A good goalscoring weekend for several Polish players, but their impact goes beyond the stat sheet

Images via @OHLeuven, @Atalanta_BC, @Inter_en and @FCPorto on Twitter

I trailed at the end of the last article I penned that there would likely be a few more written in quick succession about other topics. It hasn’t panned out quite like that, but what a weekend it’s been for Polish players scoring goals across Europe.

When planning out this article I wasn’t sure whether to write chronologically or in order of importance, in the end I thought if we did the former it might make more sense, even if we’re starting with what some people would consider the most inconsequential Polish goalscorer of the weekend.

I’ve been repeatedly banging the drum for Łukasz Łakomy since his Zagłębie Lubin days. He ended up proving himself capable if not incredible at Champions League level last season with Young Boys, and now plays 90 minutes pretty much every week in the Belgian Pro League with OH Leuven. 

Łakomy was admittedly partially responsible for the first goal Leuven conceded against Dender on Saturday afternoon, having been guilty of a somewhat rare loose pass. He made up for it however with a fantastic header from a recycled set piece, for which he was largely the reason Leuven retained possession in the first place before making a late run into the box and flicking on a nicely angled effort into the net. 

Leuven eventually ran out 3-2 winners in a dramatic game which saw late penalties for both sides, and aside from that one particular loss of possession early on, Łakomy had a really great game. His passes pretty much always found their intended recipient and his shots from range, whilst not always testing the goalkeeper, do appear to largely be on target.

Given the fact that there has been some room for experimentation in Poland’s midfield for what feels like years now, I’ve long advocated for Łakomy to be getting a senior call-up. Now having turned 25 last month, it is high time he finally gets that call-up in my opinion. 

There are arguments for and against altering a squad given the size and importance of Poland’s fixtures next month, but for me Łakomy would provide just as good cover in the midfield as Bartosz Kapustka has done under Jan Urban. Łakomy is in better club form, not to mention several years younger. 

As I reference in the headline, there is an impact with Łakomy (much like the other players I will be speaking about) that you don’t always see reflected in the statistics. He’s always been an industrious midfielder since his breakthrough in the Ekstraklasa, but over the past few years Łakomy has indeed added the assists and goals that seem ever so crucial to how you are perceived in modern football. 

Again, as I say it’s hard to actually quantify beyond pass completion statistics, but his passing choices seem to have really matured over the last six months of regular football in Belgium. Whether this is down to frequency of time on the pitch or more experience the older Łakomy gets, it does feel like he’s slowly becoming a very well-rounded midfielder. I do hope I’m not shouting into the void again about him getting a potential call-up, as if there is anyone deserves to make their Poland debut in the coming internationals it is Łakomy.

Saturday night saw a particularly tasty Serie A double bill, starting with Nicola Zalewski’s Atalanta travelling to face Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico. Zalewski has started to blossom a little since new manager Raffaele Palladino was appointed in November, certainly in terms of his starts and the minutes he plays. 

Zalewski’s goal on Saturday, the second in a 2-0 win for Atalanta, was the sort of strike we know he is capable of. It was the type of long-range effort which is a lot harder than it looks, given the need to pick out either of the far corners and still have enough pace to beat the outstretched arm of the goalkeeper. 

Purely statistically, it was Zalewski’s first goal for Atalanta since September, but this article is all about looking beyond the stats. Ever since assisting a last minute winner off the bench against Genoa just before Christmas, Palladino has handed Zalewski a starting spot and neither have seemingly looked to change that. 

Deployed in either his more familiar wing-back position on the left or increasingly more often as a central attacking option (although still on the left hand side), Zalewski seems to have really found his feet now at Atalanta, largely thanks to this managerial change but also what he has been able to bring to a team in an odd phase of what is technically a rebuilding project. 

As for what Zalewski’s good form means for Poland is a bit less certain under Jan Urban than it was under Michał Probierz. There was a distinct period under Probierz where Zalewski was perhaps Poland’s most crucial player, but this doesn’t really seem to be the same under Urban. 

Of course, Zalewski remains an important player for Poland despite a suspension he will have to serve in the first of what will hopefully be two World Cup play-off games in March. You do feel Zalewski has the capability to be a real leader for Poland in the coming years as he was becoming one under Probierz, and having only just turned 24 we should be starting to see those leadership skills develop further. 

Serie A’s showpiece game on Saturday night was the Derby d’Italia between Inter Milan and Juventus. A game chock full of incident and indeed goals, as Piotr Zieliński scored a 90th minute winner with Inter the victors in a 3-2 match. Zieliński’s winner was a satisfying strike, receiving the ball, shifting it onto his left and driving a low effort back across goal from the edge of the penalty area all in what felt like one flowing action. 

We all know by now Zieliński’s quality and he does deliver statistically as well, but what I’ve enjoyed seeing of him this season at Inter has been the fact he is doing something different than before, given he is now often occupying deeper midfield positions than he did either for Napoli or than he does for Poland. Frankly, Zieliński has the technical talent and spatial awareness to play pretty much any central midfield role asked of him, as evidenced by the winning goal he scored after having been able to get into more advanced positions due to the team shape having changed slightly after a plethora of substitutions.

Lastly, over in Portugal’s top flight on Sunday, Porto extended their lead at the top of the table with a 1-0 win over CD Nacional, the goal courtesy of none other than Jan Bednarek. Thanks to a recent injury to his compatriot Jakub Kiwior, Bednarek was lining up alongside storied veteran Thiago Silva, and Bednarek looked just as competent when having to defend as his illustrious partner. 

The header was fairly typical of a defender nodding home from a corner, in the ball game and Bednarek directed it well into the goal. He’s started to become a bit more of a threat from set pieces of late, scoring in the cup against Benfica, helping force an own goal in the Europa League against Rangers and now this winning effort. Bednarek hasn’t actually scored for Poland since the 2018 World Cup, but it’s nice to see he is still a threat at a set piece. It’s also worth mentioning that Sunday’s match saw Oskar Pietuszewski make his first start for Porto, and there were some bright moments for the teenager before he was replaced on the hour mark. 

Statistically Bednarek offers quite a lot also, certainly in terms of clean sheets. This is obviously down to the Porto defence as a whole, but Bednarek more than pulls his weight in that department. I actually think his experience and his leadership qualities are pretty crucial to his success so far this season with Porto, and considering there has been so much whinging about Bednarek being too soft or too indecisive for years by Polish fans and pundits, it does seem that is even less applicable these days. 

I wanted to write this article largely to achieve two things: firstly, to point out it’s been a really good weekend for Polish players scoring goals in big European leagues, and secondly that even as somebody with experience in football analytics, I do find that there are a lot of intangibles that data and statistics don’t always immediately show when looking at how players are performing. If you looked purely statistically at Zalewski, for example, you’d perhaps be a bit mystified as to why he’s been starting for Atalanta, but he’s been a big part of their revival under Palladino. 

I suppose what I’m really getting at is that much as the modern, data-driven approach to football is very valuable, you do still have to watch hours on end to appreciate some of the nuances of individual players. 

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