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San Marino-Poland 0:2. A Torture For Fans.

September 11th, 2008 | By: tomasz | 16 Comments »

Apparently Polish players don’t read this blog (after all, most of them don’t speak English) as they didn’t listen to my plea voiced in the last note. This game was a very harmful experience. Who would have thought that a goalkeeper can be your best player in a game against San Marino. Everything is possible in football, especially in Polish football.

San Marino-Poland 0:2 (Smolarek 36′, R. Lewandowski 67′)
Poland: Fabianski – Wojtkowiak, Jop, Zewlakow, Kowalczyk (28′ Krzynowek) – Blasczykowski, M. Lewandowski, Roger, Piszczek (88′ Murawski), Smolarek – Saganowski (59′ R.Lewandowski)

Remember how you played football in local parks as a kid? You didn’t really employ any tactics, the biggest strategic move was to choose a goalkeeper (obviously nobody wanted it). Remember how you played against younger kids and was to proud to give your best? Somehow the yesterday’s match reminded me of all that. It’s very difficult to call it a game of professional football. It was like watching Sunday league. I wouldn’t have managed without alcohol.

The squad was more adventurous than on Saturday as Leo sacrificed one defensive midfielder to make space for Saganowski. To everyone’s surprise it was San Marino that started the game better. After one of the corners Wojtkowiak acted immature enough to trip one of San Marino players in the box. Fortunately, Fabianski kept his nerve and saved a penalty taken by the only professional outfield player among our opponents (Andy Selva). What’s even better, this wasn’t the only chance for the brave amateurs. After Kowalczyk forgot that he’s, in fact, a defender Berretti had a clear chance to beat Fabian. That was enough for Leo, who replaced Kowalczyk with Jacek Krzynowek. Krzyniu brought some life into our team as we mainly used the left flank from now on. But what, if anything, can be written about our attacks? Not much. We were unorganised, slow on the ball and inaccurate. There wasn’t any sort of repeatable pattern in our play; most of our actions were accidental. Our aim was to, somehow, bring the ball as close to the box as possible and see what happens. Mind you, we scored both our goals using this refined strategy. First, it was Smolarek’s rebound after Piszczek’s shot was parried, then it was Robert Lewandowski’s rebound after Ebi hit the post. Appart from the goals, there were only half decent chances, none of whom are worth writing about. This is a game to forget as fast as possible. The bottom line is that we have three additional points and everything is still in our hands in this group (Slovenia beat Slovakia, N. Ireland drew with Czech Rep). Let’s wait till October to make final judgements.

Notes (1-10):

Lukasz Fabianski 7: saved a penalty and an one-on-one situation. Something he surely didn’t expect before the game.
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak 4: is to blame for the penalty. Didn’t show anything that we haven’t seen from Wasilewski or Golanski.
Michal Zewlakow 5: the only defender that we can count on. Still, our defensive line shouldn’t have allowed San Marino players so much space in the first half.
Mariusz Jop 4: no major mistakes, but I was really frustrated with his kicking the ball away in almost every situation. Relax Mariusz, it’s only San Marino.
Marcin Kowalczyk 3: no threat in attack, mistakes in defence, quickly substituted. The reviews coming from Russia were harshly verified.
Mariusz Lewandowski 5: too slow on the ball, should have distributed it quicker. A higher note for nice long passes to the wings in the second half.
Roger Guerreiro 4: was to provide opportunities for strikers, but ran out of ideas as soon as he approached the penalty box.
Jakub Blaszczykowski 5: not as good as against Slovenia. I expected him to dribble past defenders easily.
Ebi Smolarek 6: one of our most active players. Tried to make a difference, scored a goal. What was it with this ‘I need to come off’ sign after he scored? Was it somehow aimed at Leo? He proved fit after that.
Lukasz Piszczek 5: far from impressive, but had his share in the first goal. More useful in the second half.
Marek Saganowski 3: there’s something wrong with a striker that’s unable to create a single opportunity against San Marino.
Jacek Krzynowek 6: the team switched to an attacking style after he came on the pitch. Made our play more flowing.
Robert Lewandowski 6: nice movement, nice first touch, nice goal. Hopefully one of many to come.
Rafal Murawski: played too short.

