The tailor talked about the van Leuven methods in "Kharkiv"

Defender of Zorya Vasyl Kravets recalled his time playing for FC Kharkiv, which was known as "Metalist 1925" at the time, and shared his impressions of working under the guidance of Patrick van Leeuwen.

– A specialist who worked at Zorya, Shakhtar before joining "Metalist 1925" – and here he, so to speak, steps down a level, takes over a team in the First League. Was it unexpected for you that Patrick would take over the team?

– There were rumors. Well, some of the guys talked to him – they said he would be with us soon. We already knew, we were prepared, even though nothing had been officially announced yet.

– Prepared for what? Running?

– For his work, yes. He is a specific person. He has a big minus and a big plus: once he decides something – that's how it will be. He is inflexible in terms of...

He talked to us a lot. We all told him: "Let's change the training process a bit. We run in circles all the time. Give us some sprints to build some strength, to do something explosive." – "Okay." Two months in circles. Once we ran with small weights attached to us.

If everyone in the team listens to him, he comes, he says, and everyone does as he says – then he will have a game like Zorya's in the past, like Kryvbas last year. They play football, and we couldn't play football with them in the First League, I don't know why.

But he has good ideas, here and there, his training process is also adequate. Well, at first it was inadequate, because we were running 9-10 km. It was tough at first, but then we got used to it, it was normal.

Plus, he decided to go on a three-month training camp. We played a championship in three months, 28 games. We entered the championship as if it were the last eight games of the season – let's finish it as soon as possible.

It was mentally tough. We were already squeezed lemons. And the additional stress of not winning. It weighs on you, we can't stay in the First League for another year.

– His contract was for three years, but he was fired two matches before the end of the championship, before the playoffs. What happened, why?

– There are various rumors. All rumors are close to the fact that he didn't please the management.

– But it was the management who invited him.

– Yes. But in the end, he didn't please them, as I understand it, because they called him and simply fired him by unanimous decision and appointed Sanich (Oleksandr Chyzhov – ed.)

– Did the players feel relieved when he was fired, or by the end of the season, no one really paid attention to it anymore?

– You know, I think most people didn't care, whether he stayed or left. But when they chose him and appointed Sanich, we felt a sigh of relief. It was a change that affected us in the next four matches.