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Squad Watch: Week 11. Wisla Krakow A Step Away From The Polish Championship.

May 25th, 2009 | By: tomasz | 26 Comments »

Wisla Krakow is the new\old Polish champion. Almost. After an away win against Lechia Gdansk the Biala Gwiazda only needs one point from their home game against Slask Wroclaw in the last round. Lech Poznan and Legia Warsaw both failed to win their games at the weekend.

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Hearts
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- not in the squad against Stoke, injury
Wojciech Kowalewski (Iraklis Thessaloniki)- end of season
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- 90 minutes against Hull
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Lech, note 6
Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United)- 90 minutes against Rangers

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- 45 minutes against Polonia, note 5
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- 90 minutes against St Etienne
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv)- on the bench against Kryvbas
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- 90 minutes against Timisoara
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Lech, note 6
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)- not in the squad against Triestina
Marcin Komorowski (Legia Warsaw)- on the bench against Slask Wroclaw
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow)- didn’t play against Zenit
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 5
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- 90 minutes against Gornik, note 6
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Standard Liege
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Panathinaikos)- not in the squad against PAOK, doping ban
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan)- not in the squad against Polonia, injury
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- end of season

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and an assist against Polonia, note 7
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)- not in the squad against Lechia, injury
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 70 minutes and a goal against Borussia M.
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- 79 minutes against Slask Wroclaw, note 6
Jacek Krzynowek (Hannover 96)- 90 minutes against Arminia
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- not in the squad against Tawriya
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 20 minutes and two goals against Lechia, note 7
Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Lech, note 6
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and a goal against Polonia, note 7
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 90 minutes and a goal against Korona Kielce
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)-53 minutes against Polonia, note 5
Bartosz Salamon (Brescia)- not in the squad against Sassuolo
Lukasz Tralka (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Lech, note 6
Jakub Wilk (Lech Poznan)- 37 minutes against Polonia, note 6

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes and a goal against Lechia, note 6
Dawid Janczyk (Lokeren)- end of season
Michal Janota (Feyenoord Rotterdam)- end of season
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- 90 minutes and a goal against St Etienne
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and an assist against Polonia, note 5
Dawid Nowak (GKS Belchatow)- on the bench against Arka
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 90 minutes against Karlsruher SC
Grzegorz Rasiak (Watford)- end of season
Marek Saganowski (Southampton)- end of season
Ebi Smolarek (Bolton Wanderers)- not in the squad against ManCity, injury
Lukasz Sosin (Anorthosis Famagusta)- end of season
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes and a goal against Hannover
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 25 minutes against AEK

Summary: The penultimate round was to decide the fate of the Polish championship and it did. Wisla managed to win a tricky away game in Gdansk thanks to, wait for it, Wojciech Lobodzinski. Yes, it was the most criticized Wisla player and one of the biggest transfer flops of the last couple of years in Poland that came off the bench and scored two decisive goals for the Krakow team. It was the only game of the season where Lobo showed why he’s one of the highest paid players in the Polish Ekstraklasa. Better late than never; still, it’s not enough to return to the national team. The Wisla player that is currently higher in Leo’s pecking order is the one that took Lobo’s place in the starting lineup: Patryk Malecki. Maly proved once again that Maciej Skorza can count on him and ended the game with two assists. From what I’ve read, together with Kamil Grosicki and Kamil Glik, Malecki was to be called up for the South African tour. However, our U-21 coach, Andrzej Zamilski, needed those players badly for his qualifying games and ultimately they were moved to his team. Nevertheless, if Malecki continues to develop at the pace he achieved in 2009 I believe we’ll see him in red and white sooner than later. The game against Lechia may have been Lobo’s swan song, it is Malecki that we should keep an eye on.

