Poland 1-1 Greece: Poland start brilliantly but Greece adjust admirably after red card
The starting line-ups
One goal each, one red card each, and one point each in an entertaining opening game of Euro 2012.
Poland went with their expected side – there were no real debates to be settled in the starting line-up, and Franciszek Smuda used his usual structured yet energetic 4-2-3-1 system.
Fernando Santos had two major decisions to make. The first was in goal, where Kostas Chalkias was chosen from Greece’s three distinctly average goalkeepers. The second choice was on the right of the front three, where Sotiris Ninis started over Dimitris Salpingidis.
This was a game of three phases: 11 v 11, 11 v 10, 10 v 10. Both sides looked in a commanding position at one stage, but a draw was a fair result.
Poland attack the right
Poland started this match excellently, energetically swarming forward as if expressing sheer relief that the long-awaited tournament in their home country had finally began. Once, during the opening minutes, Maciej Rybus stormed past Vasilis Torosidis into a good crossing position down the left, but almost every other attack was concentrated down the opposite flank.
This was no surprise, of course – the right flank is clearly the strongest part of the Polish side, both in terms of individuals and cohesion, as the Dortmund duo of Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub Blaszczykowski are situated on that side. They, in turn, have a great relationship with striker Robert Lewandowski.
Greece didn’t help themselves with the positioning of their players – Giorgos Samaras played as the left-sided forward, and although he and Ninis dropped back to form a midfield five, he wasn’t alert to the runs of Piszczek, and left too much space between himself and Jose Holebas at left-back.
Chances
This was the pivotal part of the tactical battle in the first half, and the situation was particularly perilous for Grece because of the positioning of Holebas, who played much higher up than the other three Greek defenders, perhaps in an attempt to minimise the space ahead of him. Greece were clearly vulnerable down that side, and while Poland immediately looked to their right flank anyway, they were particularly keen to do so here.
Three players benefited from the space down that wing. Piszczek motored past Samaras to stretch the play and support the forward four on the overlap, Blaszczykowski got space to receive the ball and then dribbled past Holebas at speed, and number ten Ludovic Obraniak played as a central winger, either coming deep to pick up the ball on the left, or higher up the pitch to join in the play on the right.
So many chances came from this side. Piszczek played a one-two with Blaszczykowski and then fired a high cross into the six-yard box, when a low pass would have seen Lewandowski tap in. Moments later, Obraniak moved to the right, slipped in Blaszczykowski, and his cross found Lewandowski, this time able to reach the ball (courtesy of some poor goalkeeping from Chalkias) and headed home to give Poland a deserved lead.
45-68: Greece were forced into an all-new centre-back duo, switching to 4-4-1 at half-time and bringing on Salpingidis for Ninis
Greece attacks
Greece were extremely poor in the first half, a classic broken team when they tried to move the ball forward quickly, with seven defensive players and three attackers. The intended ‘connecting’ player was Giannis Maniatis, who shuttled forward manfully trying to solve this problem, but he ran into the holding midfield duo of Rafael Murawski and Eugen Polanski, and didn’t have the skill to break past.
When they moved the ball more slowly, Greece lacked creativity to break down a packed Poland defence. Ninis had little impact upon the game until the final moments of the first half, as he was tracked well by Sebastien Boenisch, who simply overpowered him in direct confrontations. Most unforgivably, Giorgos Karagounis’ set-piece delivery was terrible, consistently failing to beat the first man.
11 v 10
Then there was Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ red card. Greece had already lost his centre-back partner Avraam Papadopoulos through injury, and he had been replaced by Kyriakos Papadopoulos (no relation). That meant Greece had an all-new centre-back pairing after Papastathopoulos was dismissed, with Kostas Katsouranis dropping back into centre-back, a position he’s played many times before. Considering that double blow, Greece coped excellently at the back.
As Katsouranis was the lone holding player, Santos had to change the formation of the side. If there was anything that went Greece’s way in the first half, it was that the red card came in the 44th minute, and Santos could get his side into the dressing room immediately and explain the strategy for the second half.
