The Polish national team once again proved on Saturday that its biggest problems are in defense. It was not a good match for Jan Bednarek, Paweł Dawidowicz and Sebastian Walukiewicz, who was replaced by Jakub Kiwior during the break. – Our defense is as full of holes as a colander. All three of them are a ticking bomb – Tomasz Hajto blurted out. Rafael Leao was the terror of our defenders, as he willingly entered into duels and charmed with his technical skills. It was also not a successful debut for Maxi Oyedele, who received a lot of criticism.
Zieliński defended Maxi Oyedele. He responded eloquently to Wawrzyniak
– I don't remember the debut of a player who would be so indifferent to the match – said Jakub Wawrzyniak after Saturday's debut in the Polish national team of Maxi Oyedele. It was a harsh opinion that heavily criticized the young player. However, Piotr Zieliński quickly defended this and appealed to people to refrain from voting sometimes.
– I don't think you should comment like that. He is a young boy, he played with Portugal – he tried hard, there is still a lot ahead of him. You can't do him such harm right away by saying such words. He has a lot of potential and ability to play in this six, he explained. The coach, Michał Probierz, thinks the same way and is satisfied with the midfielder's performance. – He was looking for a game, he was keen on the game and I rate him positively. I think we can have a player who will play in this position in the future, he admitted.
However, Wawrzyniak is not the only one who thinks that Oyedele performed poorly. Journalist Marcin Jaz from Sport.pl stated directly that the footballer “did not arrive”. What's more, he gave him a “two” on a scale of 1-10, which is the worst score in the team next to Jan Bednarek and Przemysław Frankowski.
– He only played to his closest teammate. He wasn't helpful enough defensively, he didn't press on the opponent – Jaz announced. He added that Oyedele did not react well to the second goal, when he should have interrupted Rafael Leao's action, and only watched the winger run towards the penalty area.
The Polish national team will play the next match on Tuesday, October 15 at 20:45 with Croatia. Zbigniew Boniek is quite an optimist, pointing out that our closest rivals are weaker than Roberto Martinez's players. After three Nations League matches, Portugal has all the points, Croatia is second (6 points), Poland is third (3 points), and Scotland closes the table without a point.