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Ecuador-Poland 2:2. Same Old Misery.
Comments(33)
One draw doesn’t equal another draw. The 2-2 against the USA was a good sign as we managed to earn a point against a serious opponent and played well tactically. The 2-2 against Ecuador is nothing to cheer about as we competed against a very average team and were tactically immature. Smuda must teach the team how to play two good games in a row and how to play without the top players.
Ecuador-Poland 2:2 (Benitez 32′, 78′ – Smolarek 60′, Obraniak 70′)
Poland: Przemysław Tytoń – Łukasz Piszczek (63’ Artur Jędrzejczyk), Kamil Glik, Michał Żewłakow, Łukasz Mierzejewski – Adrian Mierzejewski (82’ Radosław Majewski), Rafał Murawski, Hubert Wołąkiewicz, Ludovic Obraniak – Euzebiusz Smolarek (68’ Kamil Grosicki), Robert Lewandowski (88’ Andrzej Niedzielan)
It’s a shame that we didn’t manage to build on a good performance against the Americans. First of all, it seemed like the players didn’t have as much energy as in the Chicago game. It could have been caused by the atmosphere (great Polish fans, but much less people than in Chicago) or maybe the jet lag finally had its effect on the team. On the other hand, even when we play at home or in Europe, we very often fail to put in two good performances one after another. It’s always either the first or the second game that’s better. The lack of form stability is becoming very worrying quality of our team, especially when you take into consideration the fact that we’ll have to play three game in short time during the Euros. Another problem was our positioning on the field. The best word to describe our tactical display is chaos. This time around the spaces between formations were too big, the players in possession didn’t have as many passing options as against the Americans. Moreover, our pressing didn’t work as well as it was poorly organized; one or two players pushed up, whereas other two stayed in position at the same time. We still have huge defensive problems, the defenders are unsure about which of them should cover the opposition strikers at particular moments. They don’t form a line as there’s always someone breaking it, either Glik who very often mistimes his interventions, or Piszczek who fails to return after an offensive run. You could see on numerous occasions when irritated Żewłakow was literally shouting at his fellow defenders who forgot to cover their space or didn’t provide a passing option. One other problem in this game was that we missed one player in the middle who could pass the ball fast and accurately at the same time. Hubert Wołąkiewicz has good enough ball skills and vision for the Ekstraklasa, but international football requires faster and more accurate play. I was also disappointed with Adrian Mierzejewski, who didn’t even have one successful dribble in this game and wasn’t able to create a numerical advantage for us. As a result, Rafał Murawski was the only player in the team that tried to somehow organize our game in the middle (Ludo Obraniak stayed more on the wing this time).
Can we take any positives from this game? I’m happy with two players: Ebi Smolarek and Kamil Grosicki. Ebi didn’t play great, he often mistimed his passes and lost possession under pressure. However, what he has and other players in the team lack is an incredible goal instinct. His goal was a typical Smolarek goal as somehow the ball found him in the six yard box after a deflection off an Ecuadorian defender’s head. I don’t think Ebi is prepared to start important games for us, he spoils too many moves, which disturbs the flow of our game. Nevertheless, he seems a perfect fit to become an impact sub for this team, just let him wonder somewhere near the penalty area. The same can be said about Kamil Grosicki, who tried to do go forward and create something positive everytime he had the ball. Grosik is a confident player with no fear in his eyes, a one that can enter the field and make an impact from the first minute, with his first touch. It is after Grosicki’s run that we scored our second goal in the game. We need both Ebi and Grosik to give Smuda valuable options on the substitute’s bench.
Player ratings (1-10):
Przemysław Tytoń 6: one great save from a close range header, he isn’t to blame for the goals he let in. I’m still waiting for those signs of a supposed superb quality.
Łukasz Mierzejewski 3: shaky in defense, not to be seen in the offense. Had huge problems with Ecuadorian wingers.
Kamil Glik 4: very ambitious, good in the air, but he’s very often late with his interventions. Adds unnecessary chaos to the team.
Michał Żewłakow 5: partly responsible for the general lack of defensive organization. Still, he was the safest and the most reliable of our defenders.
Łukasz Piszczek 4: is not the same player without Kuba Błaszczykowski, he had nobody to exchange one two passes with. Has to work on defensive positioning.