Second half
Santos made a change – Salpingidis replaced Ninis on the right – but this didn’t affect their defensive reshaping. They came out for the second half in a basic 4-4-1, with the two other central midfielders now sitting deeper, and the wide forwards told to form a strict second bank of four – whereas previously, they’d been part of a front three and were slow getting back into position.
68-90: Greece introduced Fortounis for Gekas, moving Samaras upfront. Poland went to 4-4-1 after Szczesny's red card, with Tyton replacing Rybus and Obraniak going to the left.
While Greece wouldn’t have wanted the sending-off (and at the risk of using the “sometimes it’s more difficult to play against ten men” cliché) Poland appeared more affected by the Greek red card. Primarily, this was because Samaras was now doing a good defensive job and protecting Holebas (who himself was more reserved). Poland’s previous supremacy down the right was barely notable.
Poland’s gameplan at 1-0 was unclear – they played with much less energy and attacking intent, but lacked the ability to keep possession and kill the game. Greece, despite having a man less, were much improved in the second half, able to bring their wide players into the game and move forward more regularly, if often very slowly.
Salpingidis
The introduction of Salpingidis was crucial. He scored the goal – which came after a good overlap from Torosidis and more poor goalkeeping, this time from Wojciech Szczesny. Salpingidis later won a penalty, and scored a disallowed goal after a marginal offside call.
Still at 11 v 10, Santos’ third and final substitution came after 68 minutes. He removed striker Theo Gekas and introduced young attacking midfielder Kostas Fortounis, who played on the left, with Samaras moving upfront. This immediately had an impact, with the front three combining brilliantly – Samaras was now in a position where he could hold the ball up, and did so for Fortounis to chip the ball over the defence for Salpingidis, leading to Szczesny’s red card and Karagounis squandering the resulting penalty, in keeping with his dead ball performance from the first half.
Smuda responded by moving to an identical 4-4-1 (removing Rybus, putting Obraniak to the left and bringing on Przemyslaw Tyton, who was the hero with his penalty save). But Greece continued to look the better side, with great thrust on both flanks. Poland, having made a defensive shift at the break, were unable to regain their initial energy, and a 4-4-1 v 4-4-1 battle for the final 25 minutes yielded a draw.
Conclusion
One can question Santos’ initial strategy – although he was simply using Greece’s natural shape, it was suicidal to leave Samaras high up on Greece’s left against the strongest part of Poland’s side, and the home team should really have punished Greece by scoring more than a single goal in the first half.
But he deserves great credit for the way he reacted to the red card. Moving to two banks of four stabilized the game and helped protect Holebas, sucking the momentum out of Poland’s play. Then, the two changes on the flanks allowed Greece back in the game, and both Salpingidis and Fortounis will be hopeful of a start against the Czechs on Tuesday.
Poland started superbly but once Greece started to protect Holebas, they looked lost. Smuda will regret his side taking their foot off the gas for the second half, as the drop in performance was extraordinary.
Both will still fancy their chances of progression.
the red card make it a really opening match for euro cup
good job from both side
both managers made a good substitution and gave a good instruction for his players
great artical … keep it up
Both managers? You’re joking right?
Smuda + good subs? Have you watched the game?
Smuda didn’t make any substitutions. He managed overly cautiously in the second half, as evidenced by the lackadaisical play Poland exhibited to start the half and then not making any substitutions other than the required one to put Tyton on the pitch to replace Szczesny.
Smuda has had this issue before with the Polish National Team: not substituting or substituting extremely late in the match and thus not having much of a tactical impact. This may be due to the lack of depth behind the starting XI but there are still some viable attacking options. For Poland to be more creative against a double bank of four, Smuda should have introduced Wolski, who is an amazing dribbler and good passer with flair, for one of the holding midfielders. Smuda wouldn’t likely take off Murawski, one of his favorites, but a more youthful, quicker, and creative side for the last 25minutes would have been to pair Wolski and Polanski in midfield.
Rybus other than the first ten minutes of the game didn’t do much, so I’m hoping against Russia that Smuda has the willingness to adjust and put Obraniak at his natural left winger position and insert Wolski centrally as the playmaker, despite his inexperience.
