Squad Watch: Week 13. Wisla Krakow In Crisis.

Five teams still have a chance to win the Polish championship. It’s especially surprising since last season Wisla dominated the competition and were the clear winners. This season, however, looks entirely different. What’s the reason behind Wisla’s poor form?

Last weekend by Bialo Czerwoni:

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Inverness
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- on the bench against Chelsea
Wojciech Kowalewski (Iraklis Thessaloniki)- 90 minutes against Larissa
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- not in the squad against ManCity
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United)- 90 minutes against St Mirren

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- on the bench against Odra
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- not in the squad against Cukaricki, injury
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv)- on the bench against Tawriya
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- didn’t play against Unirea
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- end of season
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)- 90 minutes against Piacenza
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow)- end of season
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 6
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- 90 minutes against Jagiellonia, note 6
Arkadiusz Radomski (NEC Nijmegen)- not in the squad against Volendam
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Dender
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Lechia, note 6
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- 90 minutes against Panionios

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)- 29 minutes against Ruch, note 5
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 33 minutes against Wolfsburg
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- on the bench against Monaco
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- 90 minutes and an assist against Gornik, note 6
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes and an assist against Lechia, note 7
Przemysław Kazmierczak (Derby County)- 90 minutes against Burnley
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- 33 minutes against Dortmund, got injured
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- on the bench against Karpaty
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 61 minutes against Ruch, note 4
Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- mid season break
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 5
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)- 20 minutes against Odra, note 4

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 5
Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow)- end of season
Michal Janota (Feyenoord Rotterdam)- not in the squad against Vitesse
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- not in the squad against Monaco, injury
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 70 minutes against Odra, note 5
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- not in the squad against FC Koeln, injury
Grzegorz Rasiak (Watford)- not in the squad against Doncaster, injury
Marek Saganowski (Aalborg)- 70 minutes and a goal against FC Copenhagen
Ebi Smolarek (Bolton Wanderers)- on the bench against Sunderland
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes against Hoffenheim
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 5
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 88 minutes and a goal against Iraklis

Summary: Four points in the last four matches and fifth place in the league table. These are the recent achievements of Wisla Krakow, Polish champions. Although they still got a chance to defend their crown, it’s not a mystery that Wisla are in a full blown crisis. How come the team that was easily the best last season turned into an average group of players? As far as I’m concerned, there is not enough fresh blood in Biala Gwiazda; there are too many players who are past their best and won everything that’s possible to win in Poland. No wonder players like Glowacki, Baszczynski, Sobolewski, Cantoro or Zienczuk are not thrilled by yet another visit to Wodzislaw, Gliwice or Belchatow. They already won numerous Polish championships, played their share of games for the national team and now quietly wait for the retirement. What’s more, they’re not motivated by a possible transfer abroad since they’re too old to attract interest from a quality foreign club. They already achieved the status of Wisla legends and don’t need to break any more sweat. What else? Definitely transfer failures. Wojciech Lobodzinski can easily be called one of the biggest transfer flops of 2008. A player who in February was one of the heroes of our friendly win against the Czech Republic didn’t manage to play a single spectacular game for Wisla. A flop to rival him was Radoslaw Matusiak, whose winter break transfer was to add extra fire power to the Biala Gwiazda. Instead of goals Radomatu brought poor form and personal problems. To add to all those misfortunes, another former national team player, Andrzej Niedzielan, is a shadow of a player he was before an injury. No wonder Leo Beenhakker regularly calls up only two Wisla players: Pawel Brozek and Rafal Boguski. The former is the club’s biggest star and the only player whose form didn’t fall in comparison to last season. Boguski is a hard working player, but a one that won’t win games single handedly for Wisla. Where is Wisla’s youth then? Apart from the young Brazilian centre back, Marcelo, there’s only one youngster playing regularly: Patryk Malecki (he’s called up as a backup for our friendly against Serbia). It all looks very poor when compared to Legia’s Borysiuk, Rybus and Rzezniczak, Lech’s R.Lewandowski, Bandrowski, Wilk and Wojtkowiak or Polonia Warsaw’s Majewski and Jodlowiec. Suddenly, Wisla stopped being the club that supplies the largest number of players to the national team. What’s the future for Wisla? They still got enough quality to win the championship this season, but what’s next? It’s high time Wisla started buying Ekstraklasa’s stars as well as quality players from abroad and young Poles from national youth teams (as was the case with Brozek twins and Malecki in the past). The next year will show if the Biala Gwiazda remains the top Polish club or if we witness the birth of the Top Four in the Polish League.

Other news: There is a true friendship between Wojciech Kowalewski and Maciej Zurawski. It’s the Iraklis goalie that enabled Magic to score his second goal of the season. I’m sure the Larissa striker will pay him back with an invitation to some fine Greek restaurant.

Polish U-21 defender, Kamil Glik, was observed by HSV Hamburg this weekend. It seems that, after spending four years in Spain, Glik’s got enough of travels as he gave away a penalty in front of the HSV scout.

A message that all of us were waiting for; Radoslaw Matusiak is considering a return to the world of professional football. He doesn’t want, however, to play in Poland as he’s afraid of fans mocking him. He wants to build his form abroad, Austria, Switzerland and 2 Bundesliga being the most likely options. Great news, half a year without Radomatu was half a year too much.

Highlights:

Maciej Zurawski scores with the help of Wojciech Kowalewski:

Saganowski scores against FC Copenhagen