Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter
With a week to go until Poland’s first of what will hopefully be two Euro 2024 play-off matches against Estonia, it would be prudent to assess the state of the national side as well as casting an eye over those whose form has been good and not so good since I last penned an article.
Frankly, I’m upbeat about Poland going into this international break, largely for two reasons. One, Michał Probierz has been pretty effective in his work as Selekcjoner, even if the results have not been there to show for it yet. Two, you have a number of decent players in good form, as well as two key players in the sort of form you would’ve been surprised by after the last games Poland played.
Probierz does not have he results to back up the way he is trying to get Poland to play, but it is easier on the eye than the last two Selekcjoners and Probierz certainly has a clear idea of what he wants his team to do both in and out of possession, which is far more than can be said for Fernando Santos.
As for those key players in good form, there’s one in defence and one in attack, with Jakub Kiwior and Robert Lewandowski respectively. Kiwior has been exceptional lately, getting himself a long run in Arsenal’s starting line-up and not looking at all out of place in one of the world’s best teams at the moment. Indeed, from week-to-week there is more and more praise for Kiwior from Arsenal fans and journalists, which is particularly pleasing given that before the start of February Kiwior’s opportunities were limited.
Lewandowski is clearly on the downward slope of his career, and there has been a real questioning of his ability since the start of the 2023-24 season, but around the turn of the year he slowly picked up his output of goals and assists, and he scored again on Tuesday night as Barcelona made the Champions League quarter finals.
You’d be hard-pressed to deny that based on the level of talent and form that these two players will not be most key for Poland in the upcoming international break, although there are a number of Polish players in good form. From Paweł Dawidowicz and Tymoteusz Puchacz in defence to Michał Skóraś and Krzysztof Piątek in attack, there are a whole host of players floating close to or under the radar that can help boost the squad as a whole.
Jakub Moder has also returned to sporadic Premier League football with Brighton, but I don’t think he is ready to be a part of the upcoming internationals when you consider the form and playing time that others in his position carry into the end of this month.
I’ve put together a rough guess at what I think might be Poland’s (and Probierz’s) strongest side in theory, and what it would look like:
It’s also worth mentioning reports in the past few days from TVP that Jagiellonia Białystok’s Dominik Marczuk will be a surprise call-up by Probierz. Marczuk has been really brilliant for Jagiellonia this season, but I’d be surprised even if Marczuk does get called up that he would get significant minutes in either match.
Given that the last few squads Probierz has named have been released at odd times, we should expect the squad for the upcoming games any moment now. Indeed, credible reports from a number of journalists in Poland are circulating, stating that we will find out the squad today.
For more, follow @ekstraklasaexp on Twitter and @ekstraklasaexports on Instagram to know when new posts go live.
Comments