Polonia Warszawa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Pogon, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Polonia Warszawa asked and Cracovia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Polonia Warszawa have made the call to Lech. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Polonia Warszawa have made the call to Lech. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Polonia Warszawa know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Polonia Warszawa will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
19 appearances and 2 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Polonia Warszawa are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Adrian Sandach trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Polonia Warszawa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Warszawa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Polonia Warszawa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
7 clean sheets from 12 appearances at BVSC-Zugló. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Warszawa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Polonia Warszawa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at BVSC-Zugló runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Polonia Warszawa would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Warszawa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Polonia Warszawa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bartosz Bereszyński is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Polonia Warszawa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stal Rzeszów runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ernest Terpiłowski has his answer from Polonia Warszawa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Polonia Warszawa would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Warszawa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erjon Hoxhallari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Simon Skrabb has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Warszawa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 46 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I did not go to BVSC-Zugló to sit and watch. I want to come back to Polonia Warszawa and fight for my place.” 12 appearances in 36 matches say the rest.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Polonia Warszawa, another week without a signature from Paweł Olszewski.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erjon Hoxhallari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Simon Skrabb.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Polonia Warszawa, another week without a signature from Simon Skrabb.
“I watch every Polonia Warszawa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stal Rzeszów runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Stal Mielec in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
They sit in position 2 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Polonia Warszawa and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Warszawa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Radomiak Radom; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Maciej Grosicki to a room that had heard them before.
7 shut-outs in 12 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Adrian Sandach has been having a lot of them.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Polonia Warszawa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Maciej Grosicki after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Benedik Mioč damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Marked 8.38 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Polonia Warszawa close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Polonia Warszawa has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Polonia Warszawa asked and Wisła Płock said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bartosz Bereszyński has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
136 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Polonia Warszawa have done the hard part with Cracovia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Polonia Warszawa asked and Motor Lublin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Znicz Pruszków scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lechia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Polonia Warszawa asked and Piast said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Warszawa, and it is not being withdrawn.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Polonia Warszawa will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bartosz Bereszyński and Polonia Warszawa agree another 1 years.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Polonia Warszawa can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bartosz Bereszyński was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Krajewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Simon Skrabb trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benedik Mioč is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Polonia Warszawa, and 6 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Maciej Grosicki after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Krajewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Piotr Starzyński has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.42 on the card, and the Polonia Warszawa support went home talking about one name.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Maciej Grosicki kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benedik Mioč is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Maciej Grosicki on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
Looking aheadPolonia Warszawa take on the side everybody is chasing
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Polonia Warszawa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Krzysztof Danielewicz and Polonia Warszawa agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Radomiak Radom in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Polonia Warszawa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Krajewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Polonia Warszawa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Stal Rzeszów runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Erjon Hoxhallari is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
The dugoutMateusz Kuchta dropped after a run of poor form
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Polonia Warszawa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 36. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.94 for the rest of it.
“I watch every Polonia Warszawa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at BVSC-Zugló runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benedik Mioč was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Polonia Warszawa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kacper Kostorz provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Krajewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Stal Rzeszów to sit and watch. I want to come back to Polonia Warszawa and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Ruch next, and one man in the Polonia Warszawa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Polonia Warszawa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marcel Krajewski and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erjon Hoxhallari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Polonia Warszawa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at BVSC-Zugló runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Polonia Warszawa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Krajewski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Maciej Grosicki could afford to be generous.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Kacper Kostorz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Beno Selan was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benedik Mioč was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gornik Zabrze moved on, Erjon Hoxhallari reports back to Polonia Warszawa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Polonia Warszawa asked and Javor-Matis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Krzysztof Danielewicz and Polonia Warszawa agree another 1 years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Polonia Warszawa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oliwier Latosi has just signed for Polonia Warszawa, and for once the answer mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oliwier Latosi is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gornik Leczna have kept their man, and Polonia Warszawa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Polonia Warszawa, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Polonia Warszawa asked and Bruk-Bet Termalica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Polonia Warszawa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
A loan enquiry to Unirea Slobozia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Skrabb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Polonia Warszawa asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pau Juvanteny, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Maciej Grosicki chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Warszawa can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oliwier Skoczeń has just signed for Polonia Warszawa, and for once the answer mattered.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dawid Kudła and Polonia Warszawa agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Skrabb is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sidy Koumé and Polonia Warszawa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Polonia Warszawa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Polonia Warszawa can tell you which week it ends in.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robert Dadok and Polonia Warszawa agree another 3 years.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Michal Szymanski has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lech waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Polonia Warszawa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Legia for Robert Dadok was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Warszawa can pretend not to have heard.
$1.1M on the table at Raków Częstochowa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Polonia Warszawa asked and Zbrojovka Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
He is going to Lech, the club has $1.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Warszawa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Dave Gnaase has come up in conversations Polonia Warszawa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deal with Korona is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Raków Częstochowa have kept their man, and Polonia Warszawa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Pau Juvanteny has, at Polonia Warszawa, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Hajdin Salihu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Warszawa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Polonia Warszawa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Polonia Warszawa have done the hard part with Legia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Hajdin Salihu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Warszawa can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Polonia Warszawa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Benedykt Piotrowski has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dave Gnaase was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Warszawa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Polonia Warszawa have no good answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hajdin Salihu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Polonia Warszawa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hajdin Salihu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kacper Kostorz signs something — a contract at Polonia Warszawa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Polonia Warszawa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hajdin Salihu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Jean-David Beauguel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Polonia Warszawa who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Polonia Warszawa has been clear about where Souleymane Cissé stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-David Beauguel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Polonia Warszawa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Polonia Warszawa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Polonia Warszawa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrian Sandach will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Polonia Warszawa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Polonia Warszawa can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erjon Hoxhallari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Polonia Warszawa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Polonia Warszawa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Polonia Warszawa know now that the thought has arrived.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Polonia Warszawa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Warszawa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lisandro Semedo. 2‑0 against Gornik Leczna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dave Gnaase was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Polonia Warszawa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Polonia Warszawa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Warszawa, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean-David Beauguel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutMateusz Kuchta asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Polonia Warszawa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Robert Dadok was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dave Gnaase is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Maciej Grosicki left the room before anybody could ask which.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Polonia Warszawa, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dave Gnaase was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Warszawa can pretend not to have heard.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Polonia Warszawa know it.
Polonia Warszawa have made the call to Rodina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Aleksander Buksa was the best thing in any of them.
Lisandro Semedo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Maciej Grosicki could afford to be generous.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Robert Dadok. 1‑0 against Pogoń Siedlce, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Maciej Grosicki on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Przemysław Szur has his answer from Polonia Warszawa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Maciej Grosicki chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Antonio Leal was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Łukasz Zjawiński. 2‑0 against Gornik Leczna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erjon Hoxhallari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Maciej Grosicki could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Antonio Leal is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Aleksander Buksa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
It needed Aleksander Buksa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Polonia Bytom, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
SquadWords at Polonia Warszawa training over how hard people work
Lisandro Semedo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erjon Hoxhallari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Maciej Grosicki left the room before anybody could ask which.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Robert Dadok and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erjon Hoxhallari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Stal Mielec next, and one man in the Polonia Warszawa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Mateusz Jeleń
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erjon Hoxhallari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Maciej Grosicki on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Polonia Warszawa can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Daniel Dudziński, marked 7.85, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Łukasz Zjawiński. 3‑2 against Puszcza Niepołomice, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Polonia Warszawa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Souleymane Cissé again, and this time the name on the line is Stal Mielec. Polonia Warszawa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.