Squad Watch: Week 5. Unimpressive Debut By Ebi Smolarek.

Ebi Smolarek can’t find his form from Euro 2008 qualifiers. He posed no threat whatsoever in his debut game for Bolton Wanderers. The Premiership, at least in the first match, proved too fast and competetive for him. The other Polish highlight of the weekend was Tomasz Kuszczak’s involvement in Super Sunday game against Chelsea. He did ok, though some commentators state that he could’ve acted better before Kalou’s goal. Finally, a worrying trend of Poles losing places in the starting lineups abroad can be observed.

No dazzling performances in Squad Watch Week 5:

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Kilmarnock
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- on the bench against Bolton
Wojciech Kowalewski (Iraklis Thessaloniki)- 90 minutes against AEK Athens
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- 59 minutes against Chelsea
Mariusz Pawelek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Jagiellonia, note 6
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 6
Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United)- 90 minutes against Aberdeen

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- not in the squad against Piast, injury
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- not in the squad against Jagodina, injury
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv)- 90 minutes against Karpaty Lviv
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- 21 minutes against Gaz Metan
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- didn’t play against Spartak Nalchik
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)- illegible to play
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow)- 1 minute against Shinnik
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 6
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- 90 minutes against Legia, note 3
Arkadiusz Radomski (NEC Nijmegen)- 72 minutes against Heerenveen
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Charleroi
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 6
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Piast, note 5
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- on the bench against Panserraikos

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Piast, note 6
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)- 45 minutes and a goal against Jagiellonia, note 7
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 45 minutes against Hoffenheim
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- 13 minutes against Lille
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- 90 minutes and an assist against Lechia
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- 85 minutes, goal and an assist against Cracovia, note 7
Przemysław Kazmierczak (Derby County)- on the bench against Cardiff City
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- not in the squad against HSV
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- not in the squad against Arsenal
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 69 minutes and an assist against Jagiellonia, note 6
Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 6
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Piast, note 6
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 90 minutes against Wisla Plock, note 6
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Slask, note 6
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)- not in the squad against Piast, injury

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Jagiellonia, note 5
Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow)- didn’t play against Zenit
Michal Janota (Feyenoord Rotterdam)- on the bench against Ajax
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- 67 minutes against Lille
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 82 minutes against Piast, note 5
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- 15 minutes against Borussia MG
Grzegorz Rasiak (Watford)- not in the squad against Reading, injury
Marek Saganowski (Aalborg)- 80 minutes against FC Copenhagen
Ebi Smolarek (Bolton Wanderers)- 56 minutes against Arsenal
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 89 minutes and a goal? against FC Koeln
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Slask, note 6
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 22 minutes against Skoda Xanthi

Summary: I had a chance to watch the whole 56 minutes of Ebi Smolarek’s debut for Bolton. I was disappointed, but not surprised with what I saw. It was Ebi that we’ve been watching for the last half a year, only against a better opponent. I don’t think that Arsenal players will remember him after this game. Smolarek was too slow and uninventive to do anything good in the game; yes his technique is good, but he used it for nothong else than passing to the closest teammate. There was a complete lack of bravery and anger in his game, attributes that are essential when you want to survive in a club like Bolton. Ebi played both on a right wing and as a lone striker and was ineffective in both positions. His substitute, Mustapha Riga, brought much more flair into the game. Ebi needs to switch fast to a new style of play and forget completely about the Euro qualifiers.

Tomasz Kuszczak had a chance to show off his skills against Chelsea due to van der Sar’s injury. He saved what he had to save and let in what he had to let in. Or did he? Some experts raise doubts whether Kuszczak acted correctly during the goal for the Blues. You have to make up your mind on your own with this one, but I don’t think that he could do much more in this situation. Apart from that, our goalie signed a new contract with United lately. The only question is whether Fergie (or Rudolf Red Nose as some call him) extended his contract because Kuszczak is a future nr 1 or because he wants to have a good backup keeper. For me both options are equally justified; sir Alex may as well want to buy a star keeper in the future as leave both Kuszczak and Foster to compete for the nr 1 blouse. If latter is the case then we’ll have a starting keeper at ManUtd, mainly because Foster is not far from Chris Kirkland (former Dudek’s nemesis at Liverpool) in terms of injury proneness.

It’s sad, but I don’t have much to write about. More and more Polish players lose place in their teams abroad. Want some examples? Two of our leaders, Jacek Krzynowek and Mariusz Lewandowski, are regularly dropped from the squad this season. Krzyniu can’t even make the bench and is desperate to find a new employer. Dariusz Dudka didn’t start the last 3-4 games and is yet to impress anyone at Auxerre. Pawel Golanski returned from injury for Steaua, but will find it hard to play regularly as the Romanian giants brought back George Ogararu from Ajax (his favourite position is right defender as we read in Wikipedia). Some players lost their places in the team after they’d returned from international games: Marcin Kowalczyk, Mariusz Jop and Lukasz Pisczek didn’t start in the last two games. To top that, Marek Saganowski can’t score a single goal in the Danish league, Dawid Janczyk plays football only during training sessions and Adam Kokoszka……well you all know what happened to one of our most talented defenders. Think about all of this next time you hear we should easily challenge the Czech Republic for the first place in our WC quals group.

Highlights:

Could Kuszczak do better in this situation?

For some it’s another goal by Wichniarek, for some it’s an own goal. A beauty nevertheless.

Roger starts to regain his form.

A tricky goal by Boguski.

Marek Saganowski, our starting striker. Ouuch.