Euro 2012 preview: Poland
Poland's probable starting line-up
Poland come into this tournament with the lowest world ranking of the 16 competitors, but they are certainly not the weakest side in the competition.
Their ranking is unfairly lowered, of course, because they are the co-hosts and therefore haven’t been playing competitive games over the past two years. The last two years has made a big difference – 24 months ago Poland seemed to lack players established enough to compete at a major international tournament, but the rise of the Dortmund trio (Lukasz Piszczek, Jakub ‘Kuba’ Blaszczkowski and Robert Lewandowski) plus Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, means they do possess some fine footballers.
Teamwork
But this is not a side based around standout individuals, something coach Franciszek Smuda is unable to do. “We don’t have stars,” he says. “We can only accomplish something as a team.”
That is code for a defensive style, and Poland have fallen back upon the standard template for outsiders in major international tournaments, having initially tried to be more inventive under Smuda. He promised “offensive and attacking football” when he took over, and experimented with a variety of systems: 4-3-2-1, 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 and 4-4-2. Now, it’s cagey, counter-attacking football combined in a structured 4-2-3-1. There have been disagreements with players about the nature of the tactics, with Lewandowski a particularly vocal character, but few would argue that this formation and approach doesn’t make the best use of Poland’s decent squad.
Defensive style
Poland’s best quality is their defensive strength. They’re on an excellent run of clean sheets in their friendlies (albeit against questionable opposition at times – their final pre-tournament friendly was against an extremely poor Andorra side). Smuda says the biggest progress the team has made over the last two years is that ability to not concede goals, and Group A looks certain to be low-scoring. The inevitable next question is about how good they are at attacking. Smuda wants the side to pass the ball quickly through the side, playing one-touch football and breaking directly down the flanks.
Solid defence
At the back, the centre-back duo is fairly unremarkable. Marcin Wasilewski is a sturdy, physical defender while Damien Perquis is slightly more cultured, and has recovered from injury in time to make the side. Left-back Sebastian Boenisch is actually right-footed (maybe explaining why he wears the number two shirt) and therefore prefers to play forward passes into the front four rather than overlapping down the left.
Good right flank
On the other side is unquestionably Poland’s biggest strength, as right-back Piszczek and right-winger Blaszczkowski have an excellent partnership for Dortmund and will bring that to the national side. Piszczek plays high up the pitch and looks to stretch the play, while Blaszczkowski makes very direct runs towards goal, and can run at speed with the ball, as well as protecting Piszczek well and covering when the right-back goes forward.
Interestingly, especially with Boenisch being predominantly right-footed on the other side, Piszczek assisted two goals in pre-tournament friendlies by coming inside onto his left foot before crossing into the penalty box – so opponents should be wary that both full-backs can come inside onto their ‘wrong’ side.
Unambitious central midfield
In midfield, the holding duo of Eugen Polanski and Rafal Murawski is more defensive than is ideal – both are strong and good in the tackle, but there’s not much variety in their passing, with both tending to simply knock the ball wide rather than look for a more incisive ball. Polanski tends to play slightly higher up, but Murawski is probably more likely to provide a clever pass. Both can shoot from outside the box, with mixed results.
Attacking options
On the opposite side to Blaszczkowski is Maciej Rybus on the left. He plays a similar role, maybe positioned slightly wider. This position was up for grabs, with Ludovic Obraniak and Adrian Mierejewski also options, but Rybus has impressed in pre-tournament friendlies and should get the nod from the start of the competition.
That means that Obraniak, a former Lille superbsub who has moved to Bordeaux, will play as the number ten. The fact that he can play on the flank means he plays as a central winger, always looking to move into wide positions, helping to create overloads and providing another crossing option with his left foot – again, often from the ‘wrong’ side, the right. He can drift in and out of games, but is Poland’s most intelligent midfielder and this position allows him the greatest amount of positional freedom – had he been stuck out on the wing, his creative energy would have been diminished and his defensive awareness can be suspect. He’s the one individualistic player in an otherwise solid unit.
Upfront, Poland have Lewandowski, fresh from a superb season in Germany with Dortmund. He performed better than anyone could have expected having been a back-up in 2010/11, and comes into this tournament in great form and with his confidence very high. He is basically a typical number nine and can be a little selfish, but for Poland he works the channels well. He tends to play slightly left-of-centre, and often hangs around that position waiting for long crosses from his Dortmund colleagues from the right.
Conclusion
Poland are not a bad side. They have home advantage and are in the weakest group, plus have a genuine Golden Boot contender upfront. Expect relatively defensive football, quick counter-attacking, a strong static box of four in the centre of the pitch, and plenty of energy down the flanks.
Quick guide:
Coach – Franciscek Smuda
Formation – 4-2-3-1
Key player – Robert Lewandowski
Strength – the all-Dortmund right flank
Weakness – a lack of creativity and guile in the centre of the pitch
Key tactical question – how good will Poland’s transitions be? They need to work the ball forward quickly to cause opponents problems.
