Five quick conclusions: Lech – Pogon 2:0

Five Quick Takeaways is a series that briefly describes a particular Lech Poznań match. Even before presenting the pros and cons of a particular match, analyzing a particular player’s performance or extra time, we present five quick takeaways after the match. After several dozen minutes of each match, five observations about the performance of the Kolodzień team, individual players and the current state of the team.

dominance

Lech Poznań started this match very well and it is not clear why. Did the team get too excited in the locker room? Was this the plan for this meeting? The team suffered a 0-5 defeat, a 0-1 loss in the Polish Cup, or even an unlucky 1-0 win? In any case, Lech attacked Pogoń like an angry pig, immediately started attacking and would have been 1-0 up in the second minute if Mikał Isak had scored in a 1-on-1 situation. With better efficiency, Poznań would have been ahead after 10 minutes, even 3-0, 4-0, it seemed that nothing was happening, but Lech did not stop. He dominated Pogoń in terms of football, motor skills and tactics, and when he had the ball at his feet he pressed constantly, exchanging many short passes on the ground. At times, the fans could rub their eyes in amazement, because Lech had not played with the speed, precision and effectiveness with which he played today for several months. Until the 31st minute, Pogon had two shots on goal, which Bartosz Mrozek held confidently, and another dangerous shot on the ground, which the goalkeeper blocked with his legs. After this action in the 30th minute, Lech again had the upper hand and was not discouraged by previous missed chances, and finally, at the end of the first half, one of the most active players, Afonso Sousa, collapsed in defense and went out. A foul by Benedikt Zec Why did the referee change his decision and cancel the yellow card and show the red card? Since the Portuguese kicked the ball in the right direction, he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, so even though the action was carried out close to the left side, the red card was deserved. There would have been no penalty for the Austrian if it were not for Lech Poznań’s efficient, fast and determined attacking performance, which was absolutely impressive in the first half. I don’t think anyone expected Lech Poznań to be so enthusiastic in the first 45 minutes.

G0L in time

During the break, coach Nils Frederiksen told the players to continue playing like this, because if they play so offensively, they will eventually score a goal (the Dane spoke about this in the post-match press conference). In turn, Robert Kolindovic made two changes in the 46th minute, he wanted to thicken the midfield, he wanted to make the game more difficult for Lech so that they would get tired on the pitch and not be able to score a goal that they created. 1-0. Fortunately, Lech did not give up, Mikael Isak fired the ball into the net from an offside position, the Swede had another chance to shoot at the opponent, and a moment later, after another amazing move, Afonso Sousa scored, firing the ball into the net. Poznań took the lead in the 55th minute. The Portuguese scored at the right moment, scoring a goal in the first quarter of an hour after the break, which immediately ruined Port’s tactics for the rest of the match. After this goal, Pogo defenders immediately lowered their heads and wrung their hands, realizing that they could not lose the goal so quickly after changing sides, because it would be difficult for them to even get a draw.

a little slower

The period between the 61st and 75th minutes of the match was not as impressive as the previous minutes. Lech Poznań seemed to slow down, focus on controlling the game, even playing more counterattacks, and some players started playing economically, trying to buy time. Pogoń Szczecin started to fight in this situation, playing with ten men, and they saw that there was a little more space on the pitch and got their chance in the 71st minute of the match. Then our defense was lost after a cross from the left, Michal Gurgull lost the mark, the opponent tried clumsily to shoot the ball, and finally Antonio Milic kicked the ball from our penalty area. Finally, in the 77th minute, a counterattack led by Mikael Isak allowed Lech to score from a counterattack, and the emotions of this unequal match ended. Then Ali Gholizadeh took advantage of the space on the right, avoided being offside, cut inside, beat the tired Szczecin defenders and scored with a flat left-footed shot to make it 2-0. In the 77th minute the game was definitely over, and in the 77th minute you could breathe a sigh of relief and also add 3 points for Kolegors.

A sure and deserved victory

Lech Poznań won and became the favorite, which was not clear before the match. Firstly – in the last two away matches, Collioures played in different phases, allowing their opponents to shoot up to 32 shots, including 12 on target, secondly – Pogoń Szczecin played a very good match with Widzew Łódź (2-0), they shot more than 20 shots and the team was two categories better than their opponent. Today, Lech Poznań was unexpectedly two categories better than Pogoń, who was superior from the beginning in terms of quality, dynamics, commitment and motor skills. Many of our players were in the so-called “gas”, their individual speed + commitment surprised “Portosi” who were the background of Collioures in every aspect. The red card that Benedikt Zec saw today came only from Lech Poznan’s play, where the ball was played to Afonso Souza, who managed to get away from the goalkeeper and lost it, that’s how many of our other players played, winning the most important confrontations in the central zone stadiums.

A match worthy of a leader

Lech Poznań should have won today by more than 2:0, and the final score does not reflect the advantage we had. We should have won calmly today even by 4:0-5:0, and the final score including the statistics (ball possession 56% to 44% and shots 22/10 to 11/3) does not reflect the advantage Lech Poznań had on Sunday, which must be emphasized once again. The statistics are misleading, Kolejorz dominated Pogoń Szczecin in every area, and on Sunday he played a match worthy of the new leader of the Ekstraklasa. This is the kind of Lech in Poznań that everyone wants to see, you can see the passion in the match, the quality, the intensity, the commitment + the good tactical preparation for this prestigious encounter, for which Nils Frederiksen and his staff deserve applause. Winger Kamil Grosicki was ruled out of the match, striker Pogoń Szczecin, who according to Robert Kolindowicz was better than Mikael Isak, was also ruled out of the match. There was simply no Pogoń Szczecin on the pitch at Bułgarska Street, he is not ahead of us in the table, which seems like a dream. On Friday, the blue and white team will want to follow suit, with such a match there is a chance to break the Milik spell, to win against Stal, which will allow Kolegors to lead during the September break of the national team (three goals). Years ago, in the championship season, we were also in first place).

Trash Can – (Off Topic Comment)