24 paź 2010

Ekstraklasa Action Round-up

After top Polish teams had suffered very bad or at most average start to the season, they seem to be now perfectly fine... apart from the Champions. They lost to Manchester City but shouldn't hang their heads in shame after their performance in England. But their league form on the other hand... You'll read more about this later, the Ekstraklasa is not only about them!

Round started with Polonia Bytom and Śląsk Wrocław tie. Both sides were average if not poor so it shouldn't be a surprise that all they could produce was ninety minutes of typical 'air football'. Visitors drew their third game in a row but stayed in relegation zone and questions will be asked about their defensive minded tactics presented in a game that was a six-pointer for Śląsk. As the result was goalless draw, both teams rather lost five points, that gained one. Yes, really.

But on Friday evening we could observe rise of Legia and Maciej Skorża. Beaten already five times, having problems inside the club and facing second team in the table away, nothing seemed to be a good sign for them. But they won 4-1, young Michał Kucharczyk impressing the most and more notable two banned players coming back to the team - Maciej Iwański even scoring on his comeback. Legia was far the better team and deserved it fully but it has to be remembered that Korona played without their leaders, Niedzielan and Vuković, also being a man down for most of the game.

Arka Gdynia won with GKS Bełchatów narrowly, Mirko Ivanovski getting his first goal for the club. Nothing interesting about this one but the result just proved how tough weekend it will be for (currently) top teams in Ekstraklasa. Polonia Warszawa won easily with Cracovia on their ground with Artur Sobiech star shining as young striker scored once and assisted twice. Finally we could see smile on Paweł Janas face but his vis-a-vis, Rafał Ulatowski, named 'Golden Boy' by one newspaper, resigned day after this match as his team managed only to win four points in ten games. Once again the Cracovia's defence proved to be the most hilarious thing all weekend with some of mistakes being childish. 

Another entertaining game saw Wisła Kraków saving face after awful first thirty minutes at home against Lechia Gdańsk. Nobody will remember that time though, as Robert Maaskant's players scored five last night but Dutch manager surely saw his two defenders (Chavez and Bounoza) caught out of position several times and playing poorly for most of the game. Lechia again showed promising football but Bedi Buval didn't wear his shooting boots and as a team they lacked composure at the back when they could get back in the game. But the result proves that something may be finally heading the right direction in Kraków and as Wisła put fifth in the net, some of the fans recalled the best team that they saw few years ago, presenting attacking football at its best.

In the last game on Saturday, probably the most surprising result came. Nobody expected Jagiellonia to have an easy game in Łódź, against Widzew, but only the biggest optimists of the home team could see them trashing poor league leaders. Jagiellonia showed nothing from the form that made them the best team in the league lately, struggling to get their main players involved. Michał Probierz tried to save his team with early change but Jagiellonia was already two-nil down as Marcin Robak scored twice with towering headers. Dudu played vital part in those goals, assisting with great crosses. Brazilian left-back is becoming the most interesting player in our Ekstraklasa - always going forward, great at crossing and dribbling. Widzew added another two and Jagiellonia could only answer with one goal, from Tomasz Frankowski - his 140. in Ekstraklasa.

Sunday, bloody Sunday... Lech Poznań probably wish that this day would never come. Nothing good can be said about their game in Zabrze, where their lost for fourth time in a row, this time with Górnik. The home side was much better and deserved to win with Kwiek, Wodecki and Zahorski playing vital parts in their 2-0 victory. It could be higher but let's spare a thought or two for Lech. First of all, they lost in awful manner; second, lost young Drygas due to injury (broken leg); third, Dimitre Injać was sent off; fourth, they may lose their manager, Jacek Zieliński. No spirit, no ambition, no class, no will. No manager by the end of week? In last game of this round Zagłębie drew with Ruch Chorzów 0-0.

Goals can be seen HERE (we had some beauties this week, I can guarantee), and league table HERE.

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