Squad Watch: Week 9. What We’re In For With Grzegorz Lato.

Last week’s Polish FA elections overshadowed even the most spectacular individual player performances. Grzegorz Lato became the FA’s president; a choice that proved that the delegates weren’t ready for any sort of a positive change. Lato is a representative of “the old”; that is officials skilled in wasting money and clapping each other’s backs. The only hope is that Lato proves so bad that he’ll have to resign in a year’s time.

First things first, let’s have a look at how the players performed:

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Celtic Glasgow)- 90 minutes against Hearts
Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal London)- on the bench against Stoke City
Wojciech Kowalewski (Iraklis Thessaloniki)- 90 minutes against PAOK
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd)- not in the squad against Hull
Mariusz Pawelek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes against Ruch, note 7
Sebastian Przyrowski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Lukasz Zaluska (Dundee United)- 90 minutes against Falkirk

Defenders:

Barosz Bosacki (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 6
Grzegorz Bronowicki (Red Star Belgrade)- not in the squad against Rad Belgrade, injury
Seweryn Gancarczyk (Metalist Kharkiv)- 90 minutes against Czernomorets
Pawel Golanski (Steaua Bucharest)- 90 minutes against FC Dinamo
Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow)- 90 minutes against Terek
Adam Kokoszka (Empoli F.C.)- 90 minutes against Ancona
Marcin Kowalczyk (Dynamo Moscow)- 90 minutes against Lokomotiv
Tomasz Jodlowiec (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Piotr Polczak (Cracovia Krakow)- not in the squad against Jagiellonia, injury
Arkadiusz Radomski (NEC Nijmegen)- on the bench against Sparta
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht)- 90 minutes and a goal against Germinal
Jakub Wawrzyniak (Legia Warsaw)- 90 minutes against Lechia, note 5
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznan)- 90 minutes against Odra, note 5
Michal Zewlakow (Olympiakos Pireus)- 90 minutes against Ergotelis

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan)- not in the squad against Odra, illness
Rafal Boguski (Wisla Krakow)- not in the squad against Ruch, suspension
Jakub Blaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund)- 81 minutes against Bochum
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre)- 90 minutes against Valenciennes
Lukasz Gargula (GKS Belchatow)- 90 minutes, a goal and an assist against Gornik, note 7
Roger Guerreiro (Legia Warsaw)- not in the squad against Lechia
Przemysław Kazmierczak (Derby County)- 18 minutes against Nottingham
Jacek Krzynowek (VFL Wolfsburg)- not in the squad against Leverkusen
Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk)- 8 minutes against Zorya
Wojciech Lobodzinski (Wisla Krakow)- 30 minutes against Ruch, note 6
Radoslaw Majewski (Polonia Warsaw)- 90 minutes and an assist against Arka, note 6
Rafal Murawski (Lech Poznan)- 49 minutes against Odra, note 6
Szymon Pawlowski (Zaglebie Lubin)- didn’t play this weekend
Michal Pazdan (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 6
Sławomir Peszko (Lech Poznan)- 80 minutes and an assist against Odra, note 7

Attackers:

Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow)- 90 minutes and a goal against Ruch, note 7
Dawid Janczyk (CSKA Moscow)- didn’t play against Spartak
Michal Janota (Feyenoord Rotterdam)- on the bench against Roda
Ireneusz Jelen (AJ Auxerre)- not in the squad against Valenciennes, injury
Robert Lewandowski (Lech Poznan)- 41 minutes and a goal against Odra, note 7
Lukasz Piszczek (Hertha Berlin)- not in the squad against Werder, injury
Grzegorz Rasiak (Watford)- 90 minutes and a goal against Blackpool
Marek Saganowski (Aalborg)- 45 minutes against Odense
Ebi Smolarek (Bolton Wanderers)- on the bench against Man City
Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld)- 90 minutes and a goal against Bayern
Tomasz Zahorski (Gornik Zabrze)- 90 minutes against GKS Belchatow, note 4
Maciej Zurawski (Larissa)- 88 minutes against Aris

Summary: Ok, let’s have a look at who became the newest Polish FA president. It’s a person that is yet to prove that he has any managerial skills. It’s a person that has never been a head of a big company or organization before. It’s a person that coached Amica Wronki in the times when this club took part in corruption scandals. It’s a person who chose members of the so called “concrete” fraction (resistant to change) as his closest advisors. Needless to say, a lot of his closest co-workers took part or “failed to notice” the ongoing corruption. It’s a person who failed to present any ideas on how youth training should look like in Poland. It’s a person that is unable to speak any foreign languages on a communicative level. It’s a person who struggled to read his own election programme before voting. Change? Who needs change, it’s good for the USA. After all, Polish football is in a perfect state, all thanks to people who govern it at the moment. I give you the new president of Polish FA, Grzegorz Lato.

If you thought that it’ll take Lato some time to mess something up you were wrong. Only after being elected our wise president said that we can organise Euro 2012 with Germany if Ukraine fails to meet the demands. What class, what diplomacy. Only now we’ve got the whole Ukrainian government on our heads. Please Mr Lato, try to think next time you say something. It really doesn’t hurt.

A video of Lato’s language skills (found on Rafal Stec’s blog)

Artur Wichniarek just won’t let us forget about him. Eight goals this season and counting; maybe he’ll even compete for the top goalscorer crown, though the leader (Ibisevic) has 13 goals to his name. Arminia are now preparing a big rise for Konig Artur, a one that would make him earn twice as much as the other players. That’s how you repay your legend. Is it worth starting the Beenhakker vs Wichniarek debate once again? Personally, I don’t think so. Let’s consider Wichniar a club player only and just admire the goals he scores.

It’s official, Ebi Smolarek failed to win a place in Bolton’s starting lineup. Not only that, he even fails to lift his ass from the bench. That’s a hugely disappointing spell for Ebi, who escaped from Santander in order to get more playing time. Is he that bad, or does he only need more time to adapt? I somehow can’t see him running 90 minutes with his tongue out Bolton style. Another year to forgot for Ebi? It al points in that direction.

Finally, good news came to us from Holland, and this time it didn’t concern Michal Janota. Polish 18 year old Pawel Wojciechowski scored in his debut for SC Heerenveen, the same club for which Radoslaw Matusiak was not good enough. I’ve never seen Wojciechowski play; from what I read he’s a striker that can play in midfield. He scored more goals than there were games for Heerenveen’s youth team and, as a result, was added to the senior team. He played as a midfielder in his debut and wasn’t entirely satisfied because of a painful injury he suffered. Wojciechowski is also a member of Polish U-19 team, so don’t be afraid of anyone stealing him from us. I’ll definitely keep an eye on him.

Highlights:

Pawel Brozek scores in, I have to say it, Magic style

Robert Lewandowski gets lucky

A dynamite of a shot from Lukasz Gargula

Marcin Wasilewski does what he knows best, that is score with a header

Grzegorz Rasiak doesn’t waste time after recovering from injury

Artur Wichniarek keeps his nerve against Bayern

Pawel Wojciechowski, the newest addition to Polish talents list