Squad Watch Week 5: Legia More Determined Than Lech In The Ekstraklasa Cassic.

September 27th, 2010 | by: tomasz | Comments(30)

Legia Warsaw at last showed some character and Lech Poznań showed that there are still far from being a quality team in the Ekstraklasa classic. In an entertaining match in front of a great crowd Legia won 2-1 thanks to a goal of a til now failure Bruno Mezenga. Both teams find themselves far behind the leaders Jagiellonia Białystok.

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Fiorentina): on the bench against Parma
Łukasz Fabiański (Arsenal London): on the bench against West Brom
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd): on the bench against Bolton
Grzegorz Sandomierski (Jagiellonia Bialystok): 90 minutes against Zagłębie, note 6
Wojciech Szczęsny (Arsenal London): not in the squad against West Brom
Przemyslaw Tytoń (Roda Kerkrade): 90 minutes against Heerenveen
Łukasz Załuska (Celtic Glasgow): on the bench against Hibernian

Defenders:

Blażej Augustyn (Catania): not in the squad against Bologna, injury
Sebastian Boenisch (Werder Bremen): not in the squad against HSV, injury
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre): on the bench against Nancy
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Lech Poznan): on the bench against Legia
Kamil Glik (Palermo): not in the squad against Lecce
Arkadiusz Głowacki (Trabzonspor): not in the squad against Kayserispor, injury
Artur Jędrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw): 20 minutes against Lech, note 6
Tomasz Jodłowiec (Polonia Warsaw): not in the squad against Polonia B., injury
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.): not in the squad against Grosseto
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow): not in the squad against Spartak Nalchik
Dariusz Pietrasiak (Polonia Warsaw): 90 minutes against Polonia B., note 5
Łukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund): on the bench against St. Pauli
Maciej Sadlok (Ruch Chorzow): 90 minutes against Widzew, note 5
Alan Stulin (Kaiserslautern): not in the squad against Hannover
Jakub Tosik (Polonia Warsaw): 36 minutes against Polonia B., note 5
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan): 86 minutes against Legia, note 6
Michał Żewłakow (Ankaragucu): not in the squad against Genclebirligi, injury

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan): not in the squad against Legia, injury
Jakub Błaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund): 12 minutes against St. Pauli
Ariel Borysiuk (Legia Warsaw): 90 minutes against Lech, note 6
Mateusz Cetnarski (GKS Belchatow): not in the squad against Wisła, injury
Tomasz Cywka (Derby County): on the bench against Crystal Palace
Jacek Kiełb (Lech Poznan): 4 minutes against Legia
Tomasz Kupisz (Jagiellonia Bialystok): 90 minutes, a goal and an assist against Zagłębie, note 7
Grzegorz Krychowiak (Stade Reims): 90 minutes against Metz
Roger Guerreiro (AEK Athens): on the bench against Olympiakos Volos
Maciej Iwański (Legia Warsaw): not in the squad against Lech, relegated to reserves
Radosław Majewski (Nottingham Forest): 15 minutes and a goal against Swansea
Patryk Małecki (Wisla Krakow): 45 minutes against Bełchatów, note 7
Adam Matuszczyk (FC Koeln): 90 minutes against Hoffenheim
Adrian Mierzejewski (Polonia Warsaw): 90 minutes against Polonia B., note 6
Rafał Murawski (Rubin Kazan): 90 minutes against Alanija
Ludovic Obraniak (Lille): 70 minutes against Toulouse
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan): 90 minutes against Legia, note 5
Maciej Rybus (Legia Warsaw): 44 minutes and a red card against Lech, note 1
Bartosz Salamon (Foggia): 60 minutes against Juve Stabia

Attackers:

Paweł Brożek (Wisla Krakow): 90 minutes against Bełchatów, note 6
Rafał Boguski (Wisla Krakow): 15 minutes and a goal against Bełchatów, note 6
Daniel Gołębiewski (Polonia Warsaw): 24 minutes against Polonia B., note 5
Kamil Grosicki (Jagiellonia Bialystok): 45 minutes and a goal against Zagłębie, note 7
Dawid Janczyk (Germinal): not in the squad against Club Brugge
Michał Janota (Go Ahead Eagles): 90 minutes and a goal against RKC Waalwijk
Ireneusz Jeleń (AJ Auxerre): not in the squad against Nancy, injury
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund): 20 minutes against St. Pauli
Dawid Nowak (GKS Belchatow): 15 minutes against Wisła, note 5
Ebi Smolarek (Polonia Warsaw): 66 minutes against Polonia B., note 4
Artur Sobiech (Polonia Warsaw): 90 minutes and a goal against Polonia B., note 5

