We’ve had 24 hours to digest yesterday’s opener for Poland, their staid 0-0 draw against Mexico. The feeling of disappointment was capped off by Robert Lewandowski missing a penalty and the chance to break his World Cup scoring duck.
This wasn’t all; Piotr Zieliński was deployed in an unfamiliar and vague role, and Czesław Michniewicz’s tactics have come under heavy fire (he’s been firing back as well). There were some positives, such as the back four and a commanding performance from Wojtek Szczęsny.
So, here I’ll try to go into a little more depth and expand on these details:
1: Ochoa read Lewy’s technique perfectly. Is it time to change?
Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
I’m not suggesting we change penalty taker; Lewandowski is still the best penalty taker in the Poland squad and one missed penalty isn’t going to change that. However, much like Italian midfielder Jorginho, Lewy’s technique relies on waiting until the last possible moment and for the opposing keeper to make the first move. Unfortunately yesterday Ochoa read this perfectly, fainting that he would go to his right before diving down to his left and making the save.
Hopefully the next time Lewandowski gets a penalty he tries to take the goalkeeper out of the equation by placing the ball in the corner, as 9/10 times the technique tried yesterday will still work, but goalkeepers will be wiser to it than before.
2: Zieliński was misused
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Piotr Zieliński has been one of Europe’s most in-form midfielders so far this season. Crucially he was so almost invisible yesterday on account of the fact Michniewicz seemed to be playing him as a second striker or so far forward that he was disconnected from the rest of the midfield. Had Zielu been sat deeper, he would probably have had a greater impact on the game.
3: The tactics
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Brace yourselves, this section might go on a bit. I have no problem with Poland playing defensive football and looking to utilise the counter. They did this very well in the second half of the warm-up game against Chile last week. However, one of the reasons it worked a week ago but didn’t yesterday is that the ball was launched into the sky with such regularity last night that you could see by the 20 minute mark it wasn’t working, and yet the tactic remained the same all game.
Michniewicz has been taking the criticism of his approach badly, it would be fair to say, telling a group of assembled journalists this morning. “Tell me a more offensive squad than yesterday.” Quite frankly, just because you put the most technical players on the pitch doesn’t mean you used them effectively, Panie Michniewicz.
I’d like to think that Michniewicz’s comments this morning were just bravado and he will go away and tweak the style to a more positive effect in the next games. Teams such as Japan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia themselves have shown that defensive football can be wonderful to watch if the counter is applied correctly, but the level of anti-football shown yesterday should not be allowed to stand if it is repeated against Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
4: The back four
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Finally, the positives. The back four looked like the best way Poland could cope with a front three such as the one Mexico played, and I’m really pleased with the way it was implemented. Matty Cash and Bartosz Bereszyński were disciplined in their defensive duties (perhaps a little too defensive, but wasn’t everyone) and Kamil Glik and Jakub Kiwior were very solid, with Glik’s performance a real pleasant surprise given he has been pretty rusty in previous games this season.
Whether the back four persists against Saudi Arabia we will see (Bereszyński is reported to have a minor injury), but I would like to see Cash get himself a bit further forward when the time is right, as obviously his abilities could be of great use in an attacking sense as well.
5: Szczęsny finally has a good performance in the opening game of a tournament
Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
Euro 2012 saw Szczęsny give away a penalty and get sent off. Euro 2016 saw him injured and miss the rest of the tournament. The last World Cup in 2018 saw him come racing out of his goal, only for the ball to be touched past him and scored into an empty net and last year at the Euros saw Szczęsny make history by becoming the first goalkeeper to score an own goal at a European Championship when the ball ricocheted off the post and onto his back before settling in the back of the net.
I was therefore pleased that despite all the possession that Mexico had and the few chances they created with real danger, that Szczęsny stood up well to each challenge he faced and finally looked like he was comfortable in the opening match of an international tournament. Let’s hope he can keep up that kind of calm, no-nonsense form for the rest of the World Cup.
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