Key coach quote – “Individuality is a player like Messi. We don’t have such players, so we should do our best to be strong as a team.”
Betfair odds - 50.0 (49/1)
Recommended bet - Lewandowsi to be Poland’s top scorer at 2.5
Further reading – the excellent Polish Football Scout website.
Great preview, concise and to the point. Couldn’t agree mor on the Dortmund connection. The ‘Quick Guide’ is also a great idea!
I hope you set up the national flags at the top as links to the these, would be great for quick look-ups during the tournament.
MACIEJ Rybus, not Marcel. Lack of creativity in holding mids, and Boenisch’s questionable performance at LB + his lack of fitness are the most visible weaknesses.
Also, Mierzejewski, not Mierejewski.
ZM, the name of left-winger Rybus is Maciej, not Marcel
I couldn’t agree more on the rest of your preview, though.
Ok, my concerns from comment about Poland under other article cleared:)
Being half Pole, I enjoy this preview. You have highlighted bright points and weaknesses very well I think. What is interesting – for Poles defence was area of the biggest concern, since Wasilewski is right back in Anderlecht and arguably second best CB, Żewłakow is banned from NT because of disciplinary issues. However, as pointed out they are on a very good run of clean sheets.
Smuda is known in Poland for playing offensive football and in fact, unless opponent is as strong as Germany last year (Germans escaped a loss in injury time), Poland want to have the ball and play more passing style. That’s also what worries me most because it’s not in their veins and you have to expect Poland dominating possession in opening game against Greece, taking into account Greece style and crowd support. However, against stronger opposition, they will be more cagey I think.
I agree also that Obraniak may be a key man in a midfield unit. He has to help Dortmund trio and raise his game for Poland to succeed.
Everyone in Poland says going out of the group is the target and while I predict Russia and Greece to qualify from group A, I hope they’ll make it. Living now in Poland, I can see the whole country is really buzzing in anticipation and maybe fans are going to carry them. If not now, when?
Any idea if Wolski will get much game time? Could provide creativity through the middle
Poland’s problem as I see it is their lack of depth in the squad. An injury or suspension to any of the three stars in front (Kuba, Lewandowski and Obraniak) will see the starting 11 reduced drastically in terms of quality. And that basically goes for every position on the field. The starting 11 has some quality in it but also has to live up to some expectations as anything but a place in the quarter finals will be deemed as a failure.
However, I agree with your preview and also expect Lewandowski to shine this tournament – IF Kuba, Obraniak and the other players are able to set him up accordingly.
There is a problem with Lewandowski’s replacement, but on wing and at Obraniak position there are some nice players on the bench – Grosicki and Wolski.
This is a team that are not solid defensively unlike all three of their opponents, but can counter with great pace and energy. The Polish showed how strong they can be with a great display, a 2-2 draw against a strong Germany side who only managed an equaliser in the closing minutes of the game. With their home fans behind them, they may just reach the semi
Really pleased you’re doing these previews, much better than any others I’ve read so far. Excellent stuff.
I am french, and I can tell you that Obraniak is a very fine player. Just have a look at how Bordeaux dramatically improved after his arrival during last winter mercato. But it is true that he is better playing on a flank and sometimes drifting into the center of the pitch, rather than as a central attacinkg midfielder. Maybe a 4-3-2-1 system should be more appropriated, adding Darius Dudka as defensive midfielder, very solid player from Auxerre.
Great work, I really enjoyed reading it! However I do not agree that Boenisch is not overlapping the winger. I saw him many times doing so and, what is more, his crosses are of high quality. If only he will be confident, I consider him like an additional option in attack. We will see!
Fair enough! I’m not overly aware of him, just interested how much he uses his right foot!
He is a liability defensively though, tends to be caught out of position a lot.
Still, James Milner was not good enough to prove it in Euro U21 final in 2009.
haha fair point, though I’m sure many defenders are scared of Milner, I think he might struggle against Russia and Greece.
Strongly disagree on Boenisch. Whenever I’ve seen him play in the Bundesliga I’ve wondered what his business on a Bundesliga side is. Let alone a national team…
He’s clumsy in 1 on 1 situations and his technical abilities are ridiculously bad. Haven’t really seen him play on the national team, but if he’s anything like in the Bundesliga I’d say that’s Poland’s biggest weakness.
Also, in the last 2 years he’s played only some 5 or so games in the Bundesliga, starting just one – the one in which he got sent off after 30 minutes. Poland’s backup left back, Wawrzyniak, has played over 50 games this season, is pretty solid defensively and also decent when going forward, way faster than Boenisch. Wawrzyniak’s only problem seems to be his lack of concentration, leading to a lot of costly slip-ups (the 2-2 against Germany comes to mind immediately).
Nicely done, can’t wait for the rest.
I’m tipping Poland to qualify, basically because of what you have already said; solid defensively, a threat down the right and a goalscorer up front. My only worry is that when they are being dominated aggressively they can struggle to get the ball out of defense. In this group they should be okay. only Russia look capable of really dominating a game and even then they look very vulnerable to counter attacks, but the better sides in the tournament should comfortably deal with Poland.
