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Euro 2024’s knockout stages start later today, and Poland will sadly not be a part of it. Given their early exit was disheartening if not entirely surprising, there was a lot of good stuff to come out of the Polish campaign at the tournament.
Rather than go through every single player who saw minutes at the tournament, I’ve been more selective in going through the members of the squad that saw significant time on the pitch. Hopefully even if you don’t agree with the categorising of the players, you can understand the reasons that I’ll try and explain.
Met expectations: Wojciech Szczęsny
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It’s fair to say that Szczęsny came into what he kept telling everyone would be his last games for Poland with a fair amount of expectation on his shoulders. One of Poland’s best players by some way, it would be hard to say he either surpassed or fell below expectations based upon the high standards we’ve come to expect from him. Szczęsny was good in the opening game against the Dutch and saved his best performance for the Austria game, futile as it proved in the end. If it is to have been his last matches for Poland, he can look back over a career with the national side that got better the longer it went on and this tournament was no different.
Surpassed expectations: Łukasz Skorupski
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Hearing that Szczęsny was to be retiring from international football (something now slightly less clear), I was a proponent of bypassing Skorupski and making Marcin Bułka Poland’s no.1 goalkeeper in the autumn. How pleased I am in the aftermath of the France game to announce I’m completely wrong, as Skorupski put in a player of the match performance which was Szczęsny-esque in quality. There’s no doubt Skorupski has been a fine goalkeeper who hasn’t had his chances, and now he has proven he deserves a chance as first-choice whenever Szczęsny really does hang up his gloves for Poland.
Surpassed expectations: Jan Bednarek
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Everyone’s had a downer on Bednarek for some time, and yet we leave Euro 2024 thinking that Bednarek was by far the most settled and calm of the centre-halves Poland played with at the tournament. Not only that, but given he has been criticised for not being the most aggressive of Polish defenders Bednarek was not shy of putting in a big challenge, and more often than not doing so cleanly. Top performances and pleasing to see validation for those of us who don’t think every centre-back has to be a touch-tight bully.
Below expectations: Jakub Kiwior
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Kiwior was key for Poland in getting to the tournament in Germany, and indeed he was part of what made Arsenal’s defence so watertight during their Premier League title challenge, something which was slightly lost once he was taken out of the side again after a good two month run of games. Unfortunately, he wasn’t at his best over the past fortnight. Against Holland he was good, no doubt, but against Austria he wasn’t great and then we all saw his calamities in the France game. Still Poland’s best and most promising defender, and I’m sure we’ll see that again in the future.
Met expectations: Bartosz Salamon
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We know what to expect from Salamon: a physical presence and the odd challenge which oversteps the mark, but also some pretty perfect but forceful challenges that seem almost like a throwback. This was true of the 80 or so minutes he played against the Netherlands. Could’ve done more to prevent the first Dutch goal in that game, but overall decent. Carried out his work as we expected and it was perfectly fine.
Below expectations: Paweł Dawidowicz
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For ages there has been clamour for Dawidowicz to be in the national set-up, such as it was he always had to pull out through injury whenever he was called-up in the past. Well, perhaps that clamour will go quiet now. The Austria and France games exposed Dawidowicz in a way that perhaps he hasn’t been until then for Poland and a way he certainly isn’t at club level. Truth is I thought Dawidowicz looked rash in the Wales play-off, but everyone else reckoned he was great so I kept relatively quiet about it. Not wanting to say I told you so, but Dawidowicz made a lot of bad decisions in the two games he played. Michał Probierz has a potentially difficult decision to make if Dawidowicz carries on down the erratic path he has displayed so far this year for Poland, and even though he won’t I think if Probierz were to play a back-four it could really work out better given Dawidowicz wouldn’t be in it.
Below expectations: Przemysław Frankowski
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Disappointing tournament for Frankowski. When the squad was announced, we were actually all quite okay with Matty Cash not being taken by Probierz given how good Frankowski has been for Poland in the last nine months. Sadly, Frankowski offered little either going forward or at the back in all three games, and it makes Cash’s potential place in future squads maybe a little more of a possibility again. Frankowski did however look a bit better for the 25-ish minutes he played on the left side against France, so maybe there is a chance he gets more time over there.