Hubert Wołąkiewicz 4: moved a lot, fought hard, but he simply doesn’t possess enough quality to start games in midfield. Could’ve scored, hit the bar.
Rafał Murawski 5:tried to keep possession for us for as long as it was possible. Unnecessary scared of opening, diagonal passes.
Adrian Mierzejewski 4: poor distribution of the ball and no successful dribbles. Doesn’t live up to be a difference maker.
Ludovic Obraniak 6: not as impressive as against the USA, but we scored the first goal after his free kick and the second after his great shot. Invaluable to the team.
Robert Lewandowski 5: more is needed from Lewy, especially in the penalty box. Some good dribbles and one good shot is not enough.
Ebi Smolarek 6: didn’t add much quality to our game, but scored when we needed it the most. Welcome back Ebi.
Kamil Grosicki 6: fast, good enough to take players on, not afraid to dribble. Started the move for our second goal.
Artur Jędrzejczyk 4: didn’t show enough skill to be considered a serious national team candidate.
Radosław Majewski 4: misplaced pass in the beginning, one or two fouls. Didn’t calm down the game in the middle of the field.
Andrzej Niedzielan: the ball was only flying above his head at this stage of the game.
Conclusions:
- we need a partner for Żewłakow in the centre of the defense fast. It should be neither Pietrasiak, nor Glik. Wojtkowiak played well against Ukraine and Australia, but Smuda must have his eyes on Perquis and Arboleda.
- it’s time to end the experiment of putting Łukasz Mierzejewski at left back, it’s painful both for him and the fans. On the other hand, with Boenisch injured Smuda would have to return to Dudka.
- Łukasz Piszczek is not the same offensive machine when he plays without Kuba Błaszczykowski. There is nobody to use his runs then.
- why does Smuda play defenders out of position in midfield? It was Pietrasiak against Australia and now Wołąkiewicz against Ecuador. It also raises question about the call up for Bartosz Salamon, who should be Matuszczyk’s natural backup during this tour. It turned out that it was only an all inclusive trip for the Foggia midfielder.
- Robert Lewandowski isn’t looking good enough for a starter at the moment. Irek Jeleń, Kuba Błaszczykowski and Ludo Obraniak should form the offensive line against Ivory Coast.
- Ebi Smolarek has a place on this team, we have nobody else with such an eye for goals. Kamil Grosicki also deserves further call ups.
- in the Ekstraklasa, Adrian Mierzejewski is not afraid to take players on and is able to create an numerical advantage for his team. Shame that he tends to disappear when playing for Poland.
A promising display against the USA and a return to the same old mistakes against Ecuador: that’s how I’d describe the North American tournee. At the moment, we don’t have a team able to play two good games in a row. We also don’t have a team able to repeat the same level of performance without its key players. There is potential in Smuda’s players, but it becomes visible far too rarely. Apart from the defensive display, tactical stability and awareness is something that Smuda needs to work on the hardest.
PS: Michał Żewłakow became an all time leader in terms of caps for the national team. Congratulations.
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My guess is that the team did a lot of partying in Chicago. At one point in the second half, the left back got the ball from the keep, one Ecuadorian came to pressure, since no one bothered to come back to make available an open pass, a second Ecuadorian came to pressure, no one still came to help, and all the left back could do was kick it out of bounds, and yell at the other guys standing around watching. But hey, Chicago’s a good time, lots of drinks. There is still a lot of time to Poland 2012, and what’s the point of going to the states if you can’t do a little late night sightseeing… Do you think the other boys in the Eklasa want to hear about how the team played or how the proud loyal fans came out in the tens of thousands to support, or is a story about doing shots in one of Al’s old hangouts the real highlight of the trip? Wrong attitude – written all over some of those guys!
@ Timmy
I’m sure Poland will schedule more games before 2012. That might be the tentative schedule, but I would imagine they would want to take advantage of all possible opportunities to build a competitive squad. Just my opinion though, don’t know any rumors…
Posted from 
United States
I was very happy to see NT live for my first time ever with my son. We have liked the game, if we had a better defence we hadn’t any problems to crash Ecuador. Smolarek really work hard, I saw him frequently returning in defence to help our defence, I can’t believe that he is an average EK player not enough good for France or German league . And finally what a goal from Obraniak, woaw! And he assists all the other goals from these 2 games.From these 2 games I will remember the goal of Kuba and the Goal of Obraniak.
