two goals in the last 15 minutes. On Sunday in the league with only 4 changes, they didn’t manage to beat even the weak Minaj, and thus negative result brought the resignation of coach Lalatovic. Before resigning, Lalatovic pointed to a weak roster that is weakened by injuries, while citing a major lack of speed in the midfield, for which he had called for reinforcements. Main striker Nazariy Rusyn (2/1, and 30/13 last season) was sold to Sunderland, while first goalkeeper Matsapura, defenders Danchenko and Butko are injured.
Zorya is faltering, the resignation of its coach may have come as a natural consequence of the negative results, but it will not solve the problems. Their roster is small and modest, and Slavia will qualify rather easily with another clear victory. This match will be played at Arena Lublin in Poland.