Squad Watch: Week 3. What Happened To Artur Boruc?

Everybody watching this weekend’s Old Firm derby must have wondered if that’s really Artur Boruc in Celtic’s goal. Something bad is happening to our star goalie; first the alcohol problems and now a horrible display against Rangers. On a positive note, Artur Wichniarek scored another one for Arminia and Ireneusz Jelen found the net for Auxerre. Michal Janota earned his Eredivisie debut earlier than anyone expected.

Here’s how the last weekend before the Slovenia game looked like:

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Rangers
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- on the bench against Newcastle
Wojciech Kowalewski (Iraklis Thessaloniki)- 90 minutes against Panserraikos FC
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- match postponed
Mariusz Pawelek (Wisla Krakow)- not in the squad against Cracovia
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Slask Wroclaw, note 6
Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United)- 90 minutes against Kilmarnock

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 6
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- not in the squad against Jagodina, injury
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv)- match today
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- match today
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- 90 minutes against Dinamo Moscow
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)- illegible to play
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow)- 90 minutes against FC Moscow
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Slask Wroclaw, note 7
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- 90 minutes against Wisla, note 7
Arkadiusz Radomski (NEC Nijmegen)- 72 minutes against De Graafshap
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Kortrijk
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Gornik, note 6
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- 90 minutes against Asteras

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)- 45 minutes and a goal against Cracovia, note 7
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 82 minutes against Energie Cottbus
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- 10 minutes against Lorient
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- not in the squad against LKS Lodz, injury
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- 79 minutes and a goal against Gornik, note 7
Przemysław Kazmierczak (Derby County)- 90 minutes against Barnsley
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- not in the squad against Eintracht Frankfurt
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- 90 minutes against Metalurg
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 45 minutes against Cracovia, note 5
Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw)- 68 minutes against Slask Wrocław, note 6
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 90 minutes and a goal against GKS Jastrzebie, note 7
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Legia, note 3
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)- 45 minutes against Arka, note 6

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 6
Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow)- didn’t play against Lokomotiv
Michal Janota (Feyenoord Rotterdam)- 18 minutes against Heracles
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- 85 minutes and a goal against Lorient
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes and a goal against Arka, note 6
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 56 minutes against Bayern Munich
Grzegorz Rasiak (Watford)- not in the squad against Ipswitch, injury
Marek Saganowski (Aalborg)- 22 minutes against Sonderjyske
Ebi Smolarek (Bolton Wanderers)- not in the squad against West Brom
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes and a goal against HSV
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Legia, note 4
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- not in the squad against Thrasyvoulos, injury

Summary: It looks like we are witnessing the worst time in Artur Boruc’s career. He was our best player at Euro 2008, he’s already a legend at Celtic. Everyone expected that he’d make another step forward and move to an even bigger club. None of that happened, in fact the last couple of weeks harmed the until-now-perfect image of our Holy Goalie. First he was banned from the Polish national team for heavy drinking after the game against Ukraine. Then we learned that he’d been fined even earlier by Celtic, also for alcohol overuse. And now an unlike-Boruc performance against Rangers in the Old Firm. Of course, he made some mistakes in the SPL earlier, but he never failed to perform in the biggest games of the season (Old Firm and CL). Yesterday, it was a different Boruc. He was quiet, he didn’t shout at defenders, he wasn’t part of the team. His mind was clearly elsewhere. The tabloids are writing about his about to happen divorce with his wife; just after she gave birth to their child during Euros. Is this the reason for Artie’s drinking and lack of concentration? Everything points in that direction; at the same time tabloids aren’t the most reliable source. A difficult time for Artur, I think all the fans should give him a break for some time (Celtic fans were excellent shouting ‘There’s only one Artur Boruc’ after the 4th goal). It’s now up to Artur to sort his life and career out. Let’s hope he’s mentally strong enough to get through this. Polish fans wait to see you in our goal Artur.

What was one of the reasons why Leo didn’t call up Artur Wichniarek? It was because he didn’t score against the strongest German teams. After goals against Werder, Hertha and HSV this argument is no longer applicable. Wichniarek is in great form now, once again raising speculation about his place in the national team. I think it’s now not up to Wichniarek to convince Leo. It’s up to Leo to become convinced (and he’s not that stubborn when you look at Pawel Brozek’s case). If Brozek, Ebi or Lewandowski don’t score against Slovenia and San Marino then Konig Artur will just have to be called up. Let’s hope we don’t end up in a situation where Wichniarek is our last hope.

Ireneusz Jelen continues a long tradition of Polish strikers who perform best when left out of national team (Wichniarek, Brozek, earlier Juskowiak or Frankowski). This was his 2nd goal of the season and he looks really pissed off at Leo. It’s because he didn’t get a call up for the WC qualifiers. Now, through his manager, he’s threatening that may resign from the national team as long as Leo is the manager. What a stupid move. Threaten the manager to include you in the squad? That won’t bring any glory to Jelen. I understand his frustration; I was also surprised that he was left out of the squad after only one game against Ukraine. Still, nobody said that he wouldn’t be called up in the future; I think that Leo just wants to install some self-confidence in Brozek and that’s why he left Irek out of the squad; as he said ‘it’s Brozek time’. Lack of class from Jelen.

Finally, Michal Janota played fo the first time in Eredivisie this weekend. To be honest, I didn’t expect him to win a place in the match squad so fast. Janota himself didn’t expect that as well as he was very reserved about his chances earlier in the summer. I saw his 18 minute debut; he didn’t get much of the ball as Feyenoord’s play was very chaotic at this stage of the game. Still, he had one great dribble, where he beat three players and was brought down in the box (it wasn’t flagrant enough for a penalty). The skills are there, rest assured.

Highlights:

Two mistakes by Boruc in the Old Firm derby

A great goal by Wichniarek

2nd of the season for Jelen

Rafal Boguski scores in Krakow derby

Roger scores against Gornik

Robert Lewandowski strikes once again