Band 4/5 Bulletin: Eastern Europe

Kacper Buziuk brings us up to date with goings on in Czechia, Poland and Hungary

POLAND

There has not been much change in Poland in November compared to October, the table last month seemed like a fairly accurate projection of the matches moving forward. Jagiellonia are poised to take first place from Gornik, however the winter has already hit Poland hard, causing their last match against GKS Katowice to be postponed.

TITLE FIGHT

The title race between Gornik Zabrze and Jagiellonia is tight and there is one more fixture to go in November, so this would be a good time to look at the league matches of both teams in November and see how they compare.

JAGIELLONIA

JAGIELLONIA vs RAKÓW - 1-2

POGON SZCZECIN vs JAGIELLONIA - 1-2

JAGIELLONIA vs GKS KATOWICE - POSTPONED

ZAGŁĘBIE LUBIN vs JAGIELLONIA - 30th November

GORNIK ZABRZE

GÓRNIK ZABRZE vs ARKA GDYNIA - 5-1

ZAGŁĘBIE LUBIN vs GÓRNIK ZABRZE - 2-0

GÓRNIK ZABRZE vs WISŁA PŁOCK 1-1

RADOMIAK RADOM vs GÓRNIK ZABRZE - 28th November

In these fixtures we see Gornik with one more point but also with one more game played than Jagiellonia due to the weather. Their form has been similar throughout the season and both teams look to be strong enough to win the title.

With two games in hand overall now though, we could see Jagiellonia leading the league mid season. Radomiak may prove more difficult than anticipated for Gornik Zabrze as since the eccentric long time Ekstraklasa coach Goncalo Feio took over, they have had mostly positive results.

Jagiellonia are able to equal Gornik’s points tally if the results go their way but an away match against Zaglebie Lubin is no easy feat. This season could have a close battle until the end between these two clubs.

It would be amiss to not mention the efforts of Wisla Plock and Lech Poznan this season, both only narrowly being behind Jagiellonia in the table, the former being actually equal on points with them.

It is tough to imagine Wisla Plock carrying this form throughout the whole season, but stranger things have happened in the Polish league. Currently however, their main issue seems to be the slip-ups against the weaker teams this season, most notably too many avoidable draws and unless they improve on that front they will fall behind the leaders.

Lech seem to be struggling balancing between European and domestic fixtures this season but they have the strength in their squad to make the second half of the season as good as it needs to be to even challenge for the title.

MANAGER TROUBLES

The biggest story to come out of November is the so called ‘Papszun Gate’, where Marek Papszun, current manager of Rakow Czestochowa, looks like he is about to leave the club after taking them from the 3rd tier of Polish football to European competitions, domestic cups and their first ever league title.

He has reportedly fallen out with the players and board among strong interest from the giants Legia Warszawa, as they hope he will get them out of their dreadful form as they sit in 13th in the table.

VAST IMPROVEMENTS AND NEW LOWS

Pogon Szczecin’s 5-1 demolition of Zaglebie Lubin looks to be a good sign of things to come. The owner’s plan on growing the club’s brand exponentially by valuing flashy signings could remind a lot of football fans of failed projects, to me Anzhi Makhachkala springs to mind.

The high profile signing of Benjamin Mendy, which caused a big stir in Poland (in a more positive way than would be expected in England for sure), combined with a more practical but still very expensive (considering the country’s history) signing of Leeds’ Sam Greenwood have been a huge help to Pogon. Greenwood scored his first goal for the club in the aforementioned 5-1 win and has got 3 assists in the league so far. The way Pogon has been run is a huge breath of fresh air, especially after they gained a lot of money from the sale of last season’s top scorer Koulouris.

On the It is awful to see Legia struggle this much with their history being so rich. Stuck in 13th, sacking their manager, the only hope is in their new coach to fix whatever is broken in the club. With 1 win in 7 matches in all competitions, their flurry of new signings must feel lost in a club where they thought they could coast to European football every season. There is a lot of work to do for the team to dig themselves out and salvage the season.

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CZECHIA

Coming in off last month’s update, Slavia unsurprisingly lead the table with Sparta Praha just behind and then last month’s leaders Jablonec sit in 3rd comfortably. Although the European fixtures could have tired the top 2 teams out, returning to the peak of the table for them was only a matter of time, it just happened slightly sooner than expected.

SLAVIA’S IMPRESSIVE RUN

Chances are that if you have any sort of interest in Czech football, Slavia Praha is the team you would have heard of the most. Their squad quality is impeccable, similar to a team that you would expect in the Championship or maybe a newly promoted Bundesliga side, and the depth is sufficient enough to be one of the top teams in the Conference League if they ever end up in it while winning their domestic title.

Last month I predicted that they would be the ones to ultimately win the title, due to their unbeaten streak, and now one month onwards that streak has not been broken just yet. Currently having played 16 games and won 10, they have not lost a single match and do not seem to be capable of losing in the league at the moment.

BANIK CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE

Not having won a single league match in November, last season’s 3rd place finishers now sit at the very bottom of the table with still only 2 victories. I mentioned last month that although their situation was dire, they still had the possibility of finishing in a high enough spot to avoid the chance of relegation. Now their situation seems to only be getting worse, with very little hope remaining for the well-renowned Banik.

PLAYER TO WATCH

VOJTECH PATRAK (25) - LEFT WINGER