Anybody hear of Patryk Kubicki? 17 year old polish player that was born in Birmingham, England plays for Dolcan Zabki in 1 liga. He already has two goals for them and his market value is in the top 20 of strikers aged 18 and under on transfer market.
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/patryk-kubicki/leistungsdaten/spieler_158494.html
Interesting prospect. Knowing pzpn, they’ve prob havent heard of him.
Posted from 
Canada
Kuba scored in the 20th minute against FC Koeln. It’s 1-0 Dortmund at half-time right now….
Well this is indeed promising for my situation: http://polishsoca.com/newswire/poles-abroad/2443-roger-a-starter-at-aek-under-new-coach
Posted from United States
If the rumours are true then Arsene Wenger needs a slap to the back of the head. I don’t want to see Boruc go to Arsenal and have to hear that we have another goalkeeper who is not ready to be number one at a big club. There is no doubt that Boruc would kick ass in the EPL but I don’t trust anything that Wenger, that human trafficker, says.
Does anyone know how far Alan Stulin is away from being seriously considered for the senior team? He has been a regular feature in the youth teams. I wonder if a first senior cap for his club team is the only thing holding him back. But that has never stopped kids from even lower divisions being called up.
Third good match in a row for Fabianski! What a save at the last second of the match! He saves the 3 points for Arsenal
@MarcinO : Wenger is one of the best coach in the world, Fabianski didn’t play well before. Szczeszny is too young, even Smuda doesn’t call him in the NT. So whats wrong with that? I know that if Boruc will be in Arsenal he will have jersey #1.
Sorry guys in delay for pics last friendlies. I asked tomasz to give me more time. After the weekend in Chicago, I had a crazy busy week. Will send tomasz some pictures today.
Posted from United States
Fabianski is finally turning a corner. I missed the first half, so can’t judge on the conceded goal, but looked confident in the second: few good punches (one weak, but had a lot of guys jumping at him and one got bloodied in the process), crucial save at the end of the match, better distribution than recently.
Fabianski can’t stop the goal, it was almost a perfect goal with the head.
I get it, having a Polish keeper starting for one of the big clubs is exciting. But in terms of the National team it won’t amount to much. Hard work aside, Arsenal’s defense is miles ahead of Poland’s. You put a solid back line against the US, and Boruc isn’t giving up 2 goals. Or Fabianski, probably.
So in a way, rooting for a Polish starter at Arsenal is more of a personal thing in terms of having a star. But in the big picture, it doesn’t solve our other problems.
And witold, arsene is a good coach. He knows what he’s doing. But what would be the point of stacking the backup list with three keepers from Poland when he knows none of them will start? These are the players we need performing before Euro 2012. Szczesny has no chance to be number one in two years time. But Fabianski and Boruc are definitely in the mix. It doesn’t help our national team if one or both of them wind up on the bench at the same club.
Actually they are only 2 Polish keepers in Arsenal not three, one who has the nickname of Flapanski and one that have only 19 years old. But I agree with you Adas, it will not help us to have a backup in Arsenal, it is a personal affair, it’s up to Fabianski to make a move if Boruc will play for Arsenal, Arsene’s job is not to improve our NT or find a job to our Polish keepers,but to find a way to win. In the same thinking the Italians could complain for the same thing that us, with Manone and Almunia. But i repeat, these guys like Kuszczak and Fabianski has to move their ass by themselves
The way Wenger has handled Fabianski’s development is completely wrong. Ask Wenger himself and he will admit it, if he won‘t then he’s lying to himself. Honestly, how do expect a young keeper to develop and mature when he gets pulled after each mistake he makes. It got to a point to where Fabianski was looking over at the sidelines more than concentrating on the game, hence the nickname (and I thought it was “Flappyhandski“ which makes more sense and is actually funny). That’s how Wenger operates. It’s the culture of the club and league he works in. He doesn’t stick by his guys when they don’t become Michal Jordan as soon as he touches them. He believes in his players until he finds another kid that can kick a football. His attention and interest is on finding the next greatest star and not his current players, the ones who need it most. That is why Arsenal will never win the English league under Wenger. Look at his track record; how many guys couldn’t make it at Arsenal only to become stars, or bigger stars, somewhere else.
