Legia Warsaw and its problems after the fall of the Europa League

• After dropping out of the Europa League, Legia Warsaw began looking for the culprits, which are more than the recently released Aleksandar Vuković
• Bringing players in, changing the coach – at one moment they became completely unnecessary, because the Polish champions suffered a defeat, the consequences of which are extremely painful for them. They lost a lot of money – a minimum of PLN 30 million, they lost the opportunity to show their players in Europe
• After the first match with the Irishmen, I thought that Legia was not prepared for the three most important months of the season, and at all levels – starts former defender and sports director of Legia Jacek Bednarz
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On Thursday evening, Legia’s entire plan for this season collapsed in ruins. The lack of promotion to the Europa League group stage was a huge blow. Bringing players in, changing the coach – at one moment they became completely unnecessary, because the Polish champions suffered a defeat, the consequences of which are extremely painful for them. They lost a lot of money – a minimum of PLN 30 million, they lost the opportunity to show their players in Europe. It quickly turned out that the problem at Łazienkowska Street was much bigger than it seemed. The dismissal of Aleksandar Vukovic did not help, because Legia’s poor performance was not only a consequence of his work. There are definitely more culprits.

Incomprehensible movements

– After the first match with the Irish team, I thought that Legia was not prepared for the three most important months of the season, and at all levels – starts former Legia defender and sports director Jacek Bednarz. He does not absolve the players, but believes that their fault is not greater than all the others: from the owner, through the sports division, to those who came out on the field and did not cope with the task.

– The idea of ​​how to manage this team after the championship was not good. The people who prepare the team as if they didn’t take into account that the new players won’t have the time to be in the right shape, because most of them were poorly disposed. This applies to the entire team. Legia is playing too slowly, new people cannot give it anything of key importance. Except for Artur Boruc – analyzes Bednarz.

Summer transfers did not help, so Radosław Kucharski is the first to blame. A sports director who has long enjoyed the trust of President Dariusz Mioduski. And although his moves in the summer transfer window seemed to be good moves, the reality has brutally verified them. The best example is Joel Valencia. It was easy to predict that a player who played just over 600 minutes at Brentford in the previous season would be no reinforcement at this stage of the competition. And now – when Legia has already dropped out of the European cups – his presence in the team is redundant, because winning the Polish championship is not a goal, but a way to the goal, i.e. Europe. In this, however, there will be no more Ekwadroczyk – after the season he has to return to England, from where he was only borrowed.

– Valencia needs time, just like Bartek Kapustka. It was logical that the investment in it was long term. Today it is the shadow of a man who shone with talent four years ago. I need time and patience. Now he is one of many, certainly not a key player of Legia – assesses Bednarz. The other transfers are also not defending themselves. Josip Juranovic in Hajduk Split was not wanted too much, Rafael Lopes is the level of the Polish Premier League. They both disappointed. And they pointed out once again the problem in Legia, which makes good transfers for our league and wants to conquer Europe with them.

If we add the light devotion of Mateusz Praszelik, who shines in Silesia in Wrocław, it does not give a good testimony to the sports director of Legia. Especially that the 20-year-old left for free, and it was enough for him to play a certain number of minutes for his contract to extend automatically. The Legia staff could field it at the end of the season, when the championship was almost certain, if only to receive specific money for it in the summer. However, they preferred to give it to Silesia for free.

Slower from the start

Another problem is poor physical preparation, which we have observed not only in recent weeks, but since the return of Legia after a pandemic break. Łukasz Bortnik, who has been working at Łazienkowska since May last year, is responsible for them. This problem was clearly visible in the meeting with Qarabag on Thursday.

– If we examined the players of Legia and Qarabag, I suspect that there would be no gap in their results. But in such matches, errors on the level of nuances decide – notes Bednarz and gives two examples. The first from the 14th minute, when Filip Mladenović did not try to stop the rushing with the ball at the opponent’s line. A similar story happened after the break and it was about Juranovic. The Serb does not jump to Abdellah Zoubir, does not try to stop him, he allows him to turn with the ball. – It was a cheek for a legionnaire – says Bednarz. – These situations show that most likely the players felt that their opponents were faster from the very first minute. Not a meter or two, but key centimeters. The legionnaires were a bit late throughout the match – says our expert.

According to the former legionnaire, columnist for “Przegląd Sportowy” Dariusz Dziekanowski, blaming the sports director or staff members is too much shallow the matter, a standard search for scapegoats. – If the president has been cooperating with this director for so many years and we hear that he is satisfied, then we cannot blame the director for what is on the pitch – says Dziekanowski. – The problem lies deeper. History repeats itself. Legia lacks a vision, plan, or understanding of coaches and the transfer market. It is difficult to expect Mr. Mioduski to know football, but he should employ people in the club who have a good understanding of it. First of all, he should hire a president, because so far he is making only wrong decisions in this position – believes the former Polish representative and illustrates the situation at Łazienkowska street.

– If I decided to invest in aviation without knowing the business, then when I saw the plane go down again, I would understand that navigation from the tower is probably not very good. That you have to change the person responsible for it. However, from Mr. Mioduski, we still heard that it was functioning properly. So you can’t blame the navigator because he tries his best. And the fact that he cannot, is another matter – he says and gives examples which, in his opinion, hit the club owner first of all.

– It is brought to the club Valencia and after two weeks we wonder why it was done? In February, his contract with Andre Martins is extended for two years, and in the summer he is sidelined. In July, the club signs a contract with Vukovic until 2022 and releases him a few weeks later. This is not a vision. This is amateur vision – summarizes the 63-time Polish representative.

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