Conclusions:

- the team is not confident enough. They don’t believe in themselves. We lost any kind of style that we had in previous qualifiers.
- Lukasz Fabianski should rival Artur Boruc for the nr 1 blouse.
- the search for full backs continues; Kowalczyk and Wojtkowiak don’t add extra quality (still, I’d give them another chance). Next in line? Piotr Brozek.
- Jacek Krzynowek remains one of the leaders of the team. Which tells you something about the team itself.
- we won’t have any success with Saganowski as a starting striker.
- the same applies to Jop in defence.
- we need a lot more from Roger.
- Robert Lewandowski is on fire. Still, let’s wait till the end of season to name him the saviour of our attack.
- Ebi Smolarek is pissed off, that’s not a way to celebrate a goal.
- Seweryn Gancarczyk clearly didn’t impress Leo in training.

What’s next? That’s clear; the press will critisize Leo severely and ask for changes in the team. That’s understandable, Leo’s made a lot of mistakes recently and the results aren’t there to support him. What I don’t like, however, is offending our coach so don’t expect any kind of tabloid-like materials on this blog. Generally, both journalists and fans are now divided into Leo believers and Leo enemies. It can be clearly seen in a recent war between Gazeta Wyborcza (Dariusz Wolowski) and Polsat (Mati Borek). The amount of aggresiveness and general hatred is out of proportion there. It just shows how controversial the national team and Leo himself have become in the post-Euro era. I myself am waiting for the games against Czech Rep and Slovakia. It would be unfair to write the team off at this moment.

Highlights: Saved penalty and both goals

Tags: Beenhakker, Blaszczykowski, Fabianski, Group A, Jop, Kowalczyk, Krzynowek, Lewandowski, Piszczek, Poland, Robert Lewandowski, Roger, Saganowski, San Marino, Smolarek, Wojtkowiak, Zewlakow

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Comments

By gregorio | September 11th, 2008 at 8:16 am

great for r. lewandowski, he copmleted a ‘hattrick’ in the last two months: a goal in debut in the league, a goal in uefa cup and a goal in the nt. what more can we ask for? he may be our top notch star in a few years. such consistency (ok, we still must wait a few months to be sure of that) in suhc a young age indicates mentality we desperately need at the moment. i mean players who are not afraid to go out on the pitch and do their job with a smile on their faces, no matter who the opponent is.

apart from that tomasz, not much to add to what you wrote. now it doesn’t really matter how horrible we played. we just have to wait for the october games and hope something is gonna change in the meantime.

Posted from Poland

By gregorio | September 11th, 2008 at 8:22 am

ps. as for the atmosphere around the team and in media, it’s pretty embarassing, and if leo survives that, eventually to lead us to the WC 2010, i’ll say he’s a hell of a tough s.o.b.

Posted from Poland

By legia_piotr | September 11th, 2008 at 9:45 am

good summary & agree 100% with all your conclusions.
we have a month’s time for our boys to build up some form in time for Oct.11 and 15.

tomasz, is there an e-mail I can reach you at?
mine is pzerek@gmail.com

cheers

Posted from United States

By dezerter | September 11th, 2008 at 10:41 am

I agree 100% with your report. I have same observations and same conclusion. It is shameful that Polish media is conducting witch hunt without any limits. Name calling and classless remarks are uncalled for. It is true that our national team reached new low but in reality we have no stars and just handful of decent international level players. Like old polish say goes “Z gowna bicza nie ukrecisz”

