Image via @LaczyNasPilka on Twitter
Having had time to reflect on Tuesday night’s fraught and ultimately successful play-off, the feeling around Poland and what they can look forward to when summer and Euro 2024 in Germany rolls around seems good. Pundits, fans and players alike all have a warm feeling only boosted by the tense and dramatic way in which Poland achieved qualification earlier this week.
Wojciech Szczęsny’s heroics both in regular time and the penalty shootout are correctly being brought up, and the point has been mentioned that more often than not he has been Poland’s best player in the last two years. To have a goalkeeper like Szczęsny, who is something of a penalty specialist and a somewhat underrated yet world-class talent in his position, is such a massive positive for Poland and a huge factor in tournament football. It’s now actually easy to forget how unlucky or downright error-prone Szczęsny used to be when playing in tournaments, given that really since the unfortunate own goal in the opening match of Euro 2020, he has barely done anything wrong in a Poland shirt.
Przemysław Frankowski’s name is also correctly being brought up for widespread praise. Here we have a player who I don’t think anyone would have thought could reach this level of performance, given that for the most part of his career he was a fast, if fairly uninspiring winger playing Ekstraklasa and MLS football. Since his move to Lens and conversion to more of a wing-back role he has been nothing short of revelatory, especially in these last two games, and he was one of Poland’s penalty takers on Tuesday. Perhaps defensively he’s not as sound as Matty Cash (he was easily beaten for the second goal in Lens’ 2-1 defeat last night) but what he lacks in certain areas he more than makes up for in others. Put it this way: if Euro 2024 started next week, no-one would be clamouring for Cash to be in the side over Frankowski, which is a startling thought given how important we thought Matty Cash might prove to be for Poland when he was first called-up.
Worth mentioning as well is how well Nicola Zalewski and Piotr Zieliński played in the two games, especially when you consider how little Zalewski has played at Roma since Daniele De Rossi was appointed manager and how Zieliński has become persona non grata at Napoli through little fault of his own. Furthermore, the relatively unsung heroes of Tuesday night off the bench like Krzysztof Piątek and Sebastian Szymański, attacking threats who converted their penalties in the shootout and worked incredibly hard for the team once they were introduced. I’d like to see both of them rewarded with more consistent playing time for Poland, particularly Szymański, but the issue with Piątek is he is a very streaky sort of striker. This could be great going into the summer but conversely maybe Arkadiusz Milik would be more deserving of a place in the squad by the end of May, as realistically it’s between him and Piątek for that last striker spot, assuming four are taken.
Now if I can get onto my major gripe with the reaction to Tuesday night, which is the needless punching down on Jan Bednarek. It seems like Bednarek now simply exists as the national team’s scapegoat, and I for one am really tired of it. In some ways those pundits and fans who do not think he should be in the side were vindicated by Bartosz Salamon’s unreal performance off the bench on Tuesday, and I have to say Salamon was exactly what Poland needed at that point in the game and possibly someone who should start games for Poland at Euro 2024. Michał Probierz said afterwards that Bednarek has a slight injury issue, and given he was rested for Southampton’s draw with Middlesbrough yesterday that is probably true rather than a manager covering for a player. Probierz did acknowledge that some off the criticism of Bednarek was fair, which it is, but I find the level of vitriol really odd given he was hardly the shakiest looking defender on Tuesday night. I personally thought Paweł Dawidowicz looked far more out of sorts than Bednarek, but every fan and pundit you read on social media thinks Dawidowicz was superb and Bednarek was terrible.
Perhaps this is simply a case of aesthetics for some; Bednarek is relatively slight for a defender and not in the mould of someone like Kamil Glik. However, the same can be said of Jakub Kiwior but obviously he is rarely criticised, especially recently given his high standard for Arsenal. I think a lot of the criticism of Bednarek focuses on what he isn’t rather than what he is, and to me that is unfair.
We should also acknowledge the strength of Poland’s group, with many pundits sneaking the Biało-Czerwoni into third place and the hope of the knockout stages. I think Austria are better than many people realise but that could well be Poland’s best chance at points if they play positively. For me, the Netherlands could go all the way to the final and maybe win the tournament outright in the summer (I understand this is something of a hot take), given their squad and the form some of their top players are in. Poland could still do well against the Dutch however, especially given the odd tactical decisions Ronald Koeman sometimes makes. France are most people’s favourites to win Euro 2024, and they do have the strongest squad on paper, but Poland were well in the game against them for over an hour at the World Cup less than 18 months ago so it’s not a given by any means.
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