Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter
Poland have been relegated to Division B of the Nations League after an injury-time goal sunk the hosts in Warszawa. Falling behind mere minutes into the game, Kamil Piątkowski’s rocket to equalise just shy of the hour mark was eventually rendered moot by an Andy Robertson header to condemn Poland to relegation.
The biggest pointed finger should absolutely go to Michał Probierz. The entire time he has been Selekcjoner he has spoken about playing with intensity and playing to win. Evidently, he decided to compromise on this and play for the draw, only for it to blow up in his face which seemed to be the way games have been going lately for him.
Worse still, he didn’t even commit to settling for the draw, save for the substitution of Jakub Kamiński (the most threatening Poland player for much of the game) for Tymoteusz Puchacz. If he was serious about hanging on, he would’ve taken off Nicola Zalewski and probably Adam Buksa given how tired he looked for most of the last half hour.
Bordering on comical yet again was Poland’s first-half defending, and Łukasz Skorupski was called upon several times for heroics in between the posts.
There was a lot wrong with Poland tonight, and a lot of it lands squarely at the feet of Probierz. Yet again, the initial starting line-up has holes and personnel choices which can be exploited, he goes some way to fixing this in-game before other areas of game management let him down. We know Probierz won’t be sacked, he has done some good work with Poland, but the last month has seen patience starting to wear thin. If these issues persist for one more international break, I wouldn’t hesitate to say he could well be dismissed.
Probierz deflected quite a lot in the post-match press conference, although he makes a few decent points about not taking chances in attack and lack of regular play for multiple players. However, suggesting that the side is still progressing and that there were lots of positives from the Nations League campaign seem quite far-fetched in the context.
As far as the criticisms of individual players go, for a two striker set-up Karol Świderski and Adam Buksa were incredibly blunt in terms of their finishing. Sebastian Walukiewicz put in one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen from him, and Jakub Moder has been such a sad sight to see since returning from his long lay-off.
Positives include Skorupski, Piątkowski, Kamiński and Jakub Kiwior. I thought Sebastian Szymański was decent and Bartosz Slisz felt like a huge upgrade when introduced for Moder. Puchacz was not terrible but he was substituted on for the wrong wing-back in my opinion.
It goes without saying that many heads are hot after this loss, mine included. Therefore a lot of what you read or what is written in the next few hours and days should be taken with a pinch of salt, but make no mistake: Poland have gone backwards fast since the summer, and it’s hard to see when it gets better. Personnel-wise, there is little appetite for younger players who are obvious upgrades on the current squad and with the impending retirement of Robert Lewandowski over the next few years we are left with a situation like we saw in the last two matches, a case where only a few more injuries lead to inconsistent performances and calamitous results.
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