Both Lech and Legia wasted their chances for the Polish championship. Kolejorz drew 3:3 in a thrilling game against Polonia Warsaw, whereas Wojskowi weren’t good enough to defeat Slask Wroclaw. For me, it’s a shame that the title won’t be decided in the last round as I really enjoyed watching three games simultaneously at the weekend (especially the one in Warsaw). The good news is that Rafal Murawski is finally coming back to the form he presented in the second part of 2008. I don’t have to tell you that Muras is an absolutely vital part of Leo’s current strategy. He’s the player that can establish a connection between our defensive midfielder (usually M.Lewandowski) and the offensive one (usually Roger). We all saw how our midfield was lost without Murawski in the game against Northern Ireland. As we now virtually need to win all our remaining qualifying games I don’t think Leo will put two defensive midfielders in the starting lineup. It is Murawski who should be the proof of our offensive intensions. I think we’ll see them in the African friendlies.

It wasn’t a good weekend for Poles in the Bundesliga. Even though Jacek Krzynowek won the German title, I don’t think he’ll be very proud of that as he only played in four games for Wolfsburg in the current season (all of them in 2008 before moving to Hannover). We won’t see Lukasz Piszczek in the Champions League next season. Hertha Berlin somehow managed to lose against the red lantern Karlsruher SC in the last game of the season and will only take part in the European League. Nevertheless, I’m certain Piszczek will strengthen his position as a regular starter next season and become one of the most important players of the national team at the same time. Kuba Blaszczykowski won’t have the chance to show off his skills in Europe at all as Dortmund only got one point from their last game against Monchengladbach. We may wait for his big money transfer a bit longer, unless, of course, he mesmerizes the top clubs scouts in the national team games. Artur Wichniarek and his beloved Arminia Bielefeld got relegated, even though Konig Artur broke his personal record and managed to score the thirteenth goal of the season. As far as I know Wichniarek has a relegation release clause in his contract so we may watch his goals in the top flight next season after all.

Artur Boruc haven’t won the SPL title for the first time since he moved to Scotland, whereas Marcin Wasilewski failed to end a superb season in Belgium with a champion’s crown. Everyone is probably envious of Michal Zewlakow in those difficult times.

Gary Megson officially announced that he won’t prolong Ebi Smolarek’s stay at Bolton. The player himself claims that nobody from Aris Thessaloniki has ever contacted him. What’s worse, he’s got an impression that nobody cares about him at Racing Santander. Come on Ebi, time to end the conquer of Europe and come back to Holland.

Who knows, maybe we’ll have a player in Serie A next season. Adam Kokoszka’s Empoli and Bartosz Salamon’s Brescia managed to qualify to the promotion play off games. It’s only a shame that the nearer the end of the season the less often we see our players actually on the pitch.

And the last thing; I think I’ve got misinterpreted a bit in my last note about Mariusz Lewandowski. I don’t think that he’s an inferior player because of him being a defensive midfielder. I just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that he fulfills his ascribed role at Shakhtar superbly. At the same time, there are a lot of people in Poland who fail to see Lewy’s defensive qualities and criticize him for his occasional lack of offensive flair. I don’t agree with it since, as far as I’m concerned, players should be judged based on the role they have to serve on the field.

Highlights:

Blaszczu scores another fine goal

Blaszczykowski Vs. Moenchengladbach

Wichniarek says goodbye to the Bundesliga

Wichniarek Vs. Hannover

Ireneusz Jelen maintains a great run

Jelen Vs. AS Saint-Ã�tienne

Goals from the Lechia Gdansk-Wisla Krakow game (two by Lobodzinski and one by Brozek)

Polonia Warsaw vs. Lech Poznan highlights

Tags: Blaszczykowski, Brozek, Group A, Jelen, Kokoszka, Krzynowek, Lech, legia, Lewandowski, Lobodzinski, Malecki, Murawski, Piszczek, Poland, Salamon, Smolarek, Squad Watch, Wichniarek, Wisla

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 26 comments.

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By zaraza | May 25th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

I disagree that they’re all equally bad, I think Lech and Wisla have represented us fairly well in European competitions.

