My title of my previous blog was a bit off. It wasn’t just a wasted trip to Johannesburg, but a completely waste of a time to even head down to South Africa. My entire post could be the same as the one I posted on South Africa. Except, this time Roger Guerreiro came in at half-time and provided some type of offense, provided some type of attack. After all, they were only playing Iraq, and don’t get me wrong, I do think Iraq has come a long way from where their national team was just even a few years ago with the war going on and all, but, it’s Iraq!
They are not as good as Poland and we shouldn’t have any problems beating them, ever, especially on a natural group in South Africa. We’re a team who has been to the previous two World Cups and to the last European championships. Iraq should NOT be giving us any problems, no matter what kind of team Leo Beenhakker puts on the field.
Each game seems like there is more disappointing. Maybe it’s just me. But, Slowamir Peszko had another chance to to shine, and failed. Although, I won’t be too harsh on him today, because he set up a nice chance for free kick early in the game that Jacek Krzynowek totally ruined. And then he made a nice play for Marek Saganowski who ruined that chance as well. Peszko at least showed he was trying, and we can’t say the same for many others, like Jakub Wilk, who was rated maybe the worst player once again. He was rated the worst against South Africa, and was horrible against Iraq. In the 150 minutes Wilk played in the two games, he didn’t have even one successful attack. Now, that is embarrassing. We can officially cross off Wilk’s name for a long time from the national team as far as call-ups are concerned.
It also sickens me that Lech Poznan, a premier Polish soccer club, had Peszko, Rafal Murawski (playing more offensive today then he did vs. S. Africa), Wilk and Robert Lewandowski upfront, couldn’t even generate much chances. I think all four of those played together for 120 minutes 
combined and created almost nothing. Their chemistry should be good. They are the best Polish-born players on the Poznan squad. I got over the South Africa loss and thought at the very least we’d take back come pride and win handily vs. Iraq because our players know each other, they know each others styles and well, they never really had a chance because the team looked lost. Unmotivated. They looked like they were on vacation and just played a pick-up game. There was no reason those four Poznan players couldn’t create just one play and put one ball in the back of the net.
And then there’s Krzynowek. His crosses haven’t been the same for years. His form for his club teams has been weak for years. Couldn’t get time for Wolfsburg and didn’t exactly impress all that well in Hannover either. He was nowhere to be found in the first game and today had some opportunities but missed on all of them. It is that time, that Beenhakker goes out and looks for a replacement. Krzynowek is now a liability on the national team. He’s a momentum killer and that just can not happen in bigger games, in games Poland will see in the upcoming months.
All in all, I’m really glad this trip is over. Hope the players had a great time doing whatever it is they were doing, because they sure as heck didn’t go down there to play football. Hope their vacation went good. Now back to work for Leo and the national team. I posted in the first paragraph that this was a completely wasted trip, and the more I think about it, the more I’m thinking I’m wrong. It was very successful, but in the wrong reasons. We learned A LOT from our players. Peszko is not a NT player. Neither is Wilk. Lewandowski can’t be a lone striker. Krzynowek needs to be replaced. Too bad nothing positive came out, besides Roger coming in and making a nice strike for the goal. Roger played terrible in the first game and came back and tied the game, and had a overall decent outing. At least he cares about his role in the future on Leo’s side. Too bad the others don’t.
The goals from the game for those who have not seen them yet.
The problem is the Lech was not that good, they finished 3rd in the league and were extremely lucky in the UEFA cup. Lech was strong because of Arboleda and Stilic other than that, garbage. Murawski has no heart, he never fights out there. Peszko, Wilk, Krzynowek, and the other midfielders are one dimensional players, they don’t have the ability to think and improvise with the ball. The big reason is that we don’t have enough pressure from the forwards, remember the first line of defense are the forwards we need at least 2 strikers to pressure and keep the ball up the field.
The team needed a new coach after the Northern Ireland match, long overdue, also Smuda is the reason guys like Peszko and Wilk are one dimensional, Smuda in many interviews has stated his perferred tactics and they are too one dimensional, you need dynamic thinking with adjustments on the fly to win at the international level, let aloe UEFA cup
really i dont think these two games have been that big of a deal to worry about. Leo put in a less then decent team on purpose to see who can play at this level and who cant. I didnt think that murawski played that bad of a game against S.A. but i dont know how well he played today since i didnt have time to watch the match. I like how he played lewandowski in two games to see if he can prove himself which he didnt exactly do but you have to realize that he is still a very young and in experienced talent that with some work done, will be mutch better. I do think that he should have played brozek in the second halfs of both games cause i think he really could have made a difference. Clearly if he put in an actual squad rather than this tester we would have won both matches. Also i dont see anything wrong in some sight seeing it gives time with the players to bond with each other tons of other teams do it as well.
