Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter
Poland have failed to qualify for Euro 2024 at the first time of asking, as a fairly evenly-matched game ended up in a 1-1 draw. Jakub Piotrowski’s close-range effort saw Poland take the lead towards the end of the first half, before sloppy defending from a set-piece and a few unfortunate ricochets saw an unmarked Tomas Soucek sweep in an equaliser just after the break.
It was a match which Poland dominated, much like their other games so far under Michał Probierz, but a lack of clinical finishing and incorrect decision-making often saw Poland fail to realise the potential of many attacking opportunities they had throughout the game.
There was no Piotr Zieliński in the squad, as he had fallen ill the morning of the match, and Sebastian Szymański was only named to the bench. Karol Świderski did start, but was withdrawn at half-time and taken to hospital as he also felt unwell. Of those who were on the pitch, I thought that Nicola Zalewski and Przemysław Frankowski did well as the wing-backs, and that Jan Bednarek actually had a good game for the most part. Slightly unbelievable though it may be, Kamil Grosicki actually looked good coming off the bench.
There are a myriad range of topics to address with this game, but I feel like a lot of what Probierz is doing is working. One win from three “must-win” games is poor, however in every game Poland have been the better side, but are incredibly poor in certain areas. In attack, there is a lack of clinical finishing, and oftentimes the decision-making lets them down, as I touched upon a few paragraphs back. In defence, Poland seem to start games incredibly nervously, and any attempt to repel set-pieces or balls into the box fail horrifically. If there is one huge area Poland need to improve on, it’s defending set-pieces.
We then come to another area of criticism, this idea that Robert Lewandowski is holding the team back and ought not to feature or have the team geared towards him. For sure he is on the downward slope of his career and that has been very evident when he’s been playing for the national team this last six or so months, especially when you look at his body language, but the idea that he is this gigantic problem isn’t wholly true in my opinion.
For starters, the Poland side has not been built around Lewandowski since Paulo Sousa was in charge two years ago, and it is very clear that he does not have the speed to be an out ball for Poland when they inevitably come under pressure during games. Lewandowski needs someone quicker than him to support, and I can think of two games when this has been really evident: against Spain in Euro 2020, when he had Karol Świderski slightly behind him, and in the World Cup play-off against Sweden 18 months ago when you had Sebastian Szymański in a similar role. I don’t know why this could not be replicated again, other than the fact Probierz likely has one eye on a Poland side without Lewandowski in the near future.
Who knows if those missing through injury or non-selection would have made a difference? Matty Cash and Paweł Dawidowicz would likely have started, and in spite of everything I think I’d rather have had Arkadiusz Milik for the second half last night over Adam Buksa. However, all these “ifs” are distracting us from the fact that prior to the equaliser, Poland had an uneasy comfort in the way they were controlling the tie. Confidence seems to be a huge issue, and I think the wasted months with Fernando Santos are probably a big part of this.
Ultimately, the blame for most of this lies with PZPN president Cezary Kulesza, whose entire tenure has seen him preside over mistake after mistake, as well as an allegedly far less professional body. His predecessor Zbigniew Boniek made mistakes, but at least he rectified them in a timely manner. Kulesza seems to be lurching from one mistake to the next.
Poland will likely have a chance to save themselves in the play-offs, and March is a long time away. Hopefully, Poland’s big players will be fit and in form, you also imagine that by that point maybe Jakub Moder could have a part to play as well. All this is very speculative though, and when these qualifying groups were announced there was a notion that Poland could build a new generation of players and not worry about qualifying as it was a straightforward task. How wrong we were.
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