Poland 2-0 Moldova: Farewell Grosicki, but little else to speak about

Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter

Goals from Matty Cash and Bartosz Slisz ensured Poland ran out 2-0 winners in a match which was all about bidding Kamil Grosicki a well-deserved goodbye from the national team.

Such was the lacklustre nature for large parts of the tie means that tonight will only be remembered for Grosicki’s send-off, although it does seem that the second half will truly be airbrushed from memory.

Grosicki was at the heart of everything Poland did well for the half hour he was on the pitch, culminating in the initial run which led to Cash’s goal, a fine strike back across the goalkeeper. 

A lot of the impetus went away when Grosicki received his farewell, which was a beautiful send-off, appropriate it that it seemed to be more joyful than sorrowful. 

In terms of other bright spots, both starting wing-backs Nicola Zalewski and goalscorer Cash were positive influences both in attack and defence, and the same can be said of the debutant Mateusz Skrzypczak who I hope might start against Finland on Tuesday as well.

Sebastian Walukiewicz was introduced at half-time and despite starting well, he did seem to sink to the generally sub-par display of the rest of the team as the second half wore on. I think that Artur Wichniarek summed it up nicely on TVP Sport when he described it as “sleepy”.

Barely waking us all up was the second goal, an accurate if not especially powerful strike from range by Slisz, who had been pretty anonymous up to that point. 

It’s a worry to hear Michał Probierz speak about injuries in the aftermath, especially in regard to Jan Bednarek and Sebastian Szymański, who are the two specifically named as having received knocks. Their replacements were not as effective, and for all that both players are inconsistent there is no doubting they make the Polish team much stronger. 

A hard watch and even harder to draw positives from, although I don’t think a great display of doom and gloom is warranted. It wasn’t an especially illuminating friendly performance either for the mood of the fans or for developing confidence amongst the players. Finland will be much tougher, and hopefully the team will be much better, but it’s hard to see that happening.

Said doom and gloom was present in all aspects of this game sadly. First there was overzealous criticism of Robert Lewandowski for taking a rest, then criticism of him showing up to support Grosicki. In my opinion, there was never any doubt he would be in the stands this evening but it seems like everyone wanted to stick the boot in on Lewandowski no matter what in this international break, simply for having the temerity to want a rest for the first time in who knows how long.

More doom and gloom now after the final whistle, because it was a poor display and a forgettable game. Quite frankly, we can start on the misery if the Finland game is equally as poor, but until then it seems a bit moot in my opinion. 

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