I don’t know if it is me, but the team had some shaky plays throughout the game. The worst was with Zewlakow. The first priority in fixing the national team is generating a better attack and fixing the defense. Our wingbacks were horrendous in both games. Also, once jelen, Blaszczykowski, and Smolarek come back the team will be different. Also, the team forced the ball too much. There were promising attacks in both games, but capitalizing in the final third was not there. The only bright spot in the game was Roger Guerreiro and maybe Saganowski. besides that, I am confident Poland will prevail in the qualifying matches. They definately can claim second if not first. Northern ireland will slip up because they have many tough matches yet to play. I am pretty sure Leo will put in the A team and players like Wilk and Peszko will certainly not be called up.
The purpose of friendlys isn’t always to win , it’s a good oppurtunity to try out new players and tactics, atleast Beenhakker will know who to play in the future and possible replacements. He knows what he’s doing, replacing him at this point would be dumb.
I agree, winning these games would mean nothing and if we had played our entire starting lineup, we’d win both games. However, you play these games to see what you have in case of injury, suspension or whatever it may be down the road and Leo didn’t learn a thing. To me, players just seemed not to care on this trip. Leo knows less about what to do if a crisis happens with injury or suspension now then he did before they played South Africa. That’s my problem with it right there.
If that is the case then why did the line-up feature Zewlakow, Krzynowek, Saganowski and Bosacki? All of whom are dangerously passed their prime.
This was the perfect opportunity to see if Lewandowski could play with Janczyk.
True. I kind of thought they went as kind of the veteran leaders type of deal, where to they look over some of the younger, inexperienced players, but also to show Leo they are still committed to playing at a high level. When the squad came out for this, i was very happy with the idea of Lewandowski playing upfront with Janczyk. Not sure why Leo didn’t want to see it either.
One thing boggles my mind is why on earth Wilk got 150 minutes. That’s a lot of minutes for a guy who doesn’t even start every game for Lech Poznan.
As you can see, for those who have not seen the two goals, i have posted a video in the blog. Check it out.
almost seems like leo chooses players not because they are the best but because of their attitude. he has favorites and even if they suck shit he will play em.
Wow, what bad marking on the backpost. I agree bringing in the A team for these games would have been more of a waste. I mean, what would that prove? However, I am surprised Leo went with a lone striker. I can’t believe he did not go with Janczyk and Lewandowski up top. Well, the good thing is that Poland is looking up in UEFA Qualifying. I mean, the play N. Ireland in Chorzow, Slovenia, and Slovakia at home. Even though they are away to the Czech republic, I believe they can beat them. The Czechs are disgruntled and terribly out of form. This was in my opinion a positive trip because now we know who is national team material and who is not. By the way, Roger had a very good game surprisingly.
Well said, Phil. I think our chances are still high to making it but this team national team never fails to surpise me so i don’t know. Chances are good though and i agree, this game did show who is nowhere near NT status (last 2 or so months i thought Peszko was close, i was wrong) but Roger did have a very good game vs. Iraq. Horrid vs. South Africa though so i’m not sure what that tells you.
What is it with Beenhakker and playing one striker. Obviously it doesnt work with our team, he tryed it at Euros and now again… He should have been testing Janczyk which didnt get enough time in these friendlies to prove himself.
wow Chris you’re like 100% off on your view of Lech but thanks for playing… the style Leo plays and the style Smuda used in Poznan were completely different. Watch a game or two.
anyways, this is just pointless to waste all this money on these friendlies when all they are doing is going on wild safari’s. It’s nice to know we have the money to send some of the boys and their families on vacations but come on, are we or are we not trying to make it into the WC? It would be nice of the backups would show some signs of urgency and and at least made an attempt to look like they even give a damn.
What did we learn from these friendlies? hmm digital camera’s work. Who’s going to replace someone in case of an injury……?? why the hell knows.
That is the only type of goals Sago can score. He should not be playing at this level. He was terrible at the Euro’s and cant even see the field for his relagated club in England. Are u guys serious that nobody can see the differnce in speed between them and us. Every time we play a team that can run ie south Korea, and these two teams we look on fit and slow. Well that sounds like the Polish league in a not shell. Lewandowski hasent shown me shit at the international level, a couple goals against week Polish teams just does not cut it.
Polish SOCA! finally gets back up and running and every post I go to I see you have been saying stupid things msudzi. Saganowski was our best striker at the Euro without any doubt. He set up the goal vs Austria beautifully, came in for 15 min against Germany and had one of our only real chances of the game, and against Croatia he again beat defenders to have a strong headed effort on goal. He got no decent service from the likes of Lobodzinski and Krzynowek; those are the players who cannot cut it at this level. And you are really uniformed; once he got back from his loan in Aalborg in Denmark, he was single handedly winning games for them in the fight to stay up before having some small injury problems in the last couple games. Just look at the goals he scored against Swansea City, that should shut you up. In South Korea, did we look slow against the USA?? It’s all about the motivation.
Krzynowek should play a defensive role we can still use him for that and free kicks nothing else.