Best moments of 2016

Grzegorz Hałasik (Radio Merkury):

Choosing the best moment in Lech Poznan in year 2016 is a difficult task, I might even say impossible. The final of the Polish Cup could be one of the most significant memories, but Lech lost the game and the match ended with a chaos. Lech failed to win the Championship as well. A match on the international arena? The club didn’t get a chance to perform against Europe’s best teams. When it comes to unforgettable league clashes, the 5:0 win in Chorzow and 3:0 win in Lubin are one of them, but they are just individual games and we will only know their influence on Lech’s final position in the league rank when the season ends.

I think my choice is Nenad Bjelica’s arrival, although his adventure at Lech has just begun. The new coach seems promising, but the Croat has a winter training camp, his first transfer window and a tough first for the trophies still ahead of him, so I’d wait with rating him for now.

One of the key events in 2016 was the locomotive’s revelation. The club needs a tangible symbol, and since Lech now has it, it’s time to take a step forward in the sporting aspect.

Maciej Henszel (Przegląd Sportowy):

In my opinion, 2016 was marked by two significant events that happened at the club. First of all, Karol Linetty’s transfer to Sampdoria. Why? Because Lech has always been effective on the transfer market and knew how to sell its players to good European clubs for decent money, which allowed the footballers to take a big step forward in their careers. Every year at least one player was sold to another club for around 3 million euros. In 2009 Rafal Murawski and Robert Lewandowski left Lech, and then Artjoms Rudnevs, Aleksandyr Tonev and Lukasz Teodorczyk.

In 2015 none of Lech’s footballers was transferred to a bigger, European club. However, Linetty was sold in summer to Sampdoria and what’s even more significant is that Lech got a big amount of money for a homegrown player. As till now, the homegrown players did not earn Lech a big income, despite Lech’s Academy being well-known for producing good footballers. Karol was the first one to bloom and most importantly the ratings he’s been getting in Serie A prove how successful Lech’s homegrown player is.

Second of all, Nenad Bjelica’s arrival was very important, if not the most important moment of 2016. 3,5 years after Jose Bakero’s departure another foreign coach took over the lead. I have no intention of rating Bjelica’s work since he has just started. However, what’s important in my opinion is that looking back at the autumn league round, I am optimistic about all the upcoming games. Especially that even if Lech lost, you could see the pattern in the team’s style of playing – the squad created many goal scoring chances, built offensive actions very quickly after recovering the ball and knew how to secure the defensive line not to concede many goals. That brings hope after of the final phase of the season. In addition, Bjelica’s strategies and tactics were wise and focused not only on the short-term effects.

Radosław Nawrot (Gazeta Wyborcza):

The signing of Nenad Bjelica is, in my opinion, the most important moment on 2016. The man brought an ineffable hope that has easily spread among the fans. People hope that the coach will change Lech’s mentality and turn the team into a courageous, belligerent and successful team which, as the coach said himself, will be applauded every time they play.

Lech’s aim used to be a high attendance independent of the city’s unstable economic situation. The attendance on Lech’s games nearly always has been dependent on the team’s performance only. However, in the 70’s and 80’s it remained on a very high, stable level nonetheless. Today there is a chance to create a magnetic team that you will be thrilled to watch live instead of on the couch.

Nenad Bjelica might be able to build such a team, at least that is what we all hope for. His results so far aren’t much better than the ones of his successors, but that’s not the point. What makes Bjelica different is that he is capable of attracting the fans by himself.