Image via @FCBarcelona on Twitter and Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
This past weekend saw two Polish players have a bounce back to form, albeit somewhat relative. Robert Lewandowski and Kamil Jóźwiak are two players moving in very different footballing circles nowadays, linked only by their nationality and the fact that Jóźwiak assisted Lewandowski in the 1-1 draw against Spain at Euro 2020.
Indeed, you could argue that since the summer of 2021 their careers could not have been more different. Lewy won yet another Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich before departing for Barcelona and helping them to their current position as leaders of La Liga, whereas Jóźwiak struggled to perform at a disadvantaged Derby County before leaving for Charlotte FC of the MLS, where he has continued to struggle.
This weekend however saw both Lewandowski and Jóźwiak score and assist: Lewy scored a brace and registered an assist in a 4-0 away win at Elche and Jóźwiak helped Charlotte to a point with an assist and a goal away to Toronto in a 2-2 comeback from 2-0 down.
I thought that this was a particularly interesting parallel. For the past few weeks and during the international break, many Polish pundits and fans have declared that Lewandowski is rapidly declining and that perhaps new Selekcjoner Fernando Santos should look to phase him out of the national side. To me, this would be far too rash a decision, and so perhaps it would prove given his stellar performance in his most recent game (even if he really should've had a hat-trick). Whether he keeps this going into the midweek Copa Del Rey tie against Real Madrid we’ll have to see, but Lewy is now back amongst the goals at the very least.
Jóźwiak is a player that Polish pundits seem unwilling to write off, unlike the fans. This is despite the fact that before this weekend he had only one goal since leaving Lech Poznań in 2020. Whilst still a relatively terrible output for a winger who is weeks from his 25th birthday, who knows whether Jóźwiak may yet get his career back on track. I’d written about him last autumn prior to the World Cup about how he might do this, and you have to say it’s hard to see him ever getting back to the level he was for Poland under Paulo Sousa, which was arguably the best football he ever played.
Cliches are aplenty in football, and especially football writing. That said the old adage that form is temporary and class is permanent can readily be applied in both case of Lewandowski and Jóźwiak. When Lewandowski does not score, it is not that he does not play well, and you can argue that at this stage of Jóźwiak’s career the opposite is true and he only plays well when the end product is there.
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