I think Leo should have ignored Zamilski’s request, and called up Malecki, Grosicki and Glik. Seriously, does anyone really care about qualifying for that U21 championship?

Kupisz was on the bench yesterday but didn’t come on. Doesn’t bode well for him, I mean, if Wigan won’t even give him a chance in a totally meaningless match, then when?

Posted from Canada

By Phil | May 25th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

Sudzi you dont know what your talking about. The polish league is diverse in levels of teams you cant compare wisla or lech with like odra or arka. There are top teams and weak teams and teams that hoover in the middle year and year again. The top teams are decent i mean look how well Poznan did this year or look at how Wisla beat barcelona. Problem with the league is that the teams sell their players prematurely just for a quick buck. But it well get much better between 2010-2013 all the stadiums will be built, Slask will have the new stadium and the largest mall in Poland which all the profits will go for the team at least are suppose to.

By Peter | May 25th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

I think Lech would have been the better option in the Champions League. Maybe if they qualified for the CL they would have kept a fairly intact team (keeping Lewy and Stilic) now who knows.

Hopefully Wisla has a good summer with transfers.

By chester | May 25th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

I rather have Lech play in the now Europa League now with the new format
there will be less champions league teams because the 3rd place teams in the group stages wont be allowed to go Uefa Cup. I dont think any of the teams are yet ready to get out of the group stage hopefully at least get in. But Lech can manage to get even farther in the Cup or europa league.

By janusz | May 26th, 2009 at 11:00 am

Lobodzinski is now in to replace an injured Boguski.

Posted from Canada

By Hieronim | May 26th, 2009 at 4:03 pm

what happened to Polish Soca?? It says the page has been suspended or something…

By Sudzi | May 26th, 2009 at 4:47 pm

Guys, no offense but didn’t our champ last year or a couple of years ago go to the capital of Lithuania and get outclassed by a bunch of part time players. Hey at least we won the fight in the stands we beat up all 30 Lithuanians who showed up for the game. 3-0 cant even beat our Baltic Neighbors how embarrasing. Oh ya and to all the tough guys in the stand go to England and Germany and do that, good luck on and off the pitch. Another reason that I feel teams like Lech and orda are the same is because if they played teams from major leagues they simply couln’t defend them the defenders of Poland are slow just look at our national team, Bak would still be the best of the lot even as old as he is. I’m a pessimest i cant help it, but i curently i’m reading the power of positive thinking by the immortal Norman Vincent Peale

Posted from United States

By a | May 26th, 2009 at 5:23 pm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1187280/The-shocking-injuries-inflicted-Protestant-wife-tried-protect-Catholic-husband-kicked-death-sectarian-thugs.html

Fucking scum! Where is FIFA now? No talks about banning them from the world cup qualifiers? What a joke. A Polish supporter lights a flare at a game and they are talking of banning us from the world cup. A Northern Ireland fan tosses a coin that actually hit a referee and all they get is a small fine. I know about the other nonsense that went on during that Northern Ireland game that our fans caused and I am not saying it was right. However, look at the punishment proposed between Poland and the UK, something is suspiciously quiet the UK side. How many people have to die before FIFA and the rest of the media realize that football violence is no worse in Poland than the UK. Those media cunt buckets make any football violence related to Poland a bigger deal than it really is. They should look in their own backyards before flapping their gums.

By kacinski | May 26th, 2009 at 8:51 pm

its a shame that lech will most likely not being playing in champions league, especially since they have the most potential. But overall it was a great season… now our boys have to get ready for the summer friendlies and hopefully qualify for the World cup! Does anyone know how Boruc is doing, and if he is ready to be number one? frankly I heard fabianski isn’t doing that great?

By Tomek | May 27th, 2009 at 5:12 am

^Bayern Munich is supposedly interested in Boruc since Rensing epicly failed there. Still can’t see that happening since he had a disastrous season.

