In March, we discussed whether the translation Euro will help the selector build a stronger representation. This year alone, he unexpectedly had eight matches in which he could test new players and check tactical patterns. Nevertheless, we are not better prepared for the championship today than in November last year – after the last qualifying match. Although the team has more players fighting for the appointment to the tournament, it is also harder for players to get a place in the starting eleven, but we still say that the one who is not playing gains the most. In addition, the style in which we lost to the Netherlands and Italy drove national madness.
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The main difference between Lewandowski and Brzęczek. “They are on other waves”
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Trust in Jerzy Brzęczek it was never high, but it hadn’t scrubbed the bottom a year ago. Today he scrubs. Hence all these guesses – the analysis of Robert’s statements Lewandowski, doubting his injury, persistently looking for non-sporting reasons for a change during the half-time. Hence the absurd discussion at times about how the players react to a lost match right after its end. Checking who was laughing and who was looking sad. It is all lined with fear of the Euro: as far as a vision games We are afraid of matches with Spain, just like at the time of the draw, so we are afraid of matches with Sweden and Slovakia more than then. And that also says a lot about 2020 by our team.
Why are we so hysterical about the national team?
In the beginning there was the word, only then the matches. Małgorzata Domagalik with the participation of Jerzy Brzęczek wrote the book “In the game”which for critics of the coach was like an alarm clock before the first training camp in ten months. The emotions, suppressed by the lack of matches, revived, and the later matches with very good rivals and the team’s communication problems did not help to moderate them. On the contrary – in November we reached the wall: we discussed whether the match against the Netherlands, preceded by Robert Lewandowski’s silence, could be the last for Brzęczek. And there were those who, believing this, cheered on their rivals so that with a high victory they could lead to his dismissal. Poland, however, played so much better than against Italy that there will be no change in the position. At the same time, it is too weak to dispel fears of the euro.
Jerzy Buzzer he took the representation two years ago, right after the World Cup defeat, when fans reacted to it almost allergically. Today this aversion towards footballers is no more. This turned into a general hysteria dictated by the poor style of the game and ill-considered statements of the coach. I will tell you that for the purposes of several reports, I watched the last matches of the national team in the company of fans. Such ordinary people, no fanatics or experts. Poland was playing, so they sat down in front of the TV. I asked: do you like this staff? They like footballers, but less of the manager. Therefore, they blame him for almost everything that is bad. Years ago, cabarets mocked Polish footballers. Today they make memes about the selector. – If anyone in this frame is “unloved” it is him – I heard. It is believed that we have a gifted generation that plays in the best leagues, but Jerzy Brzêczek wastes them. And although there is a lot of truth in it, more about it in a moment, it is for Italians almost exclusively the coach was hit, despite the fact that all our field players – apart from tactics and assumptions – played tragically.
When before and after matches Brzęczek stood in front of the microphones, the TV volume increased. “We’ll see what’s next” – this is how the fans react to the coach today. I began to wonder how the perception of the staff and the assessment of their problems could change if Brzęczek was an excellent orator surrounded by good PR people. If he had never admitted that he was happy after losing a game, perhaps they would not have said that he lacks ambition. Were it not for the simple statement that Zieliński has to jump in his headmaybe it would be unacceptable that he could only afford such a simple explanation. Maybe if he had not explained that Lewandowski was not present at the two training sessions before the match with Italy and therefore did not know how the team wanted to play, he would have been more serious. After time, only single associations remain in the mind of the fan: Adam Nawałka is today a coach from the historic victory with Germany, success at Euro and low pressing at the end of the World Cup. Five years in a nutshell, the rest don’t exist. That is why Brzęczek, despite the fact that he had great ambition throughout his football and coaching career, lost his ambition due to “being satisfied” after the match with the Netherlands.
Indeed, the selector should remember that verse from American action cinema that anything you say can be used against you. He was right at the last press conference that certain phrases are taken out of his statements, taken out of context and theories selected for them. But to a large extent it is he himself with this constant striving for confrontation, the artificial building of a besieged fortress, successive unfortunate statements and the unflagging conviction that someone has taken on him, although criticizing the selectors has not gone out of fashion for years, he has led to it. He is enemy number one among the fans and it will not change until the Euro.
