Squad Watch: Week 1. Rafal Murawski’s Mysterious Situation At Rubin.

Welcome to the first Squad Watch of the new season. The Polish Ekstraklasa is well under way and the Bundesliga together with the French Ligue 1 started this weekend. It’s time to check how the past, current and future Bialo Czerwoni are doing.

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- season not yet started
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- season not yet started
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- on the bench against Chelsea in Community Shield
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Slask, note 6
Lukasz Zaluska (Celtic Glasgow)- season not yet started

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- not in the squad against Korona, injury
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- 45 minutes against Socheaux
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and an assist against Korona, note 7
Kamil Glik (Pisat Gliwice)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 3
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- 90 minutes against CFR Cluj
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Slask, note 6
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)- on the bench against Reggiana in Coppa Italia
Marcin Komorowski (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow)- 90 minutes against Terek
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- 90 minutes and a goal against Lechia, note 3
Jakub Rzezniczak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 6
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Cercle Brugge
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- season not yet started

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Korona, note 6
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)- not in the squad against Zaglebie, injury
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 70 minutes against FC Koeln
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- 24 minutes against Arka, note 5
Grzegorz Krychowiak (Bordeaux Reserves)- 65 minutes against Niort (4th division)
Jacek Krzynowek (Hannover 96)- 89 minutes against Hertha
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- on the bench against Metalurg
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 78 minutes against Zaglebie, note 6
Radoslaw Majewski (Nottingham Forest)- 90 minutes against Reading
Patryk Malecki (Wisla Krakow)- 84 minutes and two goals against Zaglebie, note 8
Rafal Murawski (Rubin Kazan)- not in the squad against FC Moscow
Ludovic Obraniak (Lille)- 90 minutes against Lorient
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 63 minutes against Wisla, note 4
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)-90 minutes, a goal and an assist against Korona, note 8
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 54 minutes against Hannover
Bartosz Salamon (Brescia)- 90 minutes and a goal against Ravenna in Coppa Italia
Lukasz Tralka (Polonia Warsaw)- 45 minutes against Slask, note 4
Jakub Wilk (Lech Poznan)- 78 minutes and a goal against Korona, note 6

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes and two assists against Zaglebie, note 6
Kamil Grosicki (Jagiellonia)- 82 minutes and an assist against GKS Belchatow, note 6
Dawid Janczyk (Lokeren)- not in the squad against FC Brugge
Michal Janota (Excelsior Rotterdam)- 90 minutes against Telstar Ijmuiden
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- not in the squad against Socheaux, injury
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and two goals against Korona, note 7
Dawid Nowak (GKS Belchatow)- not in the squad against Jagiellonia, injury
Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton)- not in the squad against Millwal
Marek Saganowski (Southampton)- 90 minutes against Millwall
Ebi Smolarek (Racing Santander)- season not yet started
Lukasz Sosin (Anorthosis Famagusta)- season not yet started
Artur Wichniarek (Hertha Berlin)- 77 minutes against Hannover
Maciej Zurawski (Omonia Nicosia)- season not yet started

Summary: I sat comfortably in front of the TV this weekend to watch the game between FC Moscow and Rubin Kazan. I rarely watch the Russian League, but I read on some webpage that Rafal Murawski was to finally debut for the Russian champions. Unfortunately, he wasn’t even on the bench so I quickly switched the channel to a different game. I find this situation a bit alarming. Murawski is an experienced player and I don’t understand why he has to wait so long to enter the pitch. I haven’t heard anything about him being injured or not physically ready to play in Russia. After all, Lech players look really fresh; Muras started the season preparations with them and should, more or less, be on the same terms as far as fitness is concerned. Rubin paid for him more than 2M, though rich I don’t think they spent this amount of money on a player who they don’t rate good enough to make the bench. This whole case is really mysterious for me, I hope to hear something from Muras himself once he comes to Poland for the national team game. This situation is not really comfortable for Leo and the Bialo Czerwoni as well. As I wrote sometime earlier, Murawski is a crucial player for us as he’s the link between offense and defence in our strategy. What if he’s not ready? Well…the name Obraniak once again comes to mind. The Lille midfielder can cover all the positions in midfield; he can play in the centre behind the striker but also a bit deeper, near the defensive midfielder. He can be the answer to our problems if Murawski’s situation doesn’t improve. It’s only a shame he can’t answer them all.

Grzegorz Krychowiak replaced the injured Bartosz Bosacki in the squad for the Greece game. It’s a huge surprise that a Bordeaux reserves player makes the final cut in what is our strongest possible lineup. Leo claims that he’s got his sources at Bordeaux and they’re really praising Krychowiak. I still find it a bit discomforting, especially for players like Glik, Peszko, Malecki or Grosicki who are putting good performances week in week out on top division level. Fortunately, this situation may be solved sooner than later as Arka made an official offer to bring Krychowiak to Gdynia. I support it one hundred percent, at this time it’s crucial for our youngster to play as much as possible. Plus we’ll be able to judge first handedly if the so much heard about potential is really there.

Some good games in the Ekstraklasa this weekend. Wisla Krakow looked really impressive against Zaglebie Lubin, while Lech Poznan demolished Korona in Kielce. It seems that it was Maciej Skorza’s plan to prepare the form peek for the middle of August and the final round of CL qualifiers. Hence, Wisla competed against Levadia in the middle of heavy training. Shame it didn’t work out, but believe me, it’s a pleasure to watch the Polish chamions at the moment. Patryk Malecki looks most impressive, he’s really making incredible progress with each single game. Pawel Brozek and even Wojciech Lobodzinski are coming back to form; I haven’t seen Lobo as good for over a year now. Lech Poznan also deserves praise. All the national team players (Lewandowski, Bandrowski, Peszko, Wilk) looked great and really confident against Korona Kielce. The young Lewy is openly attacking Brozek’s position in the national team, just look at his finish for the fourth Lech goal. I also finally got to see Seweryn Gancarczyk play. He’s good one on one, can cross the ball well, though he’s having some problems with proper positioning. A national team material, but not a player who can improve our team significantly.

Hannover 96 scouts observed Pawel Brozek in the game against Zaglebie Lubin. They’re to watch him once again against Greece on Wednesday and make an offer of around 2,5M provided Broziu is interested.

No better proof that Tomasz Kuszczak is currently ManUtd’s nr 3 than seeing him on the bench in the Community Shield game. Ben Foster is no great goalie, which he proved in the game, but he’s an Englishmen and will always be higher in the pecking order than Kuszczak. Unfortunately, it seems that Kuszczak doesn’t understand that and got lost in pursuing his dream to become United’s nr 1.

Marek Saganowski is not moving anywhere. Southampton has got a new owner and more money so they can afford to keep Sagan. We’ll have to watch our international in League One.

Highlights: Two goals from Malecki and two assists from Pawel Brozek

Two goals from Robert Lewandowski, one from Peszko and one from Wilk in the game against Korona

A goal from Piotr Polczak here

Grosicki’s assist here

I couldn’t find Bartosz Salamon’s goal, hope it will resurface in a couple of days.