Posted from Netherlands

By Paradowski | May 27th, 2009 at 8:29 am

^ The BBC reports regarding the NI sectarian killing following Rangers game:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8067742.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8067198.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8068057.stm

Horrible. I can’t imagine an anger that acts so evil and so cowardly.
Importantly, the widow of the murdered Kevin McDaid is very strong in her believes and calls for no retaliation, but of course wants them brought to justice. Hopefully, the criminals will (or have been) found and will be properly prosecuted for their murder and assaults.

Posted from United States

By Rala | May 27th, 2009 at 10:32 am

@Hieronim: http://twitter.com/polishsoca

By a | May 28th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Wasn’t Legia Warszawa banned or put on probation for 5 years in 2007 for fan violence?

This makes me think about the violence the world witnessed in Rome between ManYoo and Barca supporters. Will we ever hear about teams like Barcelona or Manchester being banned. Disciplined, maybe. But for big clubs like these the fines just mean a little less money to wipe their asses with.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8072097.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/5392639/Manchester-United-v-Barcelona-English-fan-stabbed-and-four-arrested.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a98QZt6.Bztc&refer=europe

This begs the question “What the fuck?”

By Alek | May 28th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Legia was banned for five years, but the ban was lifted by UEFA so they played this year in the UEFA Cup, which there were no riots so I see no point in bringing that up again.

By MarcinO | May 28th, 2009 at 9:06 pm

Wigan have announced that Tomasz Cywka and Tomasz Kupisz have signed new deals.

Bruce said: “These boys, as well as the likes of Callum McManaman and Jon Routledge, form the future of the club, and it pleases me greatly that we have the healthiest squad of young players coming through at the moment since I’ve been here.”

Poland Under 21 international Cywka told Wigan’s official website: “I’m happy to sign. My plan now is to try and move to the next level and try and make it into the first-team squad.”

Kupisz, who represents Poland at U19 level, said: “I have been happy at Wigan and I feel my game has come on. But I want to play first-team football and my ambition is to do that here at Wigan.” – skysports.com

By witold | May 28th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

Good news for our futur stars, thanks for the scoop MarcinO

By Paradowski | May 28th, 2009 at 10:46 pm

^MarcinO – cool!, glad to hear it. tomasz, another great article – thanks (understood and agreed about Mariusz).

Regarding the violence subject; I’ll just finish with: I think the word ‘hooligans’ is too soft and more serious, more appropriate words like ‘criminals’ should be consistently used. The criminals damaging property or people in association with football matches or celebrations should face huge maximum fines and long jail sentences. And there should be continued proactive promotion of non-violence like during EURO 2008.

In the recent case of NI:
“Six were charged with murder and attempted murder, two with attempted murder and one with affray. All of them were remanded in custody.” … “Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said the investigation would receive all the resources it required and predicted that further arrests would be made in the case.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8071388.stm

Posted from United States

By Mateusz | May 29th, 2009 at 4:51 am

Article Re: Sheffield United
The Blades will also hand contract extensions to Leigh Bromby and Ian Bennett, while Lee Hendrie, Nicky Law and Zeyn S-Latef join Carney on the transfer list..

Zeyn S-Latef is the Polish Youth international.. Any thought where he will move to?.. Back to Sweden?.. A Polish Club?.. or will another championship side pick him up?

By zaraza | May 29th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

Who cares, apparently he’s very arrogant, doesn’t get along with other members of Polish youth teams and would prefer to play for Sweden.

Starosta has also been released by Sheffield.

Good for Cywka and Kupisz but I suspect it’ll end the same way as with Fojut, Bolton extended his contract a few times but never had any intention of playing him. They’re probably an insurance policy and nothing more, otherwise, Kupisz would have gotten a chance when Wigan became safe from relegation.

