Now that the international break has concluded, we must once more assess how those who featured in Fernando Santos’ Poland squad fared over the course of the break as a whole, as well as in the games against the Czech Republic and Albania.
I’ve picked ten players who stood out, both positively and negatively, some of whom have generally either not got enough chances or maybe have had too many.
The Winners
Bartosz Salamon
Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
When it was announced that Kamil Piątkowski was set to miss the international break through a muscle injury, the idea that Salamon was called up instead of another, younger centre back caused some fans to rankle a little bit.
Salamon didn’t feature in the game against the Czech Republic, but was drafted in for the game against Albania and put in a man-of-the-match level display, adding a no-nonsense quality to the back line that simply wasn’t there in the previous match. This keeping things simple probably added to the dull nature of the Albania match, but that was no bad thing given the result.
It’s hard to see Salamon making too many other squads, but I would certainly think twice about excluding him in June simply because he’s proven himself a calm figure in a side that needed a bit of a steady hand on Monday night.
Karol Świderski
Image via @EURO2024 on Twitter
Goes without saying that perhaps there would be even less positive feeling about this international break had Świderski not grabbed the only goal of the game against Albania. It was a superb, instinctive finish by the striker and he was named Man of the Match in the fan vote.
Arkadiusz Milik will certainly have been feeling hot under the collar given the superb performance of Świderski, and it’s probably justified that despite Milik’s brilliant club form this season he perhaps isn’t the go-to second striker for the Polish national team at this moment in time.
Piotr Zieliński
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The biggest name to have an increase in how he’s been perceived over the course of the past week, Zieliński has surpassed Robert Lewandowski in terms of how important they are to Poland, at least in the eyes of some pundits. I’m not wholly on board with this synopsis yet, but it was clear to see that Zielu is capable of so much with the ball at his feet in the midfield.
One of very few players to come out of the game in Prague with any credit, Zieliński continued his good form with a perfectly solid performance on Monday. He may not have scored or assisted in either match, but his general level of play was brilliant throughout.
Przesmysław Frankowski
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It was expected by some that Frankowski would be playing a bit-part role in the squad, with options ahead of him both in terms of as a winger or as a full-back. As it turned out, he was the most solid defender against the Czech Republic when he was switched to left-back for the second half, and whilst not overly impressive against Albania was still good enough to be a crucial part of why Poland kept a clean sheet (albeit narrowly).
Michał Skóraś
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Perhaps I’m being a little harsh on the other young wingers in the squad, but given the levels that Jakub Kamiński and Nicola Zalewski perform to for their clubs, it does seem they stand out less with the national team.
Skóraś seems to be standing out just as much for Poland as he does for Lech Poznań; he was probably the best attacking player against the Czech Republic and was solid when introduced against Albania. He’s in very good form this season and it doesn’t matter whether he’s playing in the Ekstraklasa, in Europe or with Poland, Skóraś is a must-watch.
The Losers
Matty Cash
Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
Cash has come in for criticism like never before in the past week; something I think is surprisingly harsh given how horrendous the defending was as a collective against the Czech Republic, and considering he only managed nine minutes before going off with a calf injury, we’ll never know if he could’ve made up for the poor defending with something positive up the other end of the pitch.
There’s also been plenty of questioning his effort, something I think is pretty lazy. Yes, we all know he’s not 100% a Polish national, but to stereotype him as not caring after everyone has spent the last 12-18 months ingratiating themselves to him seems bizarre. He could be doing better but then again the last game before this that Cash played for Poland saw him keep Kylian Mbappe pretty quiet for the best part of an hour, and people still saw fit to complain.
Robert Gumny
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Gumny was particularly poor as Cash’s replacement against the Czech Republic. For the 80 minutes he was on the pitch, he offered very little going forward and even less in defence. It’s a shame because Gumny has had a pretty decent season at Augsburg but he’s yet to really play to the same standard in a Poland shirt.
As far as I can tell no-one’s really singled Gumny out for criticism and whilst I’m not one to dig out players, he really did not put in enough effort, particularly the lacklustre jogging back for the third Czech goal.
Jakub Kiwior
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It was a shame to see Kiwior struggle so much against the Czech Republic, but you’d have to argue this is simply the lack of regular football since his January move to Arsenal. He wasn’t the only culprit of bad defending on Friday night, but I would argue he could’ve done more to prevent the first two goals.
Against Albania he was better despite being played out of position at left-back, although in my opinion still looked the weakest of that back four, but this can be excused as it is not a position he’s hugely familiar with.
I’m sure he’ll bounce back against Moldova in June provided he is fit and selected. In many ways Kiwior is Poland’s next great hope in his position, and so long as he doesn’t have too many more games like these he’ll be fine.
Michał Karbownik
Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter
Karbownik was really thrown in at the deep end against the Czech Republic. To be having such a good season in Germany, get his chance with the national team and receive very little help either defensively or in attack before being hauled off at half time was a shame. It was even more disappointing that he didn’t get a chance to redeem himself against Albania.
The game in Prague was absolutely Poland’s toughest game of the entire qualifying process (on paper, at least), and the fact Karbownik struggled doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have a future with the national team. He certainly deserves more of a second chance than some of the others who underperformed against the Czech Republic.
Krystian Bielik
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Bielik was poor against the Czech Republic and now has seen both Karol Linetty and Damian Szymański leapfrog him in terms of the pecking order for that more defensive midfield spot. In my opinion, Bielik has had enough chances now and although I wouldn’t discount him from future squads completely, the moment Jakub Moder regains fitness you imagine Bielik’s chances will be reduced even further.
There are some other players that came close to making both lists, and some who fit neatly in-between. Lewandowski, for example, was nowhere near as bad as people are willing to make out and isn’t finished no matter how much people are claiming him to be. If Lewy were to be put out to pasture now, Poland loses a record goalscorer, someone still playing at the highest level, a captain and a symbol.
Karol Linetty was another strange one. Practically invisible against the Czech Republic, he followed that up with a remarkably solid game against Albania. Difficult to classify, given one poor game and one good one, hence I decided on this honourable-ish mention.
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