Poland 1-1 Russia: Poland beef up their midfield and prevent Russia counter-attacking
The starting line-ups
Neither side played particularly open football – but strangely, this turned out to be a very good contest.
Wojciech Szczesny was suspended, so Franciszek Smuda continued with Przemyslaw Tyton, the hero of the first game, in goal. More interestingly, he changed the structure of his side, moving to more of a 4-1-4-1 formation, dropping left-winger Maciej Rybus in favour of a solid holder, Dariusz Dudka. Ludovic Obraniak moved to the left.
Dick Advocaat continued with the XI that hit four goals in Russia’s opening day win over the Czech Republic. Aleksandr Kerzhakov retained his place upfront despite Roman Pavlyuchenko’s impact from the bench – Kerzhakov’s finishing had been wayward, but his movement and link-up play was excellent, and he deserved his place here.
Neither side took the initiative and both looked to prevent the other counter-attacking. Smuda was reactive with his approach and fairly negative, but his tactics worked well.
Poland approach
Dudka could have been accommodated within Poland’s 4-2-3-1 had Smuda wished to continue with that system, with Rafael Murawski moving higher up the pitch and watching Igor Denisov. But Smuda chose the more defensive approach, effectively fielding three holding midfielders in front of his defence.
Although ‘defensive’ in basic terms, it actually made Poland more fluid on the counter-attack. In the opening game, both Murawski and Eugen Polanski sat solidly ahead of the defence and left attacking to the other four players, plus Lukasz Piszczek moving forward from right-back.
Here, with Dudka as the insurance policy, those two players had license to join the attacking trio when Poland won the ball, and both popped up on the edge of the box to partake in the attacking combinations.
Russia breaks thwarted
But this was a move predominantly designed to stop Russia from playing. Smuda had seen how smooth Russia’s counter-attacking was against the Czech Republic, and how the Czechs suffered hugely from not having a designated holding midfielder in position to tidy up in front of the defence. In that game, Russia played excellent combinations through their midfield triangle, which generally ended with either Roman Shirokov or Alan Dzagoev finding space between the lines.
Not only did Poland put Dudka rigidly in that zone, they also dropped their midfield deep, and prevented Russia from getting space between the lines, even in the positions either side of Dudka, where Andrei Arshavin and Dzagoev like to work. Dudka, Polanski and Murawski worked as a trio and communicated well, but generally kept their shape and weren’t dragged around by the rotation of Shirokov and Konstantin Zyryanov.
Russia attacks
Russia couldn’t move the ball forward quickly, and had to keep returning to Denisov, who was playing as the pivot in midfield. Poland didn’t attempt to close him down, and consequently Denisov completed by far the highest number of passes – 98, with Zyryanov the next highest on 68.
With the central midfield zone crowded, Russia looked forward to Kerzhakov much quicker. He continued to drift from side to side, particularly to the left, his favoured run at club level with Zenit. It helped that Piszczek was trying to advance down that flank to support Poland’s attack.
Poland attacks
When Piszczek did so, Poland often shifted their other three defenders across, so Marcin Wasilewski became the right-back in a three-man defence. That, plus the three central midfielders, gave Piszczek freedom to get forward and combine with Jakub Blaszczykowski. This tested the defensive ability of Arshavin, and he generally tracked back and helped Yuri Zhirkov well.
On the other flank, Ludovic Obraniak – having started central and drifted wide in the opening game, did the reverse here. He moved inside into his favoured number ten position, and became involved in combinations with Blaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski and the two central midfielders. Poland’s passing through the centre of the pitch was occasionally excellent, whereas in the first game they channelled everything down the flanks.
However, with both sides getting three-man midfields quickly behind the ball and playing on the break, it was going to take something very special to break down an organised opposition in open play. Russia’s goal came through Dzagoev, from a set-piece, shortly before half-time
Second half
Smuda surprisingly made no substitutions at half-time, but Poland played with more energy in the second half. They didn’t attempt to press the Russian centre-backs, but started the pressure on the halfway line, making some good tackles and launching quick breaks.