Posted from Canada

By M. Zurawski | May 30th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

Smuda parts ways with Lech. If not the Celtic hierarchy dismissing him in the media a week ago to replace Strachen, i would think there was maybe some sort of kernal of truth in the seemingly insane rumours that he was going yonder. Boruc also won the Celtic goal of the season award for his penalty shot. Anyone know whether there is any truth in R. Lewandowski going to team up with Jelen?

By robski | May 30th, 2009 at 6:22 pm

Wisla Krakow are the 2008/2009 Ekstraklasa Champions, and they deserve it even though I am a Lech fan. Dissapointed in Lech, they couldve wrapped everything up 2 months ago, but there is always crisis in teams during a season. Looking forward for Champions League and the new Europa league. We have pretty good teams going in. Wisla,Legia,Lech and Polonia

By zaraza | May 30th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

Legia is just going to embarrass Poland like always…
Lech have been pathetic the last few months, they had a great opportunity to win the title and they just let it slip away. I suppose there’s no shame in losing to Wisla but to be overtaken by Legia as well?! Even Legia fans admit their team is atrocious and it’s only going to get worse because there’s no money for transfers, they only plan to bring in freebies. This is supposed to be our #2 team? Yikes.

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | May 30th, 2009 at 9:15 pm

I’m glad that Gdansk managed to stay up, they’re one of the few clubs who manage to draw over 10,000 fans.

As for clubs like Odra Wodzislaw, GKS Belchatow, Gliwice, and Bytom…. no offense to their fans but if they can only get 3-4,000 people for home games they just don’t belong in the Ekstraklasa.

It’s a shame that Gornik was relegated. I’m not at all a fan but with 18,000 fans they certainly deserve to have stayed in the top division.

I think it hurts the league to have well-supported clubs get relegated while clubs with hardly any fans get to stay…

Posted from Canada

By robski | May 30th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

well you’re right about Legia, they are embarrassing,and your remark about Legia being our #2 team, well thats how it is, cant change it,this is how the Polish league is, and I am not surprised. The Polish league still has a long way to go before getting teams to play in Europe reguarly and when i say Europe I mean the group stages and beyond. Lech has been pathetic the last few months as they could’ve won the title with ease. With their playing during the Spring part of the season I knew they were going to blow it.
pozdro

By MarcinO | May 31st, 2009 at 9:09 am

I read that the Belgian media is reporting that if Anderlecht get a good offer for Wasilewski they will not hesitate to sell him. They are looking for at least 2 million. Rumoured teams interested are all bottom table Premiership teams and a few from the Championship.

Hmm, Gornik Zabrze gets 18,000 and they get relegated. That is what happens when an owner with money comes in but does not know how to spend it wisely. It’s a real shame because their owner will most likely get bored and want to sell the team. Not to mention what will happen to their main sponsor. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, LKS Lodz have not been granted a licence due to their stadium not being up to Ekstraklasa standards. I like this because it will force all the teams to invest money into their stadiums.

I was wondering if the Ekstraklasa would go for freezing the teams in the league for a period of time. I think this would help establish the smaller teams. More focus would go on player development as opposed to signing players that will only help avoid relegation in the short term. I believe that would bring some stability and allow teams to set a solid foundation going forward.

I remember someone mentioned about the Ekstraklasa changing their schedule similar to the Russian league. I think our leagues would benefit more from playing most of their games in the summer. But then again, the PZPN should focus on providing access to indoor facilities for kids to work on their game in the winter, but that is another topic for another day.

As for Lech Poznan, I would really like to see Rafal Ulatowski given a chance. Its funny how Franz Smuda’s name got rumoured to replace Strachan at Celtic. The Scottish media went ape shit. Little did anyone know that Strachan would resign only a couple days later. But for Smuda, I really think that Poznan will really miss what he brought to the team. His record speaks for itself. However, another interesting job has opened up. I believe Energie Cockbus was relegated leading to their manager to resign. I believe that Smuda’s name was kicked around for the position as well.

On a positive note, I think Kamil Biliński is one to look for in the future.

Comments are closed