Posted from United States

By Brian | September 11th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

great article, i do think there aren’t many options left like you said for right back… especially if Bronowicki can’t get healthy soon enough Piotr should be given a good look. he has done well for Wisla and continuously surprises us all at Wisla by improving his game. i’d like to see more Rewandowski and less Saganowski like mentioned in this article. i can also see Leo possibly using Dudka as the other CB to partner Zewlakow until Koko can fix his issues with Empoli/Wisla.

one player that i think can really help the attack if healthy could be Szalachowski from Legia if he can prove to be healthy for an extended period of time. Smolarek brought some pace and work ethic to that left flank which was nice. but it’d be nice to cycle Krzynowek out of the National side. he has been loyal but it’d be nice to move forward. i think Szalachowski could feasibly be that guy. but time will tell there. i think it is a little too soon to be tossing Janota’s name out there but in due time he will definitely be a good one

Posted from United States

By tomasz | September 11th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

R.Lewandowski is doing better than anyone expected, but let’s not create an unecessary hype around him. Still, he’s a kind of player that you see a lot of potential in after seeing him only for 5-10 minutes. Now it’s up to Smuda to make him a star striker. As for media, I’m getting really tired of this whole turmoil. Just half a year ago everybody was treating Leo like a god and now they want his head. I think he deserves more trust. Arguments against him are also tasteless (he’s a foreigner, he earns much, he’s got a romance with Marta Alf etc. what does it have to do with football?). The discussion always ends like this: Y should play instead of X and after Y has a poor game then Z should play instead of Y. Just look at Kowalczyk; he had great press before coming to the team, but did nothing spectacular in the games he was given.
@legia_piotr
I wrote you an e-mail.

Posted from Poland

By tomasz | September 11th, 2008 at 1:52 pm

@Brian
I’d like to see Dudka in central defence, but first Murawski/Bandrowski have to prove that they can replace him in midfield. The haven’t shown that lately. Szalachowski is an interesting option, but he mainly plays on the right wing and we’re desperately looking for a left winger. Krzynek isn’t a player for the future, but for now Leo must stick to him. Piotr Brozek deserves his chance at the moment. Janota: it’s too early at the moment, unless he plays regularly in the Dutch league.

Posted from Poland

By zaraza | September 11th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

I think some of the criticism of Beenhakker is a bit excessive but let’s face it, neither our results nor our style of play has really improved since he took over. Personally I would be fine with poor results in the short term if we at least saw some improvement in how we play, but if anything it’s just gotten worse…

Add to that his refusal to consider other opinions (immediately suggesting that we must be backwards when we don’t agree with him, remember “wyjdzcie z drewnianych hutek”?) and it’s not surprising that some people can’t wait to get rid of him.

Posted from Canada

By gregorio | September 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

szałachowski actually can be an option for the nt, but krzyniu isn’t that dispensible.even thoguht he doesn’t even make the bench in wolfsburg, he’s been one of the brigthest points of our team in the last two games.

r.lewandoswski seems to handle the hype well. why not make some fuss about him. i kow it’s been just a few weeks, but look, the guy came from the 2nd div, he was acclaimed hot prospect, counted among best transfers. so, much preassure on him. then he scores in his debut in the cups. more preassure on him. then he scores in the league. voices rise that call him to the nt, in a critical moment. he doesn’t make it against slovenia, but is brought on next game – yet more preassure – and he scores! let’s, for once, have a player who is much counted on and doesn’t fail. such things happen across europe, why not this time in poland.
he has wise mentors: franz and leo. couldn’t be more lucky

Posted from Poland

By Witold | September 11th, 2008 at 7:58 pm

Great article Tomasz, I didn’t see the game, but it is nice to read a good review.
@Zaraza: It is exactly what I think.
@Gregorio: A lot of people want to kick out Krzyniu, I was never among them, and as you say he’s been one of the brightest points of our team in the last two games. A lot of other players in our NT are worst than him and didn’t have as much criticism as him.
On october we need 3 points, and after we will have 5 months to find a solution to perform well against N Ireland

