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Naming his first Poland squad this lunchtime, Fernando Santos espoused plenty of his thinking as to what he wants his Poland side to look like and how he wants them to play.
Just as important, however, were the 25 players that made his first squad. I’ll go through it position by position, explaining the surprising (and not so surprising) omissions as well as giving my thoughts on why and how Santos has chosen the squad he has.
Goalkeepers
No surprises here, Wojciech Szczęsny has got at least another five years in him as Poland’s first-choice goalkeeper and he’s backed up by the very capable Łukasz Skorupski and Bartłomiej Drągowski, who returns to the fold after the horrible ankle injury he suffered just before the World Cup.
Defenders
We knew that Kamil Glik was not likely to return to fitness in time for this international break following his knee surgery about six weeks ago, but what was more interesting was that going off subsequent comments Santos made it seems like Glik will still be in the picture in terms of the national team for a little while yet.
It’s refreshing in a way to see how the defence will get on without Glik; in Paweł Dawidowicz and Kamil Piątkowski the cover is certainly there, and ball-playing ability is definitely there with all of the named defenders, but more on that later.
I was particularly pleased to see Michał Karbownik returning to the senior side after the difficult years he has endured. He’s been in sparkling form in the 2. Bundesliga and judging from this announcement has a real chance of getting minutes at left-back in one, or possibly both of, these qualifiers.
Midfielders
In the last article I wrote that midfield was still a problem area, and little if anything has changed in that regard. The big news of course is the omission of Grzegorz Krychowiak, which many Polish pundits are treating as the equivalent of being told the family pet has gone to live on a farm. In my opinion there is no doubting Krychowiak was once a great player, but we could all see his time had been and gone at the World Cup and I think it’s the correct decision from Santos to bring in younger faces, something he has spoken about several times since becoming Selekcjoner.
The decisions Santos has made for his midfield are fairly wise in my opinion, there was always going to be a surprise Ekstraklasa appointment and Ben Lederman fits the bill in that regard. Lederman is seen as a technically gifted midfielder, and it shows Santos’ thinking in this area, as does the reintroduction of Kacper Kozłowski to the senior team. These two appointments I’m particularly pleased about, as it shows a more technical and creative bent towards what was fast becoming a very binary defence or attack midfield.
Mateusz Klich might feel a little hard done by to miss out, but Karol Linetty’s involvement is a pleasing reward considering his positive impact on Torino at the moment. Linetty was shocking the last time he appeared in a Poland shirt, and I hope he gets the opportunity to show that his career with the national team can be revived just like his Torino career has been these past months.
No surprises either with those on the wing in the shape of Michał Skóraś, Jakub Kaminski, Nicola Zalewski and Przemysław Frankowski. All four are having strong seasons and considering three of them are still below the age of 23 (Skóraś having celebrated that milestone last month) it shows that potential there is in this squad.
Strikers
Arkadiusz Milik not deemed fit enough for the squad, so the reports in Italy that he will be fit for Juventus’ big match against Inter Milan this Sunday were perhaps a little off the mark. Obviously Robert Lewandowski and Karol Świderski were called up, but I have to say I’m a little surprised at Krzysztof Piątek being in the squad ahead of Dawid Kownacki. I like Piątek and he does have more experience at this level, but the goals haven’t been there for him since Serie A’s return at the start of the year and Kownacki is having the best season of his career, attracting interest from the top leagues in Germany, England and Italy given he will be out of contract in the summer.
This seems to be everyone else’s major problem with this squad, that Piątek is there and Kownacki isn’t. I think Piątek is judged very harshly, and perhaps fairly, although in this situation I do think he’s in this squad on past merit rather than current form.
Tactics
Fernando Santos said some very encouraging things about how he wants his Poland side to play, speaking about dominating possession and that Poland and its players are ready for such a change in the football the national side plays. Santos also spoke of his preference for a back four, which will undoubtedly free up those more creative midfielders like Piotr Zieliński and Sebastian Szymański as a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2 will be in effect as it was his preference.
In my opinion the most encouraging thing Santos said (perhaps second to the talk of having more of the ball that the opponent) was that he wants to ensure there are always young players in the Poland squad, which I think is a welcome marked departure from the last Selekcjoner’s comments about building a squad for now and not thinking about the future.
Santos says that maximum points are the goal from the upcoming games against the Czech Republic and Albania, and this squad certainly has me feeling optimistic that this goal can be achieved. We’ll have to wait and see if the players receive Santos’ instructions positively, but there is a real chance to develop a more attractive style of play with Poland under Santos, something he was famed for not being particularly good at with Portugal.
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