Don’t even mention Kuszczak. He still hasn’t figured it out. He showed he is loyal and that’s great. But unfortunately that means very little when your dealing with Alex Ferguson. Now that’s another shady character, I wouldn’t sell him a virus. There is no way Furgeson will ever give Kuszczak a proper chance. To Ferguson, Kuszczak’s only real purpose is to be a good backup at Manchester United. The sad part is that Kuszczak actually believes the lies Ferguson is spewing. He’s got to give up his dream of playing at a big club and prove to everyone that he is a quality keeper.
witold, the idea that Szczesny is too young is nonsense, he’s 20 years old! De Gea, Hart, Casillas, Cech, Buffon, Hart, and many others, they were all given a chance when they were YOUNGER than Szczesny is now, between the ages of 17-19. Szczesny has to leave Arsenal, he will learn nothing by rotting on the bench. Smuda has already given Szczesny his debut and if he got a chance at a decent club, there’s no doubt Smuda would call him up again. Tyton is nowhere close to Szczesny in talent, you only need to look at Roda’s playoff matches last year to see what a third-rate keeper Tyton is.
So now Ferguson is a bad coach also? If a coach doesn’t choose a Polish is because is a bad coach? So only we have only good in Polish league? Please don’t see conspiracies everywhere,Yes Wenger and Ferguson will play only with the best player that they have, what’s wrong with that?
Casillas was benched on 2001-2002 because of his inconsistance, only an injury to César Sánchez give him another chance to play in a final where he does miracles. But we can’t compare, my point is that Wenger is not a cretin, if he doesn’t want to try actually Szczesny and prefer to try again “Flappyhandski“ over the criticism of english press, he maybe has good reason for this. And actually Fabianski perfomance seems to give him reason.
But enough discussion on that, Adas had a good point, the problem is not the keepers but the defence…
No point to argue. Boruc is our best keeper now and he will be in 2012. Age isn’t as much a factor for keepers. They tend to get better with age anyways. He looks fitter than I’ve ever seen him, and sounds like he’s determined to win a starting spot somewhere.
But back to the defense. We have to work with what we have, but we need a more consistant lineup in the back. If they keep switching out defenders left and right, they’ll never get a feel for playing with one another. If that’s the case, let’s play a 0-8-2. Rediculous, I know. But we have terrible defenders. Let’s just accept it and move on.
Yeah, it doesn’t matter if Fabianski and Kuszczak become starters, they will never be as good as Boruc.
@ witold
I think you missed my point completely. I never said Ferguson was a bad manager. It also has nothing to do with Kuszczak being Polish. That’s how they treat their players, like livestock. But that is the business they are in. That is what we have come to expect. So what makes you think it will be any different with our guys? Enough time and chances have passed for both Fabianski and Kuszczak to move on. We need these guys to develop and playing regularly. What will happen if Boruc get hurt (God forbid) during the Euros or something?
Good to see Michal Jonczyk is back from injury and made his debut for Gornik Zabzre. He was subbed in the 82nd minute, regardless it’s good to see him healthy and hope for him to have a great season.
Loving the league, look at the standings!
Posted from Canada
witold, Wenger may have a good reason to prefer Fabianski over Szczesny, but that’s no reason to neglect the development of his younger keepers. Wenger knows that experience is the most important thing to a young keeper’s development yet he’s doing nothing to help Szczesny acquire as much as possible, e.g. by arranging a loan. Wenger has a terrible track record when it comes to goalkeeper development and it’s because he doesn’t give them the necessary conditions to develop.
Fiorentina dead last lmao!!
Hopefully this will knock some sense into their heads and Boruc will get to leave in the winter transfer window. Instead of tying up money in the transfer fee and wages of a top-class keeper to warm the bench, they should have invested in better outfield players. By harming Boruc they are only harming themselves.
MarcinO, I agree with you, we definitively needs keeper who plays, Kuszczak and Fabianski need to do like Ben Foster.
Zaraza, the actual situation may gives Wenger reason: who is the backup of Arsenal in case of Fabianski injury?
Poland are a horrible team with no skill. I have never seen a team so bad. Ecuador had a brand new defense and lack skill in the back. Poland are just embarrassing.
Posted from United States
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Poland has scheduled only 5 more friendlies until the first group game of the euro cup starts….smuda has got to arrange a lot more friendlies than this.
Does anyone know if there is a rumour or anything about poland playing anymore teams till 2012?