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What’s Next For Tomasz Kuszczak?

March 5th, 2009 | By: tomasz | 14 Comments »

Tomasz Kuszczak’s situation at Manchester United is the hottest topic in Polish football this week. After Ben Foster’s heroics in last weekend’s League Cup final Kuszczak may be relegated to the position of Red Devils’ third goalie. This is surely a situation that he didn’t expect to find himself in at the beginning of the season. What does the future hold for Kuszczak? What should he do?

One thing is for sure, Kuszczak expected Edvin van der Sar to retire and then replace him as United’s number one keeper sooner or later. However, the Dutch goalie is having one of the best seasons of his life and is unlikely to end his professional career in the near future. Moreover, Ben Foster came back to Manchester from loan further reducing Kuszczak’s opportunities to play. Foster plays as often as Kuszczak this season and is regarded as one of the most talented English goalkeepers. We all know what this means, he’ll be praised for every moderate performance whereas Kuszczak’s every mistake will be carefully examined by the English press. Alex Ferguson says that Foster and Kuszczak will both rival for the nr 1 spot after van der Sar retires. But should Tomek wait for this opportunity? Can he really be treated on equal terms with Foster?

First of all, in this form van der Sar can easily play two more seasons monopolizing the spot in United’s goal at the same time. Foster’s position is also stronger than Kuszczak’s; he would be given chances in cup games. Kuszczak would play only in the least important games, five to six times a season. He would spend some of the games in the stands and some on the bench. I sense that sir Alex wants to have Kuszczak in his squad, but only as a backup, a sort of insurance policy. Are two years virtually without playing worth being given a chance to compete against Foster in the future? I don’t think so. I think it’s high time Kuszczak started playing regularly, even in an inferior club (currently all are inferior to United). When you analyze his career you come to a conclusion that he was the nr 1 goalie only at West Bromwich (and even there he had to first win his place in the squad). He didn’t play a single game for Hertha and has slim chances of playing often for United in the near future. He’s just a perfect nr 2 keeper, like Carlo Cudicini was at Chelsea. I think it’s time for evacuation. Yes, it’s nice to have a Polish player at Manchester United, but it’s even nicer to watch one actually play. For my liking, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll ever see Kuszczak wearing the nr 1 blouse at United. Now, it all depends on where will Kuszczak’s well known ambition lead him. He may be ambitious enough to stay at United and compete against van der Sar and Foster. After all, he’s proud to be at United and is extremely confident. We also can’t forget about the money he earns at Old Trafford. On the other hand, Kuszczak’s ambition may make it unbearable for him to sit in the stands and watch others play. He may want to prove elsewhere that he’s good enough to be United’s nr 1 keeper. But would sir Alex even allow him?

Tomasz Kuszczak faces one of the most important decisions in his professional career: does he want to be a Jerzy Dudek like spectator at a big club or play for the pride of a smaller one? The problem is Dudek already has one legendary performance to his name. Kuszczak is still waiting for one.

Other news: Robert Lewandowski’s yesterday’s cup goal against Wisla

Tags: Ferguson, Foster, Group A, Kuszcak, Manchester United, Poland, van der Sar

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Comments

By Tomek | March 5th, 2009 at 11:51 am

Finally Lewy is scoring again

And Kuszczak has to leave ASAP if he still want to have a respectable football carreer, though he does get boat loads of money for sitting on the bench…

By Witold | March 5th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

Bad luck for Kuszczak, he has to leave, he will be an easy no 1 in a lot of qgood club. Same think for Fabianski, he lost his time in Arsenal, and it is worst because Aluminia is far behind Van der Sar….

By Mateusz Szwed | March 5th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

Kuszczak kuszczak what the hell is he still doing there, I know the money is great but think how much he could be making if he was the number1, but lets for get about the money right now and think about his career, what the fuck has he done? Nothing it’s time to get with a club that will start you and maybe, maybe one day he will start for Poland. Ben Foster, will always be picked over Kuszczak why? Because he is English, any ways get out of there and finally start your career, don’t just fucking sit there and let other play instead of you, what I’m trying to say is grow some balls and make a big time decision

By adas | March 5th, 2009 at 10:10 pm

Perhaps he won’t leave because he doesn’t want to give up. I have to believe he went there to start. Maybe he won’t accept no for answer. Or maybe he just likes the money. Either way, it doesn’t seem like he wants out. Its a tough position to be in.

