The Poland thread- the proud host nation!

Squad:

Goalkeepers:

Grzegorz Sandomierski - JAGIELLONIA BIALYSTOK

Wojciech Szczęsny - ARSENAL

Przemysław Tytoń - PSV EINDHOVEN

Defence:

Sebastian Boenisch - WERDER BREMEN

Marcin Kamiński - LECH POZNAŃ

Damien Perquis - FC SOCHAUX

Łukasz Piszczek - BORUSSIA DORTMUND

Marcin Wasilewski - ANDERLECHT

Jakub Wawrzyniak - LEGIA WARSZAWA

Grzegorz Wojtkowiak - LECH POZNAŃ

Midfield:

Jakub Błaszczykowski - BORUSSIA DORTMUND

Dariusz Dudka - AJ AUXERRE

Kamil Grosicki - SIVASSPOR

Adam Matuszczyk - FORTUNA DÜSSELDORF

Adrian Mierzejewski - TRABZONSPOR

Rafał Murawski - LECH POZNAŃ

Ludovic Obraniak - GIRONDINS BORDEAUX

Eugen Polanski - MAINZ 05

Maciej Rybus - TEREK GROZNY

Rafał Wolski - LEGIA WARSZAWA

Attack:

Paweł Brożek - CELTIC GLASGOW

Robert Lewandowski - BORUSSIA DORTMUND

Artur Sobiech - HANNOVER 96

Fixtures:

Friday 8/6 18.00 CET

Poland-Greece

Tuesday 12/6 20.45 CET

Poland-Russia

Saturday 16/6 20.45 CET

Czech Republic-Poland

Poland are many places seen as the dark horse of the tournament and I understand why. It's the host nation, a rather easy group and probably the best Polish squad since the 80's when Boniek played. On the other hand, iit's been ages since Poland has had a good international tournament and the expectations home in Poland might be too big. IMO they'll reach the quarterfinal, but can't see them going any further

It has to be our tournament. I can't remember having easier group than this one (maybe WC 2006, but we were crap at that time). It will be humiliating if we don't make QFs.

probably the best Polish squad since the 80's when Boniek played.

Really? No way:)

Just of top of my head: in mid-90s we had teams with Wandzik (PAO), K. Warzycha (PAO legend), R.

Warzycha (Everton), R. Kosecki (Atletico Madrid, Nantes - then French champions), W. Kowalczyk (Betis), A. Juskowiak (Sporting, Olympiacos), P. Nowak (TSV Munchen). A lot more talent in there than now.

We always had very solid defense, especially centre backs, now for a few years it is embarrassing, to a level of Smuda being forced to look for very average foreign players who had a Polish grand mother etc.

Early 90s, mid 90s, we had clubs successful in Europe, now only once for a few seasons someone stays in Europe till spring.

On paper we should finish last in this group, which doesn't mean it wasn't a lucky draw.

Our starting four at the back isn't that bad, but lack of options on the bench is what makes me worry. If Piszczek, Wasilewski, Perquis and Boenisch are available and in good form, I won't be worried about our defensive line.

Really? No way:)

Just of top of my head: in mid-90s we had teams with Wandzik (PAO), K. Warzycha (PAO legend), R.

Warzycha (Everton), R. Kosecki (Atletico Madrid, Nantes - then French champions), W. Kowalczyk (Betis), A. Juskowiak (Sporting, Olympiacos), P. Nowak (TSV Munchen). A lot more talent in there than now.

Ok, you probably have a point there. The problem with the 90's team was that they really couldn't even qualify for anything (IIRC Poland wasn't at any major tournament between 1986 and 2002), so probably therefore I forgot how good the players actually were at their clubs

Yes, but we were extremely unlucky with draws back then. Holland and England plus Turkey once (even Englad stayed at home for this WC), England and Italy the other time. Well, generally England all the time. We also had France and Romania who were in top form back then (Raducioiu and Hagi times I think).

Then suddenly we got a group only with decent Ukraine and Norway who for a moment were very good, managed to get into pot 1 and then dropped drastically - so with a couple of good games and ideas from Engel we qualified - but IMO the team was no better than before.

Now it is really hard to say anything as we haven't played a normal football game for almost 3 years. We also didn't play that many good opponents (and fe Germans experimented with tactics against us) so it is even harder to judge.

Don't get me wrong, I hope we can have a good tournament, but totally disagree we have an easy group. Weak teams never have easy groups. If we don't make it to QFs it won't be humiliation, it will be a huge surprise if we actually make it.

We're massive chokers in big tournaments. We breezed through our qualification and got easy groups at WC 02 and 06 and blew it, same with Euro 08. We have only one good striker, if he gets injured or suspended we're in big trouble. We also have three undoubtedly talented, but relatively inexperienced goalkeepers who have never been to a major tournament before. Add to that the burden of expectations after we got an easy (in theory) group again, and in my opinion we'll be lucky to get to the knockout round.