Exactly what I had in my mind!
Only recently Cruyyff criticized Holland’s side for playing 2 holding mid’s and slowing down the game. Now while I am with Cruyff on this one it’s easy to understand van Marwijk because HOL side has so much more talented than POL and the link up hwile slower is still at least PRESENT. There is no excuse in using 2 DMFs in POL team especially considering their poor defensive performance because we cant get the ball to forwards.
Only the right wing works and when Greece played with 4-4-1 it was just so obvious we couldnt get the ball anywhere away from the back six. There was NOBODY to pass the ball to the front – time and time gain passess were wasted by our DMF duo (Murawski&Polanski) and the game just screamed for someone who can pass the ball or dribble instead of giving the ball away so cheaply .
And there is only Wolski
If I would to blame someone for the result it would be Smuda before even Szcęsny – players tried and failed while Smuda (again) did nothing.
I can’t express exactly how I feel about your “Euros pack” here on ZM, but I’ll do my best.
It’s better than your usual “pick an interesting game to analyze” type of approach, because now you and me both watch the same games. That, of course, is very individual. Usually I only benefit from your Premier League analysis, and sigh every time I see you analyze some other game because I wish I had it on my TV as well. Anyhow, I digress.
Your work here so far have set the bar for the rest of the Euros, and that gives me as much joy as an extra game would. An extra semi-final perhaps. That’s how much I love your contribution.
The only question is, will you continue with the same style or will you try to improve and improve all the time? I’m just curious whether you can improve from now on, but I’m exited. You’ve gotten so far in such a short period of time.
By the way, I translate and write a summary of every preview and analysis you do at the Euros. Makes me feel like I know the team and the players better, and it gives me more joy watching the games as well (not just joy before and after the actual game) when I know strengths and weaknesses from the teams. And it’s really a great feeling when I spot a weakness from a team, which the opposition exploits, come up with a solution for that, and then see the coach do the same adjustment that I had in mind.
Thanks for doing this, Mr. Cox. It’s great. Just great.
Thank you! Very kind, much appreciated. I’ll try to keep it good, but I might get tired around the quarter-final stage haha!
Then you should stick to groups A & B, as according to your analysis, teams from them have more time to rest and usually do better in the end…!
As an Arsenal fan, I have to say Szczesny had an absolute shocker.
Both the goal and red card were totally avoidable. If he’d been smarter for both passages of play, I reckon Poland would’ve won it easily.
He is quite young but he needs to start maturing quickly if he wants to be a top class keeper. That said, he’s potential is there for all to see.
Doubt he could’ve done better in the red card situation – it was a failed offside trap, and after all, Szczesny saved a goal. The first goal was a total mess up on his part though, sadly.
Possibly, but the ball was moving away from goal so if he didn’t stick out a leg it would’ve been a tight angle. That said, it all happened in milliseconds and we have the luxury of having 10 different replays. It was a great start to the tournament though!
Szczesny was at fault for the first goal, but if you watch the replay, you will see the left-sided centre back charge out of position to needlessly cover the fullback. There was a big gap where he should have been covering the flight of the ball, all things being well he SHOULD have intercepted it. From there though Szczesny could have done better.
Just to let you know – Boenisch (left back) was nowhere near this cross and the player who was trying to block it was Rybus, LM who was covering Boenisch position. Now, talking about Perquis – how could you say he was needlesly on the left side when the left back was caught out of position and Greek player was about to cross? He had to try to cover the position. In this situation Boenisch, Szczęsny and to the lesser extent Rybus (who failed to block the cross) were at fault, not Perquis. And Boenisch was at fault yet again in red card situation, breaking defensive line what lead to failed offside trap.
But I have to laugh at English journalists who follow only EPL and they are portraying Tytoń, PSV Eindhoven first choice goalie as the young, unexperienced yardbird. He was penalty killer at Roda Kerkrade and he proved his worth yet again. Good job.
Wrong. Salpingidis has received the ball brilliantly, making it hit the ground more vertically, so it would then fall down very close from where he was. I think Szczęsny had to faul him. (But obviously the first goal was his fault.)
