SMUDA is a well known name around Polish football, but in recent months his antics are starting to catch up with him. A very extroverted manager and coach, who loves to speak his mind is usually the subject of negative press for his actions and comments.
As a player, he represented several different sides over his life, mainly in Poland, Germany and the U.S.A. He played as a defender and how ironic the situation that as our current National Team coach has been left with only 2 good defenders at our disposal. On the other hand, as a manager he was appointed to 20 different teams, most notably his current position as the coach of the Polish NT.
When supporters speak about success, winning is the ultimate prize.Unfortunately, as our current coach he has had little to no success until recently when we beat Ivory Coast 3-1 in a friendly. This game Poland were the aggressors, fighting for each and every ball and finally being creative with quick touches.
SMUDA, has taken over the reins after Leo Beenhakker failed to qualify Poland to the World Cup in South Africa. With an automatic selection into the Euro 2012, SMUDA has been trying to arrange and rearrange our squad in preparation for this huge tournament, hosted by us and our co-hosts Ukraine. SMUDA has commented that he already has 90% of the team picked for the tournament in 2012.
When he took over, he promised to change the game of Polish football and wanted us to play like the fast, exciting and creative Spain. When we faced Spain in a friendly early June, our nation saw that we are far from their standard losing 6-0 on Spanish soil.
-The Rise-
SMUDA does deserve some sort of credit and that starts with his gain of the most notable of players which are Sebastian Boenische who he snagged away from the German National team, and French defender Damian Perques. Also, a worthy mention is that of Lukasz Piszczek who he continues to rely on, our left and right back respectively are the highlights of our current defense.In midfield, he was able to find two golden gems in Adam Matuszczyk and Adrian Mierzejewski, who have both shown a lot of promise. In attack, SMUDA loves himself some of Kamil Grosicki who is showing a lot of promise. In addition, Pawel Brozek was given another shot at the NT and showed some skill scoring two nice goals vs Bosnia in a friendly earlier this month. The last addition to the rise of SMUDA, is that he has changed the tactics of the Polish game, no longer long balls and he is keen on making us an attacking side, using quick one touch passes but this is still under development.
-The Fall-
A nation of 38,000,000 Poles love their soccer, but how is it almost impossible to find just two quality central defenders. Well, according to SMUDA it is very hard, as he has attempted to land the likes of Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal) to help with our back line demise. But, with a new contract landing on this France born player he had snubbed SMUDA and refused to meet with him after promising that he would. SMUDA, then went out of his way to tell the media that "I'm not going to get on my knees and beg for players to play for us, I want a player that will do anything to get even a minute on this team." And, for once I agree with him!
Looking at the bigger picture, SMUDA has failed to make things happen in many areas and has caused significant migraines to players and fans abroad. He has thrown out and banned several players from our NT for drinking incidents, most notably Peszko, Zewlakow, and Boruc.
Furthermore, he continues to impose his authoritarian will saying that if you don't accept what I have to say then you will not play for me! He has rejected Nottingham Forest Radoslaw Majewski for complaining about playing time and also has neglected the emergence of Tomasz Cywka. If SMUDA wants success, he needs to continue going to watch as many games as possible fly all over Europe wherever our Poles play and continue to scout our talent.
As a life time fan and supporter of our Polish NT, I hope that SMUDA will gain some interpersonal skills over the New Year and is able to speak to some of these players in a more positive tone.
POLSKA - DO - BOJU
Happy New Year to ALL!!!!
