I’ll be covering a few disparate topics in today’s article, but I’d like to think it’s not too broad a range to discuss.
First up, what to me is perhaps the most significant news in terms of how Poland’s national team matches will look in the near future, which is subject to change given a proposed relocation from Stadion Narodowy to Stadion Śląski.
Whilst it seemed practically a done deal, PZPN boss Cezary Kulesza made sure to emphasise that nothing was signed yet and that there was still room for the decision to go either way over the next few days.
Personally, I have no great affection for Stadion Śląski, largely because by the time I started watching Poland in greater detail they very rarely played there. I understand the strength of nostalgia for a lot of people and conversations around dull atmosphere at Narodowy, but surely the whole point of a national stadium being built back in 2012 was so it could be, well, the national stadium?
For what it’s worth, I don’t think every game should be at Narodowy, just the majority. It would also be a much better idea if the Polish national team occasionally played games in Gdańsk, Wrocław or Poznań (as well as the other two main national grounds) to take advantage of the fantastic facilities in those cities. However, if it’s a toss up between Narodowy or Śląski then give me the one without the massive running track around the pitch.
At the end of the day however both are wonderful, attractive national stadiums, and Poland probably should play at Śląski more often. I do get a lot of the arguments about people not wanting to have to travel to the capital and taking the team to different parts of the country and trying to save money for the supporters, but I don’t see this being a net positive for the image of the Polish national team either at home or abroad.
Specifically because Narodowy is an impressive, recently built facility which reflects where the national team should want to be in terms of a modern footballing outfit. Śląski is also impressive, certainly more atmospheric and recently renovated, but the bones of the stadium are still from 1950s.
I am almost certainly reading too much into the symbolism of this decision, but I feel surprisingly strongly about it. I’m certainly not going to stop attending Poland matches just because it's harder to get to Śląsk for someone like me who has to travel from overseas, and I would like to go to a game there, but I have a real soft spot for Narodowy. In part due to Euro 2012 and all that, but also the fact that if you compare it to a lot of other national stadiums (I’m thinking particularly Wembley in England) it’s a far nicer, easier to reach and much more organised experience. I don’t want Poland to lose that if they do indeed end up moving.
Time to address another part of the headline, and that is Tymoteusz Puchacz’s loan move to Plymouth Argyle of the English Championship. Pleased as I was that Puchacz was to be gracing the shores of my native land, I did initially baulk at the idea he was joining a side without a manger rooted to the foot of the second division.
To be fair, Plymouth are not a million miles away from pulling themselves out of the relegation zone and up the table, especially if Puchacz plays as well as he did on his debut Tuesday night. Against Oxford United (and Przemysław Płacheta) Puchacz was named man of the match, notching the assist for Argyle’s equaliser.
I sincerely hope Puchacz can be a real driving force for the West Country team, especially when you consider that so much of his career since leaving Lech Poznań has been spent out on loan at various clubs. Some of these loans have been really successful, like Trabzonspor and Kaiserslautern, with Panathinaikos having been pretty much the only dud on his CV. Hopefully this move (which does contain a buy option) will be like the former two.
As for the transfer rumours catching my eye, it was recent concrete speculation confirming that Feyenoord are in talks to bring Jakub Moder to Rotterdam which most piqued my interest. It’s no secret that Moder’s career has stalled even more so this season than last, and that was a season in which he resumed playing after over 18 months out of action.
It’d be really great if this move worked out, as Feyenoord are a Champions League team (at least for two more matches in any case) and we saw how much playing there helped Sebastian Szymański’s form.
At this point I think it would be salient to touch upon some comments that TVP commentator Jacek Laskowski said about players having left Lech Poznań and not really flourished recently, highlighting names such as Puchacz and Moder as well as Jakub Kamiński and Michał Skóraś.
I understand completely what Laskowski means, in that they are mostly bench players (Puchacz had not yet completed his move to Plymouth), but there is plenty of scope for that to change. Kamiński started for Wolfsburg this week, injuring himself in the process, and Skóraś scored in the cup for Brugge recently as well. Also this is an element of being blinded by recent events creeping in here I fear, as Skóraś played superbly last season, as did Puchacz. Moder and Kamiński have struggled with injury and form, yes, but Kamiński was having a good start to the season before injuring himself playing for Poland and Moder might now get a move to ensure more time on the pitch.
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