I actually thought Salpingidis’ touch was poor, but he still would have a shot at goal. The ball was running away from him.
Obviously the ball was running away, but my point is, as we both agree, that it was close from him, and he would have made a shot. On the replay I can see that the defender was pretty fast to the ball, but only because he started sprinting after Salpingidis fell down – if he got past Szczęsny, defenders wouldn’t have made it on time.
haha “poland would have won easily”.. you don’t “get” football, do you? which game did you see? second half was a 10-man Greece utterly dominating
I Know. Most people on here are obviously biased for Poland.
Good report (as always). Just one thing, after Poland’s red card, didn’t Obraniak stay in the middle, leaving Boenisch with the left flank, supported only by Murawski? I did see Obraniak on the left in one occasion, few minutes after the red card, forming the 1-4-4-1, yet I kept seeing him as a 10, doing his ‘central winger’ job as in 1st half.
The telling issue in this match was the fact that Poland could not really create any significant chances other than just playing the ball down the right…Rybus created almost nothing, Boenish created 1 real chance and only completes 2 crosses none of which involved attacking the byline, Obraniak did OK and few chances were created by the holding midfielders
It was interesting to note that Greece’s improvement in performance came after they were forced into a more reserved style with the sending off. They lacked any clear identity before it, sometimes w#hen teams are caught between playing all-out attack and all-out defence they end up patiently circulating the ball waiting for openings to simply appear. They were forced more into their “old” deep compact selves and it appeared to suit them better.
Having said that with Poland a man up and a goal up, to let Greece back into the game was unforgivable. Credit to Greece though. A brilliant opening day with a promising performance from Russia too. Dzagoev wow!
I don’t follow? They were playing all-out attack. Which game were you watching?
Well ok, not exactly compact defence, but there were naturally more reserved. It’s difficult to be free-flowing and dangerous with Samaras leading your attack, the full-backs didn’t really get forward too much. What I’m saying is that it wasn’t an onslaught.
Thanks for the great work again. Not much to argue about what you wrote above, but one thing you didn’t mention was the total lack of changes by Smuda, both tactical and personnel. Going to 4-4-1 was forced upon him as a direct result of Szczesny’s sending off. Polish players looked out of ideas, and frankly out of energy, as everyone does by now, I realize that beyond the first 11 there is not much to pick from, but surely a fresh player might have helped. Smuda failed in this game, not Szczesny failed, but still. A modern European side should be more adaptable than Poland was today. It was clear that not only were Greece a much better performing side in the second half, but also what Poland were doing wasn’t working anymore. Yet, even after the first 15 minutes of the second half, Smuda did nothing. Mierzejewski might have helped, or against ten men perhaps another striker might have come on. Anything, because what they were doing wasn’t working. Such a frustrating game, despite the penalty save, this was definitely two points dropped, and if Poland don’t get a result against a strong Russia it might be out of their hands, depending on the result of the other match. Because with 6 points and assured of a place in the QFs, Russia might simply rest its best players. And then even a Polish win might mead 3rd place. After such a wonderful first half performance this was a very frustrating result, and we could have easily lost the match too. The players AND Smuda need to do much better on Tuesday.
A note about the ref, the first sending off was at best extremely harsh. And while it was not a physically tough match, nor dirty, there were many stoppages of play and the ref called it very tightly so much so that I felt it disrupted the flow of the game. Shame for Poland especially as in the first half any stoppage was to their disadvantage.
I understand another ref might not whistle it, but the fact is that Murawski could either fall down or manage to stay on his feet and run towards the goal. What the defender did, was helping him fall down, and therefore it is a faul, and in this situation a clear yellow.
Slightly bizarre game. The formation diagrams say a lot, I think – no wonder Lewandowski was so much quieter in the second half.
Bit of an interesting to the balance to the group too, after the emphatic result in the other game (will it be getting a write up? Some of us have got exams to procrastinate for you know). If the Czech Republic are to be the weakest team, you’re looking at, who can get a draw off Russia? You’d have to say Greece I guess, especially playing them last – potentially Russia might have already qualified and a couple of players would be rested. Course, the Czechs could still improve and throw everything, but I imagine Poland will quite fancy their chances if Greece don’t beat them: Kuba and Piszczek could tear Kadlec to bits.