Yes, but we were extremely unlucky with draws back then. Holland and England plus Turkey once (even Englad stayed at home for this WC), England and Italy the other time. Well, generally England all the time. We also had France and Romania who were in top form back then (Raducioiu and Hagi times I think).

Poland was really crap at the qualifying to WC 1998. I know that it was unlucky to have both England and Italy in the same group, but Poland manged even to finish behind Georgia /0\ And generally they played rather poorly in the 90's despite the potential

Don't get me wrong, I hope we can have a good tournament, but totally disagree we have an easy group. Weak teams never have easy groups. If we don't make it to QFs it won't be humiliation, it will be a huge surprise if we actually make it.

When I said it was a easy group, I didn't mean it was a walkover but just that it's probably the easiest group we could get. There isn't any real major team in it and on a good day Poland can beat any of the other 3 teams

Routine win over Andorra, I'm not sure why we chose to play such a weak opponent. Nice goal from Lewandowski, though.

We played Andorra for the same reason that Spain played us before WC 2010.

Poland was really crap at the qualifying to WC 1998. I know that it was unlucky to have both England and Italy in the same group, but Poland manged even to finish behind Georgia /0\ And generally they played rather poorly in the 90's despite the potential

We could discuss it forever, but I guess we would agree that there was a lot more talent and skill available in the early to mid 90s than there is now. It wasn't used well, we were getting tough groups, some other factors surely contributed to the fact that we didn't play as well as we should have.

1996-1997 - well, it is really after the period I was referring to originally, still I have some great memories of that time. 1996 vs Italy in Chorzow was my first international game seen live at the he stadium. Amazing performance by Pawel Skrzypek, marking Zola out of the game. The only thing he'll be remembered for

The thing is, my favourite Polish team was Henryk Apostel's Euro96 quals team. Kosecki, Nowak, Juskowiak and Kowalczyk, Kozminski, emergence of Jacek Zielinski and Szczesny senior. The legendary game in Paris. The shock of losing in Bratislava. I was 15-16 back then, noone can blame me for being kind of romantic when I think about these games

And here's the problem with the current Poland team. I admit I have serious problems attaching myself to it, getting the feeling it is my team.

Firstly, I never liked Leo and the way he forced himself into the job through silly journalists and his 'manager' Jaen se Zuuf (sp??). I hated everything about this man, it was so artificial, so 'for the money' from day one. 'I am a great Dutch manager and what you have here is not worthy of my presence, but I will graciously manage your team and show you what you need to change to become civilized white men'. Still, I had to admit the win against Portugal was possibly the best game we played in years. We managed to qualify for the last Euro but that was it. Afterwards, everything was as pathetic as the old Dutchman himself.

And I still remember after our last qualification game I realized this would be our last competitive match for almost 3 years. It just added to my lack of interest in international football. So I didn't watch most of the friendly games. It was all club football for me in the past 3 years.

Rationally, we are the weakest team in this group, with no international experience, with half of the squad not even being Polish, and the manager making some shocking decisions like taking Brozek, Kaminski and Sobiech and leaving out likes of Piech, Mila, Celeban, Zewlakow or Kazimierczak. We face 3 teams that are superior both in terms of quality and experience at big tournaments. So we should expect the typical "lose the first one, second is the game for survival, and the third a match for honour".

But I hope one game can just make me a fan of this team, turn everything around. I really do.

it will be a big surprise if it won't be:

GK: Wojciech Szczęsny

RB: Łukasz Piszczek

LB: Sebastian Boenisch

DC: Marcin Wasilewski

DC: Damien Perquis

DMC Eugen Polan(ń?)ski

DMC Rafał Murawski

AMC Ludovic Obraniak

AML Maciej Rybus

AMR Jakub Błaszczykowski

SC: Robert Lewandowski

So, how are the fans of our most talented generation in years feeling?

For me it was an incredibly strange feeling. I felt more emotions before the Poland game, but I felt more attached to Czech players than any of the Polish ones. Strange, indeedd.

Anyway, we did exactly as I expected. Totally predictable, with just one way to play the attack, with weak midfield and vulnerable defence. Contrary to what TVP1 expert Patyra was telling me yesterday, we have no ability to hold the ball, regulate the tempo. In opposition to what was advertised, it is not an offensive, modern football. It is schematic counter attacking football which takes advantage of some great individual skills (Piszczek and Lewandowski who are class above everyone else in the team).

The lack of subs just confirms that the bench is filled by players who Smuda knows can have no impact, but for some reasons (financial possibly) he was interested to call up. I mean, Rybus is not present in the game, why isn't he subbed at HT? Then after the pen save, why wasn't Obraniak or Blaszczykowski (yeah, actually played today!!) taken off? We looked tired and out of ideas, a fresh pair of legs would be helpful.

And the almighty Polish defence. Wasilewski was poor all the game, looked lost and had no confidence. Combined with Szczesny trademark 'craziness' it gave the Greeks a goal and a pen. But should have given them much more, thankfully they were rubbish at attacking.

