Well he isn't dead so has every chance to continue I believe he just needs to reinvent himself a bit to allow for all the emerging talent England now has
I admit that I did not suffer the international break as I saw two very interesting matches with my boys. On Saturday evening we saw Poland-Denmark and there was a full house and the National Stadium was impressive. Poland took a comfortable 2-0 lead in the 1st half by playing controlled football and Lewadowski (the truely outstanding player om the pitch) got his hatrick very early in the 2nd half. Then, as with Kazakhstan in the previous match, they pushed the self-district button. Kamil Glik (Monaco and ex. Torino) beat Fabianski with a brilliant lobbed header from the edge of the box - unfortunately it was an own goal. Then, there was an error in defensive and an extremely cheap goal for 3-2. At half time Poland change from an effective 4-4-2 to 4-5-1 due to a bad injury to Arkardiusz Milik (Napoli and ex. Ajax) who will be out for 4-6 month. With the 4-5-1 formation Lewandowski was rather isolated and frustrated and often dropped deep to pick up the ball (sound’s familiar?). Luckily, Denmark did not really create any chances of their own and the match finished 3-2. Spurs’ Erickson was very anonymous and extremely average. I was behind the goal for the match, and despite being all seater stadium we stood for the whole match and it was great –a hark back to the good old times of standing in Loft. Even my "boys" said that it made for a much more enjoyable football experience. Tuesday’s match against Armenia was a different matter. The expectations were for a 3+ score line and a goal feast, but is did not occur. Despite all the pressure, Armenia defended very well and Poland could not put in effective shots or crosses, and when they did their goalie was equal to it. Even a red card on 20 minutes (for two silly fouls/yellows within a minute) only improved Armenia’s defending and resolution, and half time the score was 0-0 and everyone wondered how – including Lewandowski who normally could have had a hat trick. Poland finally scored mid-way through the 2nd (via Lewandowski of course with assistance of the defender) and instead of the flood gates opening, Armenian immediately equalised from the kick off. At 1-1 and the clock winding down, Poland were becoming frustrated, whilst Armenia fancied their chances on the break (1 attacker against 3 defenders!!!!). Anyway, with the score at 1-1, on the 5th minute of the 4 minutes of added time, there is a free kick at the edge of the box. With everyone in the box (bar Fabianski) it is perfectly flighted for Lewandowski to out jump everyone at the far post for a very late winner. Pandemonium in stadium, but justified heartbreak for Armenia. They deserved a point for their resolute defending.
In the Poland-Armenia match, there was also the Paweł Wszołek factor. He came on late in the 1st half for an injury. He played on the right wing but seemed to be very nervous. Perhaps, this was not suprising as he is not yet a regular 1st team player and he did not want to make any mistakes on his "opportunity". What was suprising for me was that he seemed to look at his feet very often. He did not take many players on 1:1, but then again he did not really need to as there was always a supporting player or two to pass to. He made some good, but not telling crosses. His low crosses or drives were good but probably too early as they missed everybody (including Lewandowski) and his high crosses were too high, especially for Lewandowski who several time gave him a clear verbal bollocking. Perhaps he is callibrated for Sylla and Polter? He received a score from the press of 4/6 (thus good, but not outstanding). To summarise, he played well but seemed to lack confidence in a Polish shirt. It is a big pity that he chose to cross early, or make an backward pass, rather than take on players as he could have ended up being a hero. But anyway, it was great to see a QPR player in a Polish shirt and he did not mess up his chance, so I hope to see some more of him. Plus, he is returning to LR both uninjured and should not too tired.
