With Poland’s training camp underway, there is still a sense of apathy and frustration amongst supporters and press alike
Just over 48 hours ago, Poland’s players started arriving in Warszawa for the initial training sessions of what will seem like a mammoth three-week international break. It’s something a little different, but in some ways it seems like Selekcjoner Jan Urban hasn’t really grasped that.
Not to begin with another bout of Selekcjoner-bashing, a hobby which since Friday has become exponentially popular again, but when you look at other national team managers calling up 30 or 40 players, Urban had decided to stick with 26, now down to 25. Considering there will likely not be a better time to try a few different ideas than the upcoming games, for which Poland are likely to be favourites in at least some of them, it’s a bit disappointing.
Speaking of disappointing, Kamil Grabara, Adrian Benedyczak and Filip Rózga have all had to pull out through injury. Grabara has suffered a serious knee issue, Benedyczak allegedly requires surgery on a broken wrist and Rózga is believed to still be dealing with a muscle issue in his leg that has interrupted the start to his season.
In their places were Bartłomiej Drągowski, now Sławomir Abramowicz, and Marcel Reguła. I have to say I don’t really understand making yourself a man short, especially when you’re already taking fourteen fewer players than some nations.
Drągowski’s inclusion seemed to have really frustrated people, and rightly so. He’s never been a terrible goalkeeper, but certainly an inconsistent one and watching him at Widzew Łódź you would say he’s not at the level required for the national team, but then again who is that is fit and isn’t Marcin Bułka? Łukasz Skorupski isn’t in great form, Sławomir Abramowicz has made a few errors of late, you have Kacper Tobiasz equally as inconsistent as Drągowski over in Turkey and then who are you left with that regularly plays? Maybe you have Daniel Bielica at Portsmouth in the Championship, but that’s a pretty left-field choice.
At yesterday’s press conference goalkeeping coach Andrzej Dawidziuk seemed keen to emphasise that the door was not closed for Skorupski, so we might see him back in the near future, but he’s not getting younger. Given that in that third spot we have become more accustomed to seeing younger goalkeepers, perhaps in the near future we would also see Jakub Zieliński as Dawidziuk talked him up a little in that aforementioned presser. That being said, there is one name being mentioned consistently by fans more than it is by either the coaching staff or the media.
That name is Marcel Łubik, who will be present with the U-21s. I actually think this would’ve been the right move, but I do understand that maybe with Urban already plucking Reguła from there ahead of two important games, he wouldn’t want to upset the balance any further, although that being said Abramowicz is the first-choice keeper with the U-21s.
I have to say when the news came through late last night that Abramowicz was being called-up in lieu of Drągowski, who is reportedly suffering from an issue with his shoulder, the broad consensus seemed to be that even though Abramowicz has made a few errors in the last few matches it should’ve been him all along. I wouldn’t disagree, but it does seem like a lot of people got quite indignant about the idea Łubik would’ve been just as worthy of inclusion. For me, Abramowicz is a really strong Ekstraklasa goalkeeper, and he’s the same age as Łubik give or take a month. Plus, Abramowicz has more experience, especially at the European level. I’d be surprised if he gets a game in these next three weeks, but it would be interesting if he did. For what it’s worth, if Łubik carries on in the form he is currently in, I think he should get the call-up in November.
Reguła is someone most of us wanted to see in the senior team regardless, but maybe this was the one most people were sympathetic to Urban over his initial omission, given he said that Reguła was so important to the U-21s and they had these big games coming up. Doesn’t seem to matter as much, suddenly, and he’s with the senior squad anyway.
I have to say when looking back on Urban’s press conference from last Friday, how truly odd it seems in retrospect. It almost felt like Urban was prepared for really harsh criticisms, instead of the relatively soft questioning he got over some fairly inexplicable choices. Urban came in sounding really defensive and I think this seemed slightly at odds with the whole thing, making for some really bizarre comments.
We should clear up that there was some misappropriation of comments Urban made about Karol Czubak, and whilst they were still pretty damning they weren’t quite as overtly vindictive as was initially made out. Urban still won’t be falling on his sword and calling Czubak up any time soon though, it would seem.
Another ongoing source of frustration seems to be the omission of Bartosz Mazurek, who again put in a stellar performance for Salzburg at the weekend and had many football watchers from many different countries come to the conclusion that in less that two years, Mazurek will be playing at a one of the European giants if this development continues.
Contrast that with Urban, whose biggest argument for not calling Mazurek up was that he can’t pick everyone. No, but you can bring along players in good form and who as things stand might be the future of the national team.
On that note, I’ve seen a lot of journalists and pundits recently bemoaning how terrible things will be at the striker position for Poland once Robert Lewandowski finally does decide to retire. I think there are solutions out there, Reguła for one, as even though he’s more of a second-striker he seems to know where the goal is. Daniel Mikołajewski is doing nicely at Luzern and is still young, and there is a lot of talent in other areas of the pitch coming through such as Mazurek, who has been creating chances almost at will in Austria.
Giving Urban a little credit, even if you don’t wholly agree with the personnel you have to admit this is a decently balanced squad on paper, and nobody is ever going to agree 100% on call-ups. It just feels like a little bit of a missed opportunity when you have players in such good form missing out, not to mention a little imbalance still when you think there is only one true left-back in the squad and Michał Gurgul is sitting at home.
As I alluded to in the title, the overriding feeling with pundits seems to be apathy, and with supporters’ frustration that it seems Poland aren’t kicking on from Urban’s strong rescue act in the World Cup qualifiers this time last year. Many in fact seem to be counting down the days until Urban is no longer in his position, but to be honest unless there are some truly horrendous results I don’t see that happening any time soon. I fully expect Urban will still be in his job come Euro 2028 qualifying in the spring, by which time maybe some of our frustration will have eased.
Again, as I suggested at the top of this piece, Poland are likely to be favourites in a couple of these upcoming matches and should be looking to achieve at least 7 or 8 points from these first four games. Anything less than that would be a disappointment, and frankly getting points on the board is the first priority before we delve more deeply into levels of performance and the style of play, which will obviously also be discussed at length.
In my opinion, if the results are there in the majority of games and the style of football Urban has Poland playing is good to watch, then you can sometimes excuse a couple of poor results and the occasional poor performance. However, once the entertainment value and the positive results dry up, it’s curtains. Given that Urban already seems to be losing the faith of certain factions of the media and a considerable swathe of supporters, I hope the football will help rehabilitate the current negativity.
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