I enjoyed how often we were able to close down efficiently in the first half – Greek players apparently couldn’t handle it, Lewandowski’s goal was scored after an interception on opponent half, too.
But if Poland could have a chance to progress, we need to have more variety when coming forward. Almost all of our chances came after some quick passing down right wing, with Piszczek bombing forward to overlap. The further in the game, the less he did it, or was less allowed to by Samaras/Fourtunis.
Polish side posed slim to none threat from the left, and literally any from the centre, with Obraniak drifting around the flanks and unable to find a place for himself, and a pair of sluggish pivots, both unable to provide any incisive passing or a well timed dart forward to surprise the opposition.
Poland also have a bit of defensive concern: Boenisch certainly wasn’t at his best, especially later against Salpingidis, and we really lack any other reasonable option for left back position. I do hope that he will surprise me against Russia.
Wawrzyniak is WAY better than boenisch and he was on the bench today so I’m pretty sure he’s fit already. Surely fitter than boenisch who played his second full game of football in 2 years.
Do you mean the “Aśwyebaem” guy from Legia? The one who let Lechia Gdańsk winger cross the ball into the penalty area every time he wanted to? Please, be serious, even Boenisch in a terrible form is still better than him.
I second that . Even off form Boenisch is way better than Wawrzyniak.
Variety wasn’t the problem in the first half. We were able to overload the right side and attack effectively from there either with a cross or a passing move inside. It worked and it worked well. Problem was the quality of play in the second half, perhaps they thought that being up 1-0 and a man up too against a low scoring side which wasn’t playing well that the game was won already. However after Greece equalized they still didn’t pick up the tempo or play any better. First touch went missing, passing was slow and inaccurate, lack of movement off the ball. And Smuda changed nothing. We were still a man up and with the game tied something should have been done after an hour. But aside from the enforced change he made no substitutions, even when it was clear that the energy was lacking.
I’d blame boenish more than Szczesny for the red card situation. boenish’s positioning was inexcusable, as he was the one who played Salpingidis onside. He also got outpaced by Torosidis before the equaliser.
I found it baffling that Smuda used only one (forced) substitution when his side was clearly struggling.
It was a very close offside decision, its not as if Boenisch was the one not in line. Szczesny made the foul, not Boenisch. And it was Szczesny who helped the Greeks score.
Szczęsny HAD TO make a faul, because Boenisch messed up.
Or to play devil’s advocate a bit: you can make the argument Michael Ballack made on ESPN afterwards that Salpingidis had no control of the ball and it shouldn’t have been a red. Not that I agree, but that’s one view point out there.
Well, I actually think Salpingidis would be able to score.
He was about 3 yards behind the line and it wasn’t close decision. He failed big time, Szczęsny had to foul and in fact he prevented Greeks from scoring in this situation, although obviously Tytoń’s brilliant save was crucial.
They didn’t score from it though…
I am a Greek fan, so I will stick to the Greek team. Speaking with some friends before the game I mentioned what a mistake it is to choose Samaras left upfront against such a good right duo in the opposite team. Samaras never helps with marking, and when he does it is out of aggresion rather than tactics. So, it was normal that there was a party going on in Greek’s left defensive side.
Still, the main issue for Greece was the lack of ball transition. In that terms, luck and the referee corrected the problem. The two central defenders that started the game are incapable of passing the ball. After the injury and the red card, they were replaced by Kyriakos Papadopoulos (who started his career as central defender, but has been playing as defensive midfielder for Schalke the last years) and Katsouranis (who started his career as attacking midfielder, but has gradually moved backwards – he still enjoys playing in midfield but if he had insisted in playing in the back he would be Greece’s Beckenbauer or even fit Barca’s system was he younger and more dedicated – yeah it’s an exaggeration, I am just trying to make you see what kind of a player he is).
