Images via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
There are still plenty of things to finalise when it comes to Fernando Santos’ first items on his to-do list as the new Selekcjoner. We don’t know yet who he will appoint as his assistant, as much as Łukasz Piszczek is being rumoured to fill this role. Nor do we know what kind of tactics or formation that Santos is likely to employ, and that’s where this article comes in.
For any national team manager, there is a fine line between including your best players and fitting them into a system. For example, at the World Cup Piotr Zieliński was used poorly in my opinion, not really able to influence games as decisively as he might’ve been able to in a less defensive side. Santos is famed for prioritising defensive football, so there are warning signs there, but Portugal have also impressed going forward under his tenure with his home nation.
A back four was used by Czesław Michniewicz in the World Cup, a marked difference from the back three most often used by Polish managers in the years since Adam Nawałka left his post. Whilst this had mixed results, it confirmed in my opinion that certain players Poland had in that squad would’ve benefited more from playing as wing-backs, notably Nicola Zalewski. Matty Cash has also expressed a willingness to play wing-back for Poland, and his best performances for the national team have been in that position.
We also have the conundrum of what to do in terms of ensuring Robert Lewandowski plays in a side conducive to him. There were suggestions after the World Cup that the Polish side should be focused on Zieliński rather than Lewandowski going forward, but there is no reason they can’t both work well in the same system. Lewy’s best individual tournament for Poland was Euro 2020, but it wasn’t Poland’s best, so how can Santos bring these two factors together?
Both Lewandowski and Zieliński play at club sides that use a 4-3-3 formation and enjoy lots of the ball; with the best will in the world Poland are not going to be a side that dominates possession in most of their games, at least not on current evidence.
Then we also have Arek Milik, who seems to be limited to coming off the bench for Poland despite his obvious talent and his solid season with Juventus. We haven’t even mentioned Jakub Moder, who will soon be fit again, Przemysław Frankowski having a great season with Lens as a wing-back, Jakub Kamiński, who has been great as a left-winger for Wolfsburg and Sebastian Szymański’s standout performances for Feyenoord.
In my opinion, a formation similar to that which Paulo Sousa played in Euro 2020 could be a way you fit Poland’s best players into the same formation. You would have Zalewski and Cash as the wing-backs, Moder and Zieliński as a midfield two and one of Kamiński, Frankowski or Szymański and Milik sitting just off Lewy. If this doesn’t work, perhaps Santos could use a 4-3-3 as he has favoured this formation through his career. How exciting it would be to see a midfield of Moder, Zielu and Szymański.
Of course, this article is just speculation but I think it will be very interesting to see how Santos handles the task of fitting the best players at his disposal into whichever system he sees fit, and we will see this for the first time at the end of March in Prague against the Czech Republic.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Comentários