Michał Probierz’s job hangs in the balance. Shocking facts about the Polish national team

Michał Probierz played his first match as the coach of the Polish senior team on October 12, 2023. As part of the Euro 2024 qualifiers, the Polish team, destroyed after Fernando Santos’s term of office, defeated the Faroe Islands away. In total, Touchstone led the national team in sixteen matches. Conclusions?

Average results of the team led by Michał Probierz

The narrative from the Polish Football Association is simple – the Polish national team needs a generational change. Probierz, who has experience in working with the youth team, the direct support of this most important national team, was assigned to this task. Touchstone was given a difficult task, but since he undertook it, it is worth checking what results he achieved during more than a year of his work.

Results of the national team during the term of coach Michał Probierz

• Faroe Islands – Poland 0:2

• Poland – Moldova 1:1

• Poland – Czech Republic 1:1

• Poland – Latvia 2:0

• Poland – Estonia 5:1

• Wales – Poland 0:0 (promotion after a penalty shootout)

• Poland – Ukraine 3:1

• Poland – Türkiye 2:1

• Poland – Netherlands 1:2

• Poland – Austria 1:3

• France – Poland 1:1

• Scotland – Poland 2:3

• Croatia – Poland 1:0

• Poland – Portugal 1:3

• Poland – Croatia 3:3

• Portugal – Poland 5:1

Suffice it to say that Poles have been waiting for victory since September 5, when the national team won 3-2 in Glasgow against Scotland. The statistics related to the match in which the Polish defense played without conceding a goal are even worse. Here we have to go back to March and the memorable play-off win against the Welsh. In fact, out of sixteen matches, only three times during the term of coach Probierz did the Poles not concede a goal. The match in Wales should also include… a sparring win against Latvia. Plus the mentioned win in the Faroe Islands in the coach’s debut.

Disastrous defense is a big problem for the Polish national team

It is precisely the problems with defense that seem to be causing most sleepless nights for both the national team and the national team’s fans. While a lot has been written and talked about interesting, new offensive solutions, including: the awakening of Sebastian Szymański, the discovery of Kacper Kozłowski, the activity of Nicola Zalewski, in the context of defense we are mainly talking about… the play of Polish goalkeepers.

This was the case, for example, in the drawn match with France during Euro 2024. The 1-1 result against the French, the world runners-up, is impressive. However, if you look at the course of the match itself, it is no coincidence that Łukasz Skorupski, the Polish goalkeeper, was awarded the MVP statuette. The longing for Wojciech Szczęsny does not come out of nowhere either. During his time in the national team, especially in recent years, he could not complain about boredom, regardless of who the national team played with.

In the UEFA Nations League, Poles have the weakest defense in the group. And we’re not just talking about Group 1, but all four, including the final teams: Scotland, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Switzerland. The defeat in Portugal meant that the Poles were ahead of the Israeli national team in this sad classification – by exactly one goal conceded. The balance of eight goals scored and fourteen goals conceded in five matches sounds bad.

It seems that this is also the main accusation in the broader context of coach Probierz’s work. Usually, when the Poles were able to achieve good results, it started with a solid defense. This was the case during the work of Adam Nawałka, and similarly during the times of Jerzy Brzęczek. Czesław Michniewicz also fits into this trend, although in his case he ended up at an extreme that turned out to be indigestible.

There is a counter-argument regarding the quality of the teams that the Polish national team has had to face in recent months. Portugal, Croatia, France, the Netherlands and Austria – these are teams that have a better football generation than ours. However, it seems that being aware of being among European average players is one thing, and developing the playing style of the national team is another thing. We are talking about the above-mentioned foundation regarding defensive actions, which, in the long run, could help avoid defeats and even win something extra – starting even with goal draws (not talking about locking the game to 0-0).

UEFA Nations League: Poland-Scotland match of key importance

There will be a meeting on Monday (November 18, 8:45 p.m.) at the PGE National Stadium, which may decide the future of coach Probierz. The Poles will be satisfied with a draw with the Scots, having a better record – more important than the goal ratio. If the plan is successful, Poland will play in the play-offs to stay in division A. A defeat against the Scots would mean relegation, which could even end Touchstone’s work with the national team.

It could, but it doesn’t have to. PZPN President Cezary Kulesza on trust in his manager. However, more and more often there are voices that in the face of clash with strong rivals, there is a lack of stability that would provide arguments “for” the future under Probierz’s leadership. Poland was able to make up for losses, just like in the match against Croatia (from 1:3 to 3:3), and also looked good for 60 minutes against Portugal. But problems with simple, costly mistakes and lack of developed patterns remain. And they can be too painful.

As if that wasn’t enough, Jan Bednarek will most likely not appear in the Poland-Scotland match. The man with whom Touchstone started writing the composition of the three central defenders in the 1-3-5-2 formation. Perhaps returning to a formation with four players in the defensive block would be a solution? Then the coach would only need two central players, and Jakub Kiwior could also play on the left side. This is, of course, only speculation, but looking at the past – not so distant – playing in the “four” functioned quite well in the national team.

So as you can see, there are still more questions than answers. The result of the match against Scotland will be important, but much more important will be the signal that there are people who can be included almost “blindly” in the national team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Nowadays, you can get the impression that each match of the Polish team is a separate story…