Squad Watch: Week 7. Poles Stay Quiet.

Polish players seem not to have recovered from the shocking loss against Slovakia. None of them really impressed during the weekend, none of them took our minds away from what happened on Wednesday. Pawel Brozek had another good game for Wisla and, as a result, fuelled tranfer rumours concerning himself. Artur Boruc recovered from Wednesday’s disaster and had some good saves against Inverness. Better late than never?

Here is your Squad Watch:

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Inverness
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- on the bench against Everton
Wojciech Kowalewski (Iraklis Thessaloniki)- 90 minutes against Ergoletis
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- on the bench against West Brom
Mariusz Pawelek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Piast, note 5
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 6
Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United)- match delayed

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 4
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- not in the squad against Borac, injury
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv)- not in the squad against Arsenal Kyiv
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- not in the squad against Otelul Galati
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- 58 minutes against Krylya Sovietov
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)- on the bench against Parma
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dinamo Moscow)- 90 minutes against Terek Grozny
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 5
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- not in the squad against Polonia Warsaw, injury
Arkadiusz Radomski (NEC Nijmegen)- 90 minutes and a goal against Vitesse
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes against Zulte Waregem
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against LKS Lodz, note 6
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 4
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- 90 minutes against Panthrakikos

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 5
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)- 84 minutes against Arka, note 6
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 90 minutes and an assist against Werder Bremen
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- 90 minutes against Rennes
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- 90 minutes and an assist against Polonia Bytom, note 5
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- on the bench against LKS Lodz
Przemysław Kazmierczak (Derby County)- 13 minutes against Plymouth
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- on the bench against Arminia
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- not in the squad against Kryvbas
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 65 minutes against Piast, note 5
Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 3
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 5
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- 90 minutes against Kmita, note 6
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Lechia., note 4
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)- 65 minutes against Ruch, note 4

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes, a goal and an assist against Piast, note 8
Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow)- on the bench against Amkar Perm
Michal Janota (Feyenoord Rotterdam)- on the bench against Willem II
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- 25 minutes against Rennes
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 4
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- not in the squad against VFB Stuttgart, injury
Grzegorz Rasiak (Watford)- not in the squad against Southampton, injury
Marek Saganowski (Aalborg)- 22 minutes against FC Nordsjaelland
Ebi Smolarek (Bolton Wanderers)- on the bench against Blackburn
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes against Wolfsburg
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against Lechia., note 4
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 90 minutes against AEK

Summary: What am I to write about a weekend like that? None of the Polish players playing abroad grabbed the headlines this time. Kuba Blaszczykowski played well against Werder, but we’ve all already grown accustomed to that. A rare thing happened in Holland where Arkadiusz Radomski scored a goal for NEC Nijmegen. Do you remember him scoring in the last 10 years? I thought the answer would be ‘no’. Radomski is playing regularly in the Eredivisie and many people think he should return to the national team. I think it’s a question whether we want to play a more experienced, reliable defender like Arek or give a chance to rookies like Jodlowiec or Polczak. It looks as if Leo has made a conscious choice and decided to implement some fresh blood in defence (Polczak, Jodlowiec, Kowalczyk, Wojtkowiak). On the other hand, he didn’t hesitate to call up Bosacki in September, so I’m far from writing Radomski off. He’s just an additional option. Good news for Michal Zewlakow and Dariusz Dudka this weekend. For the first time since at least a month ago both players have managed to play the whole 90 minutes for their clubs. Playing well for the national team might have helped. Adam Kokoszka finally got a taste of Serie B; at least from a benchwarmer perspective. Let’s hope he wasn’t given jersey nr 3 for nothing. Artur Boruc proved that he’s unable to play two bad games in a row and showed some nice saves against Inverness. Celtic fans can rest assured; Boruc is not a kind of guy that would lose sleep over mistakes, regardless how huge.

Finally, some transfer rumours. Bologna is interested in Pawel Brozek; they’ve already watched him in two games. Wisla won’t block this transfer, but the asking price is 3,5 M €, which would be the highest fee ever paid for a player from the Polish league. As far as I’m concerned, any average club from a strong league is a good option for Brozek. It’s high time for him to leave Poland; he says that he wants to play for Wisla till the end of the season. Dawid Janczyk, on the other hand, is going in different direction. After failing to make any mark whatsoever in CSKA he’s about to return to Poland and play for GKS Belchatow. At least according to Przeglad Sportowy.. In my opinion, any place where Janczyk can play regularly will be good for him. It would also be interesting to see if he’s learnt anything in Russia or just wasted his time there. Lastly, Super Express is writing that Michal Janota will get a call up from Leo sooner than later. As much as this info comes from a tabloid, I think nothing stands in a way of giving Janota his first cap in the one of upcoming friendlies. It’s a situation where we can’t lose.

Highlights:

Rafal Boguski and Pawel Brozek score against Piast Gliwice

Kuba Blaszczykowski’s assist