Met expectations: Jakub Moder
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Despite being one of the more culpable players in the winning Dutch goal, Moder lived up to the almost impossible expectations that he would be a key midfielder for Poland. He showed good flashes on the ball in the time he had on the pitch in the first game, okay the Austria game wasn’t a great second half for anyone, but a good performance in a more defensive role against France showed everyone watching what we hope the future will look like for Poland’s midfield.
Surpassed expectations: Taras Romanczuk
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Pretty surprising inclusion despite his good league form and the decent ability he has shown in his cameos for Poland since March. Largely in here just for that wonderful challenge from behind in the first half against Holland, seeing as he did little else. Enough for me though as pre-tournament I would’ve been surprised to see him grace the pitch at all.
Met expectations: Nicola Zalewski
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Might be being a bit too kind to Zalewski here. At fault for the first goal against Holland, but good in an attacking sense in all of Poland’s games. You do get the feeling people expected more from him, but he’s still a young player and there is a lot of talent and technical ability there.
Below expectations: Jakub Piotrowski and Bartosz Slisz
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Putting these two together as the Austria game will hang heavy over their heads despite good performances in other Poland games to get to the tournament. A real shame, as Piotrowski has shown himself to be a good box-to-box midfielder and Slisz a capable holding player, but not at the Euros in the brief chances they were given. Entirely possible after the France game we don’t see either as part of a Polish midfield in the near-future, although both will likely still be a part of the squad you’d hope as there is real quality there.
Below expectations: Sebastian Szymański
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If I was kind to Zalewski, maybe I’m being harsh on Szymański. It just feels like after everything we’ve seen of Szymański at club level, he remains a bit of a source of untapped potential when it comes to the national side, similarly to Matty Cash in that sense. Probably the least assured midfielder in the first game against the Dutch, he made up for that with a better game against France, but still we expect a little bit more from Szymański because we’ve seen how good he can be.
Surpassed expectations: Kacper Urbański
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By far and away the biggest winner from this tournament in terms of the future of the Polish team. Urbański inserted himself immediately into everyone’s starting line-ups before a ball was even kicked in Germany off the back of the two friendlies in Warszawa, and yet still he achieved more than we thought possible. A shame he couldn’t feature against Austria, but that was Probierz’s decision and maybe it’s one he regrets, who knows. Brave with the ball and having the ability to go with it, no doubt in anyone’s mind we will surely see more of Urbański starting regularly for Poland.
Met expectations: Piotr Zieliński
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Zielu had a hard task coming into the tournament. Clearly Poland’s best outfield player given Robert Lewandowski’s injury, he was captain too in Lewy’s absence and despite all of this he still lived up to what we thought he might do. Obvious brilliant from a technical perspective, he was also putting in more of a defensive shift in games than we’d seen for a while which was pleasing. Maybe Poland’s player of the tournament besides Urbański?
Surpassed expectations: Adam Buksa and Krzysztof Piątek
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Two strikers who’d been scoring aplenty in Turkey prior to the tournament, one of them most likely wouldn’t even have been in Germany had Arkadiusz Milik not injured his knee in the first pre-tournament friendly. Yet both Buksa and Piątek scored, ultimately in losses but still more goals than most people before the tournament would’ve expected them to get. Hope even with Milik back to fitness Probierz has room for them in future squads.
Below expectations: Karol Świderski
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Maybe it was the ankle injury in the friendly against Turkey, but Świderski couldn’t really make an impact off the bench in Poland’s first two Euro 2024 games. Won the penalty against France, but did little else all tournament and given the high standards he has set for himself in a Poland shirt it does feel a little bit like Świderski had a flat tournament.
Met expectations: Robert Lewandowski
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Again, maybe too kind, but I’m not counting his half-hour against Austria because Poland were really up against it. Not only the retaken penalty against France but his general play in that game means he deserves some praise, he was really up for that match and willing to sacrifice a lot for the team. We weren’t sure how much of a part he could play thanks to that thigh injury, but Lewy gave it his all against France and that’s good enough for me.
Met expectations: Michał Probierz
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Probierz continued getting Poland to play brilliant football, at least for two and a bit games at Euro 2024. Two fine performances and tactical set-ups with a bad one in the middle, pretty good going given it was his first experience of an international tournament. Great tactics, great outfits and a real bravery for the way he got Poland to approach the France game paying off as it did. Indeed, that France game is now surely Probierz’s blueprint for Poland going forward, and I’m very pleased that Poland finally seem to have got the right Selekcjoner after two years of going in the wrong direction.
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