And with these two in the back, the ball was suddenly flowing around Greece’s midfield, and it opened up the Polish team. Then came Salpingidis who is an attacker playing wide during the last years, and who likes to make moves like the one for the penalty.
And then came Fourtounis, who made an immediate impact. Still, apart from his passing, his coming in meant that Samaras moved for Gegkas position and there was only one true striker in the team, and the team made more sense.
Overall, yes Greece got lucky, but it pushed its luck. And Santos showed that you can correct a game that you planned or that went wrong. As Robert mentions above, the Polish coach didn’t make a substitute. He sat there waiting for the game to end, like his team.
With the players so exhausted from playing 60 games a season, more and more these tournaments will be influenced by coaches.
Poland had a great chance today. They throw it away. This means they don’t deserve to go to the next phase. But as Greece proved in the second half, it ain’t over till it’s over…
Excellent analysis. I think you’re right in pinpointing Greece’s move from a front three to a more solid midfield bank of four as the game’s most important tactical switch.
Keep up the good work!
Poland lost it. They played really well that left side in the first half. They went 1-0 and 11-10 to half-time. The Greek coach for me was the man of the match hehe, he lost 2 players in a matter of minutes, and did well to reorganize the team. The other side went static. Too bad Karagounis missed that penalty kick because he did very well setting the attacks in the second half. I feel like Poland felt comfortable with a tie. I couldn’t believe it because Greece was like the weaker one on this group.
Give me a break. Greece weaker! Poland is 67th in FIFA world ranking and
Greece is 15th. Greece was obviously the favorite even on the road.
Smuda lost two points for Poland, Santos won. After first half it was a must win. Smuda didn’t make any plan at half-time. Even if you have one player more you have to play according to a plan. He didn’t make changes. Rybus and Obraniak should be replaced by Grosicki, Mierzejewski or Wolski. With this harsh Spanish ref, someone with speed and creativity could solve Poland problems. And now Greece has more chance to advance from this group than Poland.
ninis hardly created anything.don’t think he’ll start a match again.
Greece will be feeling they dropped 2 points even after what they went through first half.
To reinforce a point made in the above article, Poland’s game plan thrived on a combination of both the great chemistry between Poland’s Dortmund based trio and the lack of understanding between Greece’s Samaras and Holebas. There are two main reasons for why Samaras and Holebas were so disjointed. First, their unfamiliarity with one another. Holebas only joined Greece back in November of last year. They have only played three or so matches together before last night’s match, all of which were friendlies. Second, Samaras made no substantive effort in that short time to develop an understanding with Holebas. In a friendly against Belgium, for example, Samaras purposely underperformed (to avoid injury and exhaustion) and was off soon after the restarted half. Tellingly, the goal Greece conceded in that game came off a cross that neither Samaras nor Holebas dealt with.
I was pleasantly impressed by the Greek youngsters. Kyriakos Papadopoulos made some crucial tackles and Fortunis looked good, I hope we see more of him. Ninis on the other hand was a dissapointment – he obviously has quality above the rest of his team but he is physicaly weak, lacks stamina, and his decision making is questionable.
greece started very slowly and they were their back to the goal especially samaras who was the main focal attack for greece and they tried to move the ball from flanks rather than trying to move through the centre where there was no space and more importantly they were outnumbered . the red was a stupidity by the spaninsh referee . but the greek coach made the right substitution in the second half bringing on salpingidis for ninis who looked lively but at times didnt looked on the same wavelength with his fullback as well as his teammates .
in the first half greek just wanted to take the ball wide and win as many corners and free kicks as possible . but the second half and with the substitution brought a real purpose and most importantly samaras was moved in the centre in place of gekas and most importantly the greeks outplayed polish in terms of physicality . samaras was actually the hero who help turn around . he won every ball that was passed at him and most importantly he was given too much time on the ball by poland he made full use of it which led to the goalkeepers red card . for me greek do have the chance to make the Q/F since they can play a nice physical game .
now about the polish they started on the bright not playing on the counter attack especially on the right side where colebas was left bambozelled by the polish movement and the goal came because of that . they dominated the greeks in the midfield and played on counter . they stated the second half nicely started pressing greece for the ball slowed down the game but i dont know what happened but they struggled with the physicality of the game . in the second half they played a high line but then they gave samaras too much time on the ball who was causing them all sort of problems . poland played high line but allowed samaras the time on the ball which let to the red card for schezny . polish really struggled with physicality of the game and their heads dropped after the equalizer .
players verdict lowandowski looks good especially for the english game and the team that really should sign is arsenal since they need somebody who can head the ball and also who can run . he still looks a bit raw but has all the signs where on he can be developed in to a good forward .
last and not the least this is a nigerian scam email .