At this point, it seemed appropriate for Russia to become more cautious, with the full-backs staying in defensive positions. But this didn’t happen – shortly before Poland’s equaliser, Yuri Zhirkov was in the opposition penalty box trying to score a second goal. Russia’s endeavour must be admired, and the full-backs attacking is crucial for their system (regardless of the scoreline) but they were very cavalier at 1-0 up.
Zhirkov was in position for the equaliser, however. It was simply a fine equaliser from Blaszczykowski, who received the ball from Obraniak, who was breaking forward on the right flank despite nominally being the left-winger. The majority of Poland’s attacks went down the right, as the positions of their ’shot assists’ shows – despite Blaszczykowski being quiet until then, it seemed likely that if Poland scored, it would be from that flank.
The only significant substitution was from Smuda on 73 minutes. Dudka was withdrawn, Adrian Mierzejewski replaced him, so Polanski and Murawski dropped back to become the two holders. Mierzejewski went to the right to cut inside onto his left foot, and Blaszczykowski did the same on the other side. Obraniak became the number ten once more. It showed Poland’s intent to attack more, but Russia had the majority of the ball for the final 15 minutes, and a draw was fair.
Conclusion
Poland’s main intention was to frustrate Russia, and although they did try to get the winner late on, one suspects Smuda would have taken this result before the game – it means Poland will progress with a win against the Czech Republic on Saturday. Smuda now has a lot of important decisions to make, however – ranging from which goalkeeper he selects (it’s likely to be Tyton) to which formation he plays.
Russia’s Zenit-style counter-attacking in the first match was superb, but Zenit’s weakness against strong opponents has been a reliance upon counter-attacking. Here, Poland showed that Advocaat’s side are much less effective when the opposition pack the central midfield zone and keep it tight between the lines, but Russia remain strong favourites to top the group.
In the next matchday Poland’s reliance on counter-attacking will be exposed. We’re bad in possesion and both our goals came from a fast break down the right wing. With Czechs happy with a draw we won’t be able to counter much and our lack of midfield creativity will be our downfall.
NB: The Czechs shouldn’t be happy with a draw, as it might not take them through. If Greece beat Russia in their final game, then both Greece and Russia will go through, at the expense of the Czechs.
All three (Rus, Gre, Cze) will be on 4pts, and with head-to-heads even, it goes to goal difference between the three. Czech defeat by 3 goals against Russia means they’d go out.
Of course, I don’t see Greece beating Russia. And with the games played simultaneously, the Czechs will have a sense at HT of how the other game is going.
I love the last games of the group stages for the tactical intrigue you get as a consequence, when suddenly a (or both!) team’s whole strategy can change in an instant.
Poland do have another trick up their sleeve of heavy pressure for a limited time. It uses a lot of energy but it gets their best players into dangerous positions and Czech Republic look fragile when their defense have been threatened. Poland would have to score in this period, otherwise they could be facing an early exit from the competition.
i think poland only playing through the right is just natural. Kuba, Piszcek and lewandowski are their best players and they are used playing together from dortmund. if they want to survive against kroatia, those players need to be at their best.
Czech Republic, not Croatia.
For me, these two are the best in Group A. Russia have several terrific individuals (plus this Zenit-style attack), and I can’t see them losing to Greece. Poland also have a few dangerous attacking players, but it’s their flexibility which has impressed me. Obraniak can play on the wing or as a treqartista, and Smuda seems confident enough to make in-game tactical changes.
Nice job as always.
Sadly Smuda already said that Szczesny is the number one and he will start Saturday.
I liked this game, I liked our tactics, I liked the fact that Smuda actually used his subs, and I liked how the Poles performed. If it wasn’t for the shocking Piszczek who left Dzagoyev for a free header this could have been a victory. Poland on a good day is a pretty good side. Russia on a mediocre day can be exposed. That is why Russia is still not a top European side. A top side on a mediocre day would still find a way to win.
