Lech’s problem – goalkeeping? yay or neigh?

I may not be an expert on KKS Lech Poznan, but I do know one thing – they need a better goalkeeper. Personally, after watching them play in the UEFA Cup and Ekstraklasa, I can say they are a complete Polish club team. They have it all unlike other Ekstraklasa clubs, and that is why they are still in Europe… unlike the other Polish clubs. Although they, like everything are not perfect.

They have a great attack (Lewandowski, Renfigo, etc), very good midfielders (Murawski, Stilic, etc), and of course a very decent defense (Arboleda, Tanevski, etc). Let’s not forget the ever frank and wonderful coach, Franz Smuda. He may not be the most brilliant coach, but he knows how to prepare a team for big games. What’s missing? A reliable goalkeeper! Now I won’t be hating on Lech’s Ivan Turina, as I find the Croat decent at times – at least in the Ekstraklasa. Not to mention my mother being Croatian, leaves me with a soft side for him.. and of course makes this all the more harder to write. He had a very good career previously before coming to Poland in Dinamo Zagreb, even once halted Arsenal in the Champions League. Although unfortunately, he hasn’t showed much of his goalkeeping brilliance for Lech in Europe – where it counts the most.

Let’s just say, I believe if Lech had a better goalkeeper then they would have probably ended up higher then third place in the UEFA Cup group. Some could even say that Turina costed the Poznan club games, or slowed them down from winning a game. Let’s review some of his gaffs in Europe, shall we? The first match against the mighty CSKA Moscow. Granted, the first goal conceded was a defensive blunder. But the second goal? The Croat could have surely done better on. If he had saved that, then the supposedly ‘weak’ and ‘inferior’ Lech could have drew with CSKA 1-1. Such a result would have surely drawn headlines in the European football world. What about against Deportivo? A goal first scored by the Spaniards in the early minutes of the game off a failed corner kick. A fluke goal. It was scored right in front of him from close distance, but because of Turina’s slow reaction time on it, the ball just passed him and landed in the net.  A better goalkeeper would have saved it, but then again a better goalkeeper wouldn’t play for a Polish club… or would they? Jerzy Dudek’s time in Real Madrid is ending, and he is available as a free agent in the summer. Maybe Lech officials could look into the possibility of gaining him once Real releases him, if they haven’t already pondered the idea. This is because I’m sure Lech would do a lot better with a class goal keeper like Jerzy, who even Juande Ramos praised not too long ago. A goalkeeper like him is the missing piece to the puzzle.

For now, Ivan Turina will be the deciding factor in Lech Poznan’s games. A decent goalkeeper for the Ekstraklasa, but fails to impress in Europe. It’s a long time until the summer, and Udinese is right around the corner. Who knows, maybe the new Bosnian kid Jasmin Burić will cause up a surprising stir for Lech between the pipes. Until then, Turina practice on your shot stopping! We still believe in you, or at least we want to.