Can’t really add to this great review, though have to say I predicted the scoreline right
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Poland dominated first half with their energy and by getting the ball to Lewandowski, but tired in the second half greatly. Greece made the mistake of playing ninis (who is a great player but doesn’t suit this style of play) and when they brought on the pacy Salpingidis he was able to exploit the Polish LB, probably the weak link of the Polish defense. Poland were far too direct in the second half, they went for long balls as soon as they got the ball back and ended up giving ball straight back to Greece. Greece also looked a lot more likely to score when they got their fullbacks forward on the overlap, they were too reluctant to do this at times in the game. Greece looked the more likely to win in the end.
I thought a few players on both sides impressed, but some were poor. Obviously the Dortmund players were great, but Murawski also had a good game in the first half recycling the ball for attacks. But I thought Obraniak was quite poor, he showed good movement, but his passes were sloppy and his often lacked the idea’s to open up Greece’s defense, usually picking the wrong option.
For Greece, the supersub wingers were obviously great (should they be starting?) and while I actually thought Samaras did okay on the left, he looked much better upfront, I would move him there for the next two games. I thought Gekas was very poor, he hardly got involved in play and his movement was non-existent, should be dropped.
Not so the tactics decide the final result but the two mistakes from Arsenal’s goalkeeper.
Tactics did play a role in the goals against Poland. The Polish failed to deal with Torosidis on the first goal. Why was he given so much space to attack? Also, why was Fortounis wide open on so many occasions? He was unmarked when he made the fantastic pass that led to the penalty, he was unmarked when he made the deflected pass that led to the goal which was recalled for offside, and he was unmarked in a dangerous position once again when Karagounis missed the target from range. Poland made the mistake Greece made in the first half: they failed to secure their flanks.
I don’t think the sending off was as crucial in changing the balance of play as some people have said. Greece had already started to gain a decent foothold before this, although I accept that the sense of injustice seemed to fire them up still further. It looked to me like Poland simply ran out of steam after a blistering start, possibly with the emotional strain of being host nation playing a part in their slump. They tried to rally at the start of the second half but could not maintain the tempo for more than 5-10 minutes. After that it was Greece all the way, and the Greeks should really have won. Difficult to see the Poles getting out of this group now.
Am I the only one who saw Maniatis as the best greek player?
He seems to be fluid in his passing and running and the only one who seems to be capable of making a quick transition play.
See the draw goal he initiated with a fine pass and his overall positioning always being a free option for a pass.
Not much the tactics but the two crucial mistakes from Arsenal’s goalkeeper decided the match.Penalty+red card and we should not forget that the first goal came from his mistake.
Great review ZM!
I’ll only add that it’s always amazing to see one side (Poland) that was very good at being reactive and counter-attacking at every loss of possession by their opponent (Greece), looks absolutely lost when they had the responsability of controlling the ball (2nd half).
Poland’s inability to hold the ball and create with a packed (albeit with 10) greek defense, was crucial: they didn’t know how to hold the ball and their attacks were always too direct.
Greece slowly gained confidence and Poland were now completely lost after a great 1st half…
Teams need to know how to attack… playing the underdog is useful… but here Poland were better and were in a position to deal the killer blow… they just didn’t know how.
The fact that Poland weren’t up by three at the break when they should have been killed them. That sounds obvious, but it seems like Poland’s game plan was to score enough goals to keep Greece at bay. They didn’t actually have a plan of MANAGING the game when they were pleased with the scoreline. They need to figure that out or they had better prepare for a rough homecoming.