Poland created enough chances to win this, unfortunately we have only two proper finishers in the side, Kuba and Lewandowski.
Saturday will be tough, either side can handily beat the other on any day. They are fairly evenly matched.
If Lewandowski and Kuba aren’t too tired on Saturday, and especially if Rosicky is still nursing any kind of injury, I think Poland will pull through against the Czechs. Lewandowski’s hold up play has been phenomenal, Obraniak looks good in central positions, and the Dortmund right side look good every game, which definitely gives them an edge over a fairly fragile Czech back line, even with the greater midfield balance they found against the Greeks. Lewandowski in particular looks confident enough to pull a winner out of thin air like Kuba did today, as opposed to Baros who looks hard-working but fairly hopeless.
The only caveat is that against the Greeks Poland were caught square several times as a winger ran in behind, and Pilar’s direct runs look very similar to Salpingidis’s goal from that game, but mirrored on the other side where Piszczek will be pushing up to support. If the trick of shuffling over Wasilewski works then the other major threat will be Selassie motoring to the byline past the horribly immobile Boenisch, although he seemed to do fairly well against Dzagoev and Kerzhakov, but Anyukov wasn’t really ambitious enough or quick enough to test him.
I personally think this game highlighted the impotance of full backs in attack. With Arshavin and Dzagoev drifiting starting narrow and Shirkokov, Densiov and Zyryanov all playing very close together in the middle, both Zhirkov and Anyukov had the whole each flank to attack down – although the later didn’t do so until around the hour mark.
For Poland, the importance of Piszczek was highlighted against through his attacking nature. He’s incredibly proactive and often trying to receive the ball much further up than the rest of his back four.
It was from this that Kuba was forced inside and ended up shooting for Poland’s excellent equaliser.
http://tttfootball.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/poland-1-russia-1-12th-june-2012/
Czechs will progress. Poland need to win, the crowd will push them forvard and they will be vulnerable at the back, while Czechs found stability…the question is: Will Rosický play and if not, who will replace him? I vote for Darida, Kolář didn’t impress me at all. I think Limberský-Pilař duo is more than capable to prevent danger from the right side.
Great article. I wholeheartedly agree with many points.
I noticed that in the first 15-20 minutes, Poland looked great with Kuba down the flank. You highlighted a lot of a central connection and good movements by Piszczek. While I wasn’t really watching Piszczek, I didn’t really notice him. Maybe he was overshadowed by Kuba, but I think Poland really needs to play another man or two up front. I think they have the talent to win their next game and challenge a Portugal/Denmark/Holland.
If Kuba were to play up front, a lot of his talent would sure be taken away, but Poland could push Piszczek forward. I’m not sure if they have a backup RB, but I see this as a possible solution to a stronger, more control oriented attack.
In fact Polish backup RB is Wasilewski, who plays as CB in national team and was great yesterday. Talking about criminally underrated Piszczek – I still stand by my opinion that he’s the best right back in Europe (much better than Philipp Lahm in Bundesliga and that speaks for itself), however for me he wasn’t overly active in attack yesterday but had a good game in defence and neutralised Arshavin very well. I think Limbersky will have a tough Saturday evening and hope Poland can progress but we’ll see.
Wow, that is high praise indeed. I too rate Piszczek very highly, and really like him a lot as a player, but, yes there is a but, and a big one. Concerning last night. He was shocking for the first hour. At fault for the goal, and that was an example of his defending last night. Always a step late, reacted too late, behind the attacker not in front of him. He was covered well by Wailewski and one of the CMs or Kuba, but he was terrible. One of those days, I am sure he’ll be much better on Saturday. I also think he would be an asset to the top teams in the world, Real, United (yes please1). With all the Lewandowski hype and speculation (just rags making stuff up), I think its Piszczek United should be looking to buy. But again, it wasn’t he who neutralized Arshavin, it was the players who covered for him. He did ok going forward, but not defending.
