Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter
Poland fell 1-0 to Croatia in Osijek last night as the now 39 year-old Luka Modric was the star of the show and only goalscorer with the visitors suffering both with and without the ball on a fairly torrid evening in the Balkans.
In fact, Poland were lucky that the scoreline was not an even greater margin, as Croatia wasted chance after chance and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the scoreline could have been quadrupled.
As it was, Modric was the difference-maker both in general play and on the scoreboard, as it was his close-range free kick that was delicately lofted into the top corner past Łukasz Skorupski.
However, despite the overwhelming negatives, there were still some positives for Poland. Had Robert Lewandowski’s second half effort which crashed against the bar been a few inches lower, perhaps we would be slightly less down on his individual performance, and it is fair to say that Poland were in the game right until the last moments.
We still shouldn’t hide from the face that Poland were perhaps the worst they’ve been this calendar year, with almost nothing really working out for them in general play, save for those half-chances they created in the first half and two or three more presentable ones after they had fallen behind.
When it comes to individuals, those introduced were fine. Skorupski was good, as was Sebastian Walukiewicz, and Mateusz Bogusz and Jakub Kamiński were perfectly fine as well. However, it’s disappointing that Piotr Zieliński couldn’t influence the game more, and there were a few moments where Lewandowski and latterly Karol Świderski were so isolated it reminded me of the football we had become accustomed to seeing Poland play over the years prior to Michał Probierz’s appointment.
In my opinion, I think it’s wrong to point so many fingers at the defenders as being the most culpable for the amount of chances served up. Whilst Paweł Dawidowicz continued his slightly agricultural defensive style from Thursday, he was okay in the first half. Jan Bednarek was receiving pelters on commentary, I think unfairly at times, and I seem to be the only person watching who though that Walukiewicz was actually one of Poland’s better players last night.
To me, it was clear that the defence did not have requisite protection from the midfield, and cheap turnovers were the order of business all throughout the team. Even when Probierz tried to shore the midfield up slightly with Jakub Moder and Bartosz Slisz, they didn’t really manage to do that and Moder in particular looked quite rusty, but that is to be expected given his situation.
Probierz didn’t really address how open Poland were in transitions from the Scotland game, and it could’ve been even costlier than it was against Croatia. Hopefully this can be worked on ahead of the next Nations League ties in October, and I think this is probably Probierz’s first real mis-step as Selekcjoner, or maybe second if you think about the match against Austria at the Euros.
Furthermore, Probierz is not wrong when he implies Croatia won due to individuality, that much was clear to see. Therefore you’d like to think particular attention will be paid to Modric and also Mateo Kovacic in the return fixture. Of course, it’s one thing identifying this and another stopping players of such quality, but get the right balance and it should be more possible than it was last night.
Already alluded to, Poland’s next Nations League matches in October will both be at home in Warszawa to Portugal and Croatia.
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