By paradowski | March 7th, 2009 at 12:27 am

I can’t help thinking that Magic Zuwarski would have made a big impact in the match against Wales, and with him it wouldn’t have been a close match (maybe because I watched the previous Wales games highlights too much) — but I still think that Zuraw would make a better choice than Ebi vs. N. Ireland. Magic is working on a regular basis, where Ebi is not getting any action. Is Zurawski ‘officially’ retired from Poland national team? I know there as been more excitement regarding the prospects of Orbraniak and Jelen, which I share — but I think Zuraw could play a big role in ‘taking care of’ N. Ireland (In addition to Jelen). He has a history of playing great in the qualifiers – and as mentioned Maciej as been active through the Polish winter break and should be ready to go at a high level.

Posted from United States

By zaraza | March 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pm

It’s good to see that Lewy is returning to form.

Janczyk scored today for Lokeren. Unfortunately he’s still only a substitute but it seems he’s making pretty good use of his limited playing time, 2 goals in 4 sub appearances. Maybe next week he’ll finally get a chance in the starting eleven, their starting striker Maazou hasn’t scored in the last five games.

Bartek Pacuszka, an 18 year old left-back, made his debut today in the Eredivisie. He appeared in Heracles Almelo’s starting eleven and played until the 64th minute.

Posted from Canada

By chester | March 7th, 2009 at 11:00 pm

Good to hear about Janczyk the reason why I personally believe he isnt playing as a starter because he is only loaned. Maybe Lokeren want to make a move to buy him and dont want his price to go up or the coach rather would like to see a player he owns play.

By zaraza | March 8th, 2009 at 12:37 am

From what I’ve read, CSKA have no intention of letting Janczyk go for less than they bought him, around 3 million, so it’s unlikely a small club like Lokeren could ever afford him. As for Maazou, Lokeren has already sold him (to CSKA in fact!) so it can’t be that they’re choosing him over Janczyk because he’s their own player. I think they simply believe Maazou is better than Janczyk, unfortunately. But with Maazou’s recent goal drought, maybe Janczyk will finally get his chance.

Tomasz, I agree with you that Kuszczak is just an insurance policy, not a serious contender for the #1 spot. He is constantly criticized by MU fans for his dealing with crosses and overall decision making. These qualities are vital for a #1 keeper at MU but Kuszczak has made almost no progess in these areas. It’s not surprising though, it’s hard to improve if you rarely play any serious matches.

The smart thing would have been to go on loan, but for some reason Kuszczak decided to keep sitting around at MU, even though he knew he wasn’t really improving. I suspect Kuszczak didn’t want to sacrifice the prestige and generous paycheck that he earns for being MU’s benchwarmer. So I don’t agree with you that he’s genuinely ambitious. I think he’ll stay at MU as long as they keep offering him new contracts.

Posted from Canada

By zaraza | March 8th, 2009 at 12:48 am

Janczyk’s goal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsIDZhI7vqk
“Il est incroyable ce Polonais” = This Pole is incredible!

Posted from Canada

By Tomek | March 8th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Yeah Robert Lewandowski scored again today against Jagiellona, anyone who has any doubts about him should be quiet.

Posted from Netherlands

By rob | March 8th, 2009 at 10:23 pm

hey im new.yea the lewandowski goal was pretty nice, it might have looked easy but it really isnt. he had a beautiful first touch and turned around to score, i liked it.

and the whole thing with kuszczak, ehh i dont know, i doubt he’ll get anywhere in his career even though he has a lot of talent. im not sure whats going to happen with him.

By zaraza | March 9th, 2009 at 12:50 am

Welcome to the board.

A few days ago there was an article suggesting that the Obraniak issue might be resolved soon, maybe even in time for the Northern Ireland game, but the following article suggests there’s no chance of that. Polish bureaucracy is slow as hell, they might not even get around to mailing the documents until the week after this one:
http://www.sports.pl/pilka_nozna/artykul.asp?Artykul=44877

On a positive note, Kuba Blaszczykowski will probably be ready for Northern Ireland, barring another injury of course…

Posted from Canada

By Alek | March 9th, 2009 at 1:27 am

I didn’t think there was any chance of Obraniak being able to play against N. Ireland. I’d love to see him finally play but i thought that he had a few missing things for his citizenship, which unless Kaczynski makes sure it goes through personally it will take a while.

By zaraza | March 9th, 2009 at 3:36 pm

Too bad, I thought there was some chance that Kaczynski could push it through quickly but yeah, it doesn’t look that way.

The Polish media claims that Beenhakker is planning to call up Jelen for Northern Ireland:
http://mundial.wp.pl/wid,10921593,kat,1728,title,PS-Jelen-wroci-na-kluczowe-mecze,wiadomosc.html?

Posted from Canada

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