Interesting fact, Kerzakhov is reminding me of Lampard of 2006, when he had about 20 shots on goal and didn’t score. Hopefully for Russia he wont be as bad as Fwank was, but he is getting close.
Poland played the perfect game against Russia and if they hadn’t given away a sloppy goal from a set piece, then they would have won. They sat back deep and didn’t let Russia space in behind, with time and again Polish players making successful tackles just in front on their penalty area. They then had a very strong counter attack; with Kuba bring the ball forward, Obraniak drifting all over the pitch to combine with players, Piszczek rampaging forward quickly and Lewandowski leading the line excellently. Poland as a team were not as direct as against Greece either, when they would constantly play long balls and give away the ball. Here they played patient short balls to players in space and believed in their own ability. They still lack a goal scoring threat from central midfield (a surprise factor if you will)and the amount of energy they used in this game could leave them tired against the Czech’s, these are the two big issues. But if they can replicate this game, drop off the Czechs then look to break at pace then they could win. Czech Republic are not a threat when teams don’t give them space in behind with Baros one of the poorest strikers at this tournament. If Czech Republic play for the draw and don’t commit numbers then Poland have another trick of highly pressing their opponents for a limited space of time. Czech republic are capable of conceding when they are pushed back and Poland look dangerous with this strategy, but they would have to make it count with a goal because it usually only lasts around 10 minutes. A win for Poland for a draw for me in the next round.
Russia showed their clear weakness, they struggle to break down teams that sit back. They kept the ball very well but lacked a real threat, with both Arshavin and Dzagoev unable to dribble past the wall of Polish players. The big problem was at striker, because Kerzhakov was the wrong choice up front. His false nine role was never going to work and his poor finishing added to his lack of threat from crosses made Russia limp in attack. This was a game for Pogrebynak, who would have been an ideal target for the Russian fullbacks who were getting a lot of space out wide. The lack of creativity from CM was also clear, with no-one looking able to pass their through the Polish defense. Russia will face a Greek side that are but out next, I doubt they will lose and should go through, but if Greece can learn from their past two performances and sit back, then Russia could have another tough night of football. If Greece play like they have done, then expect another thrashing from the Russians.
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Credit should not go only for Dudka,but also for Polanski and Murawski who managed very quickly to go back from attack to defence to help neutralize Russia front trio.
The bigest problem for Russia is defence,by that I don’t mean back four but their overall play without the ball.In the second half they were shockingly exposed to Polish quick breakes because their lines were overstreched- simply they were not tracking back especialy front players.Against a realy strong team they would’ve conceded at least 3 goals.And Levandovski is realy a good player.
I thought Poland deserved to go in a goal down. Clearly as you say the idea was to allow Russia to keep possession and not counter but surely they must’ve had aspirations to counter attack themselves? In the first-half, this did not happen often enough and too often they were actually quite slow to break. In the second-half they were open, expanisve and forced Russia back. I think Lewandowski was more effective with Obraniak playing off him, gave a link from midfield.
Not saying the tactics were wrong as such but I don’t understand why Poland didn’t break with more pace and energy in the first-half.
this game was pretty terrific in my eyes. i especially liked the fact that both teams managed to get the ball forward with short vertical passes at an astonishinng, nearly dortmundesque speed. the ratio of vertical to horizontal passes must have been incredibly high
Hi Michael! I am an extremely huge fan of this site and your work! It’s helped me out in my career as a writer in the Philippines. I just have a quick question that I hope you can address. On numerous occasions, I actually saw Dudka and Polanski add additional cover to the backline. In my view, Polanski advanced as part of the double pivot. In that sense, isn’t this still a 4-2-3-1? Thank you and cheers for all your excellent work!
After the early missed chances and the poor marking on the Russia goal I was afraid there might be a collapse from Poland in the second half. But thankfully they showed real determination to get the goal back and with a bit more luck could have won it. Great game to watch.