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | September 11th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

It looks like the story about Jelen refusing to play under Beenhakker was just media-generated crap:

“Nigdy z występów w drużynie narodowej nie zrezygnowałem i nie zrezygnuję. Gra dla Polski, barw mojej ojczyzny, była i zawsze pozostanie dla mnie najwyższym zaszczytem.” (Przeglad Sportowy)

Posted from Canada

By tomasz | September 12th, 2008 at 5:51 am

@zaraza
I agree, Beenhakker deserves criticism at the moment; he’s made mistakes that are clear to most of the fans. We haven’t played well since the friendly against Czech Rep. But there is a difference when you write “It was a mistake to play Piszczek as a striker, Wichniarek should be called up” and when you write “This fucking boastful Dutchman who steals Polish money was an enough idiot to play Piszczek upfront instead of calling up the only possible saviour of the national team Wichniarek”. I just think Leo deserves more trust and respect for what he’s done for the team. I think there was a huge improvement when he took over (winning the group ahead of Portugal, Serbia, Belgium and Finland, if that’s not improvement then nothing is). Of course, 2008 has been very bad for us, but let’s wait a month to make final judgements. And even if we lose, I’ll never offend Beenhakker in the way some media are.
@gregorio
I agree, everybody wants to get rid of Krzyniu forgetting that he was one of our best players in the last three games. As for Lewandowski, in a normal world such a hype would be something that a player is prepared for. But it’s Poland; remember what happened to Niedzielan or Matusiak? There was a similar hype and their careers didn’t develop as expected. We thought they had everything, just like Lewandowski now. Still, I hope you’re right and the young Lewy has different mentality.
@Witold
3 points is the minimum, I think Leo must win at least 4 points to end the criticism.

As for Jelen, it only shows the character (read stupidity) of his manager. He’s just pissed off that he can’t promote his client through the nt. It somehow supports Leo’s words that managers attack him because they can’t control him.

Posted from Poland

By MarcinO | September 12th, 2008 at 10:49 am

It would appear that Beenhakker is almost hesitant to call out certain players for their weak performances, like M. Lewandowski or anyone from the defensive core. This may be due to Beenhakker’s decisions and statements are influenced by the media. He avoids calling out any particular player for fear that he may get blamed for selecting that player.

I like what Robert Lewandowski has done so far. However, I will hold judgement until he plays a full season in the ekstraklasa and proves he deserves the hype with consistent goal production.

By M. Zurawski | September 12th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

Ouch, i just watched the San Marino game and it wasn’t as good as i thought it would be… and i thought it would be pretty bad. It just all seems so passionless, muted, slow, getting it up there and then not knowing what the hell to do with it. Not good at all. I refuse to believe we don’t have a viable alternative to Saganowski. God bless him, he’s giving what he can, but it isn’t much… and to continually obstruct other players from filling a spot he isn’t doing anything with in the first place, well, that’s just wanton waste. We will need a much higher degree of commitment to defeat our southern neighbors. On a good note (for us) Rosicky had his knee give out on him in training again and MAY not be fit for next months qualifiers.

By M. Zurawski | September 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

Oh, and according to the Bolton manager he will not be risking Ebi in tomorrows game. He thinks Smolarek needs more time to acclimatize to the physical level of the english game and is not yet match fit. While this may seem like a good thing, i’m not certain him getting his start against Arsenal(20th sept.) is a better alternative then throwing him in the fire against Fulham.

By Pawel (drugi Cristiano Ronaldo i Franz Beckenbauer) i Polski Goral | October 6th, 2008 at 9:50 pm

Poland can do better and so can Smolarek. What is Smolarek’s problem? Fish oil improves concentration and improves mental clarity if that is what Smolarek is missing.Even though he was trained in Holland, he does not show the same qualities of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Maybe Janota will turn out to be the new Smolarek? I hope not.

Posted from United States

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