It remains to be seen just how well the Dortmund trio will perform in competitive matches. Klopp’s success is based around buying the right players for a system suited to the Bundesliga and if the club’s matches in non-German competitions as well as the outings of quite a few of the individual players for their respective national teams are anything to go by, we probably shouldn’t expect too much.
I don’t see the Poland team adjusting well to different opponents either. Basically I expect them to either be able to execute their high speed attacks over the wings or be screwed completely.
Still, considering the home advantage and their weak group, getting to the knockout stage is entirely possible.
will have to see as to how ledwonski plays whether he likes the ball played at his feet or he whether he likes to run behind the defense . can he hold the ball and turn on defenders because that is the key in this tournament if the underdogs want to progress in the next stage then the forwards need to do something special . lets see how poland performs .
Who’s Ledwonski?
This should partly respond to your question: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/04/12/dortmund-1-0-bayern-six-point-lead/
Solid article, don’t disagree with any that’s been said, really. One thing that wasn’t mentioned that I think might be important for Poland is when they press really high. Yes, they counter attack mainly, but they take turns pressing really high to try and win the ball near the goal. This is important because it relieves pressure on the make shift backline and means that they don’t have to be creative from deep. Like you said their centre mids aren’t the most creative.
Michael my man, you have outdone yourself. This is a fine article! I’ll be looking forward to the rest.
Poland’s first XI doesn’t look too bad at all (CM excepted possibly). Bar a few though, the rest of the squad seems to be nowhere near the same level.
If the first XI stay available, Poland could be a dark horse.
As always Micheal, top job. Thank you for a very good preview on a team you must rarely see. Poland’s tournament will be the first match. If they choke they can forget about getting out of the group. And its a real risk that they might choke. The hype and hopes of the whole nation can lead to a mental block, or too much intensity, either way, this could end badly for Poland. Russia is the most talented side of this group and without a result against Greece, its hard to see Poland doing something. The let down would be huge and could lead into a terrible tournament. Smuda will have a huge job in preparing the players correctly. There is just so much riding on this for Poland. The added factor of not having played a proper match in years can’t be helping in all of this. I am very excited to see a major tournament being co-hosted by the country of my birth, but also freaking out at the same time.
As was pointed out, it will all depend on Poland’s transition game. I have seen them play some very good fast passing attacks. And with Lewandowski on form (hopefully) this could mean great counter attacking football. But, if thing don’t work as they should, Poland can look like a dreary terrible side without ideas on how to break teams down. An advancement out of the group is possible, obviously, considering the weakness if the group, but at the same time I could see Poland finishing this with 1 point, or worse, zero points.
Reading this stuff just makes me feel even more infuriated at the awful quality of our pundits here in England, who seem too lazy to do any sort of research into the less popular teams. Most of them are on 6-figure salaries I believe, yet their lack of knowledge, interesting or original analysis, or charisma is embarassing.
Keep up the good work ZM.
Agree. Sites like Zonal Marking, Swiss Ramble, Tomkins Times etc. are years ahead of popular journos and pundits. I’m not English but what irritates me also as a foreigner is the fact that English media are so much England-oriented, all those journalists seem too lazy to follow even Spanish, German or Italian football, let alone knowing basics about Czechs, Russians or Poles.
For me – ZM’s regular reader – the big game never ends with the final whistle. It ends with the last dot of ZM’s analysis. It is usually fascinating stuff and it really helps to understand the game better.
Keep up ZM
agree. loving these previews
Living in Poland and being half polish myself I can tell you that our national teams always choke in the first match of big tournaments. We choked against South Korea in 2002, did not qualify for Euro 04, choked against Ecuador in 2006, choked against Germany in 2008 and did not qualify for WC 2010.
Our other glaring weakness outside of the ones you pointed out is an utter lack of depth in attack. Our 2 reserve strikers scored a combined 2 league goals last season and played a combined 500 minutes, so an injury to Lewandowski will most likely end our tournament.
I told you Poland would choke.
Sorry, ZM but I can’t agree with your one paragraph- “Defensive style”. Just like you wrote, Smuda promised “offensive and attacking football” and in my opinion he try to do it. There are many anecdotes about the behavior of our coach during training sessions. One of them says that Smuda punished his players for the long passes. Following his speech, one might conclude that he prefers the possesion football and this is the main goal. Of course, playing with more difficult opponents forced counter-attacking football. Unfortunately, there is a fundamental problem- Poland doesn’t have enough of creative players in midfield. So it looks like it looks- a lot of passes take place in defense and midfielders have difficulty in keeping the ball in the second line.
Still, I am optimistic. There is our Dortmund trio, Szczęsny and Obraniak. The first match will be a key. I expect that tomorrow we’ll see posession football. We will see!
Poland are dreadful at possesion football and it was exposed today. Our only creative starting midfielder is exhausted after 50 minutes (and for some reason he was not substituted). Every time Greece got men behind ball we had no idea how to break down their defense. Our only goal came from a fast break down the wing.