Summary: Lech should have won this game, I have no doubt about it. They didn’t thanks to their lack of quality finishing and proper approach after the break. For the first 40 minutes of the game Lech was a class better team than Legia, they controlled the game in the middle of the field and created goalscoring opportunities. Sergey Krivets scored a nice goal and Semir Stilic together with Sławomir Peszko should have added the second and the third one. It seemed that there is no possibility that Legia can threaten Lech and that the Wojskowi will suffer another humiliating defeat in the league. However, ‘Maniek’ Arboleda’s simple mistake led Legia to leveling the game and the great fans at Łazienkowska exploded with joy. Still, only five minutes later they were silenced by a stupid red card for Maciej Rybus. Lech had the perspective of playing the second half with one man advantage. The game must have been won for Legia and lost for Lech in the dressing room. The Warsaw team entered the field after the break with an enormous will to fight for survival and hit Lech on every possible counter. Kolejorz acted like they have already won the game and thought that scoring a goal is only a matter of time. As a result, Lech had absolutely no idea how to outsmart the Legia defense and the hosts made their every possession count on the counter attack. Finally, in the 88th minute Bruno Mezenga headed the ball in the net after a great free kick from Tomasz Kiełbowicz. Twenty two thousand Legia fans at last had something to cheer about in a so far miserable season.

Even though it was a very entertaining game, I’m rather upset about the quality of what many consider our ‘export’ teams. After a good game in Turin, Lech was unable to build on that performance and is already eight points behind the leaders (with one game in hand). If they only concentrate on the European competition and fail to play their best in the domestic one they have no chances to retain the championship title. It’s very alarming that the coach doesn’t know how to arrange a team with one man advantage and inspire the players in the game with their arch rivals. Legia, on the other hand, were mentally great in the second half, but it shouldn’t hide the fact that they’re still lacking in the skills department. Their win wasn’t a result of Skorża’s great tactical plan or impressive skills of individual players, but an outcome of ‘never say die’ attitude. I just wonder whether they can repeat the same mental approach next week when they face Lechia Gdańsk. Biggest positive of the game? Michał Kucharczyk certainly confirms that he’s a very promising player and should start for Legia in front of Chinyama and Mezenga in the next couple of games. The biggest drawback is Maciej Rybus’ performance; first of all, he was nowhere to be seen when he was actually on the pitch. Then he literally left it after receiving two stupid yellow cards. At the moment, I see no reason why Franz Smuda keeps the Legia winger in the national team.

Many of you may wonder why Dawid Janczyk fails to even get a single minute for Germinal Beershot this season. Well, the truth surfaced a couple of days ago. As Zaraza wrote under the last post, Janczyk is simply overweight. What’s best, he didn’t gain one or two kilos, but he’s got six kilos more weight on him these days. Can you imagine being a professional athlete and at the same time being able to fatten so much in a matter of months? How is that even possible? People who work in an office would even find it difficult to achieve. Isn’t Janczyk supposed to, how to put it,…move? Train? Run? Work in the gym? Isn’t it what he’s paid for? Dawid is another example of Polish professionalism that we can observe in the last week (maybe he should party together with Peszko and Iwański?). I’m not going to write Janczyk off completely, but such behavior really limits his chances of making best use of his unquestionable talent. Kamil Grosicki is on the best way to turn the things around, maybe Janczyk should follow this example (I’ve never thought I’d write a sentence like that).

Surprisingly, Kuba Błaszczykowski has been relegated to a squad rotation status at Dortmund. All three Poles usually start their games on the bench, but it doesn’t bother Borussia to achieve great results so far this season. It’s all good as long as our players play a role in getting those results (and they do so far). Irek Jeleń’s health is once again a problem for both Auxerre and Poland. He missed the weekend’s game and it remains unknown whether he’ll make it for the Champions League encounter. I really hoped that the summer’s knee surgery will significantly limit his health problems, but it seems that Jeleń is a really difficult case. At least Adrian Mierzejewski recovered from an injury and will be available to Franz Smuda for the North America tournee.

Highlights:

Legia vs. Lech highlights

Majewski finishes very nicely

Janota scores luckily

It took some time for Artur Sobiech to score this one

Kamil Grosicki scores after a counter

Tomasz Kupisz scores after a great run from his teamate

Rafał Boguski scores from a penalty spot