As I said, the worst thing there is no 'plan B' here, we are unable to change the tactics at all. We only attack through the right side, only on counter attack. It was obvious that at HT an experienced side that Greece are were going to take care of it and shut all the doors for us. Still, we made no changes. We created nothing since 25th minute and it was a miracle we didn't lose this game.

It is a funny game and anything can happen, but I maintain my opinion that on paper we should finish 4th in this group and the performance and the result today just confirm it.

the lack of ability to keep the ball/the eagerness to play too direct all the time was a problem. too many times the defenders looked for a long ball towards lewandowski, which was mostly pointless. tbf, attacking down the right is where the goal came from and is the most talented part of the team, so it's a decent strategy. they just need to be more patient.

perquis, wasilewski and boenisch look shaky at times, but I don't know what other options there are.

tbf, attacking down the right is where the goal came from and is the most talented part of the team, so it's a decent strategy. they just need to be more patient.

Yes, but you can't do it all the time, can you? It is a very experienced national team we played today and it was clear they would see that and adjust accordingly sooner or later. Where's the plan B? There never was one.

perquis, wasilewski and boenisch look shaky at times, but I don't know what other options there are.

Ok, so now read the first posts of this thread and what I said about our team compared to previous decades. We always had a solid defense, especially the centre backs (Jacek Zielnski, Lapiski, Hajto, Waldoch, Jacek Bąk so on). This ha changed a few years ago. I said it was the weakest part of our team and toghether with DMCs it turned out to be so.

Let's have a look. Smuda sees the problem and seeks solution.Easy. Perquis is not Polish, his grand grand grand father or mother in stone age lived near Warsaw area so we gave him a nationality. The same with Boenish. He's German but had a cat that came from Poland. Let's call him up! Wasilewski - I love the guy, cause he started his big career in front of me, playing for us (Slask Wroclaw) around 2001. But he's not played for a long time and was nervous for most of the game.

That said, Smuda left out some players who'd be vital in our situation. The first is Michal Zewlakow, who was left put because of some alleged 'alcohol incidents'. Don't know much about that, but the gy has 102 caps, last season played well for Olympiacos in the CL, and this season was a star for Legia in Polish league. I mean, for a tournament like this, how can you leave out a player with 102 caps??

Then you have Piotr Celban of my Club slask Worclaw - top scoring defender in our league, one of best defending players, can play at both DC and DR positions. But Sumda hates our club manager so it couldn't happen.

I'd probably agree about perquis - he shouldn't really be there in the first place. boenisch was at least born in poland, though he did say he didn't want to play for poland until he realised he was going no further than the german under 21s, so that's a bit... you know. wasilewski's also a red card waiting to happen isn't he.

smuda doesn't seem very popular, and I guess these sort of decisions don't help.

Podolski and Klose were also born in Poland, but the difference between them and Boenish and Polanski is what you described. I don't blame them, I blame the Polish FA and manager. It is a totally different thing to black players with African roots or Turkish players representing Germany, Holland or England, cause they received their football education in these countries and lived there for some time. 'Our' players are just mercenaries.

So, which Poland will we see today? The team that played last 30 mins against Russia or the one from Greece game and est of Russia game? The Czechs are experienced enough to keep a 0-0, but if Rosicky doesn't play they may not survive by counting only on long balls, as they did in the second half vs Greece. Ofc they gave strong wings, so we will have to be careful.

Disappointing tournament for Poland

I saw some potential in the team- the first halfs against both Greece and Czech were really good and some of the Russia game looked fine. But the 2nd halfs against the Greek and the Czech was awful. How the hell does a team suddenly stop playing? If they continued their game from the 1st half, they would've probably won both games

The Russians totally dropped physically in the last 30 minutes but still tried to play open football and it killed them. We got tired after 30, not 45 minutes in the other games, I remember texting my mate at the stadium on Saturday "nasi siedli" in 35th minute, he ofc claimed the Czechs would be destroyed, but if i was at the stadium I'd say the same.

This is a problem in every tournament we played, players are not ready physically. Everybody blames heavy trainings before the tournament, the famous 'gums' and so on. I don't know, it is really hard to tell for a non specialist but logically why would a player after a long season need hard physical training before playing 3-4 matches?

There were selection errors, tactically we were the worst team at Euro, absolutely no idea how to play. We only created somethign after counter attacks or some wild pressing, but that worked at start of matches or against tired opposition. Subs and tactical decisions didn't help. Individuals who disappointed me - Obraniak, most of the time Piszczek, Szczesny, Wasilewski vs Greece, Murawski in all games, most of the time Blaszczykowski. Can't say I'm disapointed by Boeanish as nothing could have been expected of him. Players who didn't fail were tyton, Perquis, Dudka, Lewandowski and mostly our best outfield player, Polanski.

I would love us to get a good coach with a vision and tactical abilities, like Fornalik or Lenczyk, but I'm afraid it will end just like last 2 times with the newspapers and managers's agents working together in choosing a new manager.

We have the best players since the 80s, but no good manager who could bring us to glory. I wonder who will replace Smuda, he was bad, but on the other hand it won't be easy to find a better candidate in Poland.