DZMITRY LIANTSEVICH: INTERVIEW ON THE RESULTS OF THE SEASON

At the end of the season of our youth team, we decided to talk with its head coach - Dzmitry Liantsevich. Dzmitry Valdamaravich headed the team at the beginning of 2022 and, at the end of the championship, led our guys to bronze medals.

Dzmitry Valdamaravich, first of all, we would like to ask you, how was your first season as the head coach of Dinamo-Minsk reserve team in general?

- To be honest, I'm quite happy with this year. I am glad that I returned to the club and managed to work with such guys. The daily commitment to work and training, as well as dedication on the football field, has allowed many of them to take a good step forward.

This year you have a rather young team line-up, there are even a few players born in 2006. Is it your decision to involve as many young players as possible or did you just manage to find very gifted guys in the youth teams?

- We do have some very talented players in the Academy teams. We always tell that age would never be a reason: whoever shows results will play.

There are guys in the reserve team who have spent several years in this team and understand what is required. Is there any problem with the adaptation of those players who played in junior teams?

- Yes, there is such an issue. I have been working in youth football for about 6 years now, and I can say for sure that the level of reserves championship is more serious than the level of the junior championship unfortunately. There is even a feeling that the level of the championship for the U-18 and U-17 teams has recently begun to fall, so it often takes time to rebuild.

If it's not a secret, how do you like Dinamo youth in terms of football level?

- When I came to the team, I sometimes heard not the most flattering reviews, that teams 2004 and 2005 were not very strong. But in reality, now the players of these ages have easily joined the reserve team and show rather well. They did an excellent job, and I must say thanks to Henadzi Liasun, Andrei  Sinichyn, and Uladzimir Dziatlau, who worked with these guys.

Third place in the tournament - is it a fair result for your team this season?

- When the pre-season began, many did not believe that the team would even get to the medals. But we even had a chance to rise even higher, but objectively, it was very difficult. Energetik has a rather experienced squad this season, so as BATE, who have been playing with the same squad for 3-4 years. Therefore, bronze medals were probably  the maximum this season.

In general, how can you assess the level of the reserve championship this year?

- It's so hard to judge, last season I didn't work with reserves teams. But it seems to me that the level of resistance has grown. This is probably due to the fact that since this year the matches of the reserves are held after the match of the main squads, so the main team players often went out to play for the reserves, in almost all clubs.

By the way, this year we rarely saw the players of the main squad in the matches of the reserve team. Was it for the season or did you want to play with your own squad?

- To be honest, I myself have never asked the players from the first team. I even really felt more comfortable when only those guys who trained in a weekly cycle took part in the match. Then you know what to expect from the game. I was not against the main team players in the reserve team and, in principle, we usually discussed this with Artsiom Viktaravich, but it’s still more pleasant when those who train all week get game practice later.

It's no secret that the main task of the reserve team is to prepare players for the main squad. This year, taking into account the renewed reserve team squad, there were very few new young players in the main team, but, if we consider the future, what chance do the current players have to get into the main Dinamo-Minsk team?

- The most important thing is that there are enough guys in Dinamo-Minsk reserve team who really want to play football. Often in our Belarusian football I see such a problem that young guys have a head full of things that are not about football. In our students, I see a desire to realize themselves in the game and connect their lives with it. They feel that they have a chance to get into the main team and move on. We objectively have promising players.

Compared to previous generations, how difficult is it to work with the youth of today?

- Well, if you compare it with mine generation, then it's certainly completely different. At that time, they didn’t explain much to us, neither in tactical, nor in game terms, we had to analyze everything ourselves. There are different players now, but in terms of human qualities, those players who were in our team this year are generally amazing guys. It was just a pleasure to work with them. In fact, every day I woke up and could hardly wait for the training, because there were always the most positive emotions.

Are your relations with your wards strict or rather friendly?

- I think, friendly. They understand that I can joke with them and talk calmly, but in either way there will be a corresponding demand (smiles). It can be seen that in the Academy the guys received proper education, not only in terms of game, but also personal qualities.

Can you tell us which match this season you remember the most?

- Probably this is a guest match against BATE. It was a big contrast, if we compare our match with them in the first half of the season, when we actually spent the entire match on the defense. They, as I said, already had a well-played team, and we had a new team and it was not easy. The second match was much better, we had created, put pressure, even had the periodical advantage. The match ended without goals, but the game was realy great.

And the second match is the first meeting with Energetik-BDU. One of our best matches in terms of organization and individual game. In general, in terms of the season, the guys are great in the sense that they managed to almost evenly spend the entire season, which rarely happens even with adult teams. I can't say that some matches were failures. Yes, some were worse, some were better, but we didn’t have one excellent match and the next one a disaster.

The team played really well in the first match against the "students", but, unfortunately, lost in the second one. Was it because of fatigue or the understanding that there was not much to lose, because Dinamo in any case took third place?

- The lack of any motivation certainly played a role. Surely, if there was a chance to rise to second place, the match would have gone completely differently. Plus injuries, in Round 30, Dima Nizhnik did not play, for example, one of the main players in the team. Before the first match with Energetik, by the way, due to an injury, Dima did not train at all, but on the matchday he came up and said: "I will play". And in that match he delivered a free kick when the team scored the first goal, and then gave an assist.

On November 26 you will have a match with the youth team of Spartak. How did the opportunity to hold such a match come about?

- After the last round, as I understand it, representatives of Spartak contacted the management of our club and Andrei Lauriy offered us to play. I think it was no chance to refuse, this is a great match for the guys and a good opponent. Many Spartak players born in 2004 play in the Russian U-18 team, this is also a great indicator. Let's test ourselves on such a level.

By the way, quite recently the national teams of Belarus U-19 and U-18 played with the national team of Russia U-18 and this time five Dinamo players went to the national team. How can you evaluate them?

- There is progress, because in the last squad of U-18 team, as far as I know, there was not a single representative of Dinamo-Minsk. Now there are five, and they looked very good, Uladzislau Krolik was even recognized as the best player of the match.

This year, the Dinamo reserve has bronze medals. Do you plan to return gold next year?

- I would like to, but to be honest, we started talking about the result in the standings only 3-4 rounds before the end of the season. We didn’t wind it up for the team, although I perfectly understand that at this age they should already be able to play for the result. We'll see, we're all footballers and ambitious people, we'll see how things turn out. But for me, I repeat, the priority will be for these guys to be able to play in the first team after all.