Weak matches with the stronger ones, not very convincing with the weaker ones
Let’s take a look at the pitch: a year ago, the manager’s supporters defended him with promotion to the Euro from first place in the group. Critics spoke of poor style. Today, he is defended by staying in the elite League of Nationsthe allegations remained the same. Except that it was additionally supported by hopeless performances in Amsterdam and Bologna. There are seven months to the Euro and we still don’t know who the primary goalkeeper is, what the hierarchy looks like in left-back, on the wings and in the midfield. A year ago, we would probably make fewer mistakes than today if we were to bet on the starting eleven for the first match of Euro. Is that okay? Not necessarily, because greater competition in the team did not translate into better game. With strong teams during Brzęczek’s term of office, we constantly fail:
- Italy – Poland 1: 1
- Poland – Portugal 2: 3
- Poland – Italy 0: 1
- Portugal – Poland 1: 1
- Netherlands – Poland 1-0
- Poland – Italy 0: 0
- Italy – Poland 2: 0
- Poland – Netherlands 1: 2
Three points in eight meetings. No progress. No win with a higher ranked team. And what’s worse – the results do not reflect the advantage of our rivals. It does not seem that the team today is closer to finding an idea how to play against better than themselves. Drawing conclusions is slow – even in Italy, we copied most of the mistakes from the away game with the Netherlands. We are still better than ourselves, scared, hidden behind a double guard. The expectations of the team have been verified – no one expects that Poles will race against the Dutch, Italians or Spaniards. But at least let them know how to put a stick in their spokes. In this respect, the first quarter of an hour of the match against the Netherlands in Chorzów looked good. As long as we pushed our rivals quite high – we looked good. With a sudden interception, we can conduct a smooth counterattack and work out an opportunity to score. With time, we returned to our old habits and let ourselves be clearly dominated. It is also difficult to say whether the original plan for this grouping assumed a bolder game at the beginning of the match against the Netherlands, or whether it was only a reaction to the disastrous attitude against Italy.
We will remain with these doubts at least until the March World Cup qualifying matches. And if in March we have to play against the teams from the third, fourth and fifth basket (December draw) then we will go with them to the Euro. Because just with teams weaker than each other, the Polish national team can win at the end: it can be crude – as in the first match with Bosnia and Herzegovina, when it reacted only after losing the first goal, sometimes the match simply arranges itself – like a rematch with the Bosnians, in which from the 15th minute we played in the advantage of one player, sometimes he is lucky – as in the sparring with Ukraine, when the opponent played much better, but we took advantage of his two mistakes and won 2-0. Euro qualifiers are also associated with ugly winning: watching matches with Latvia or North Macedonia hurt your teeth, but you could add three points. This year we also won a 5-1 match with Finland – the best in our performance, despite the fact that both our team and our rival lacked the most important players. It also confirms that as long as our team feels better than the opponent, they usually find a way to win.
Representative mess
However, apart from the skills of the rivals, Jerzy Brzęczek has been the manager for 26 months and still has not found an effective idea to use the potential. Robert Lewandowski, who for the first time in eight years is not the team’s top scorer in a given year. He scored only in the 3-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the remaining games he remained separated from the rest of the team. The second player with the greatest potential – Piotr Zieliński, was still unsuccessfully thrown into various positions in search of the most appropriate one. He had better and worse matches, but we didn’t see a clear breakthrough. This is another characteristic of this team: individual players play very unevenly, so it happens that the hero of October is one of the most criticized in November.
In general, most opinions turn out to be valid for less than four weeks: because Karol Linetty rebuilt or not? Kamil Grosicki will he manage even if he doesn’t play for the club? In October he flashed a hat-trick, but a month later he was completely gone. Jacek Góralski is a player for the first squad or a bit of fear, because he played in Bologna so much that Italian fans ranked him next to Joker and Hannibal Lecter among the most dangerous murderers? Mateusz Klich is the “eight” or “ten” in the representation? Jakub Moder will come in handy now or will not help for Euro? Today is a mystery. And how much in this representation depends on the case, was shown by Przemysław Płacheta – the emergency hero of the match with the Netherlands, who after two good matches seems to be closer to the first team than one of the best players of the entire elimination – Sebastian Szymański. Former soccer player Legia Warsaw his last matches in the national team are weak, and in Dynamo Moscow most often plays in the midfield. Brzęczek has not checked him in this position so far.
An additional year of preparations for Euro increased doubts. Young players have joined the team and you can see that the old hierarchy is no longer valid. Unfortunately, we do not know the new one yet. Before Brzęczek, he has a lot of work in conditions of constant doubt, distrust and mockery. Seven months to Euro, only four to the important qualifying rounds of the World Cup. This rest from the staff – before such a crazy year – will be useful to everyone. Because real madness is yet to come. Fear to be afraid.
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