Poland is definitely the land that keeps on giving. From Jakub Blaszczykowski to Robert Lewandowski, from Jan Bednarek now to Robert Gumny. Talents from academies across the country, one after another, starting to work their way into the first-team and find themselves a solid place in their respective manager’s plan. At Legia Warsawa, Radosław Majecki has become the latest player to move abroad after AS Monaco secured his signature last winter and then immediately loan him back to the club. Another name who is looked to be destined to move abroad is Michał Karbownik after the Polish U19 captain thrives at the left-back position in Aleksandar Vuković 4–2–3–1 system.
Considering he was still playing for Legia II at the start of the season, making that left-back position his even back in August is a remarkable step up for the 19-year-old. From then on, he never looked back from where he started as he continued to take part in another 18 matches in the Ekstraklasa and 3 in the Polish Cup this season. While he remains to be comfortable playing on the left-hand side with left-winger Arvydas Novikovas, and sometimes with Luquinhas, one of his strengths that hasn’t been used often by Vuković is his versatility.
Not only being able to play out wide in the team’s back-four, but Karbownik can also occupy the defensive midfielder and central midfielder roles at the heart of the midfield. Furthermore, he was also tested in the role of an attacking midfielder in Legia II’s match against RKS Radomko this season. But given the talents that Legia have in that department in Andre Martins, Domagoj Antolić and Valeriane Gvilia, it seems clear why Vuković is still refraining himself from making the most of Karbownik’s versatility.
From his position, Karbownik tends to drift wide and positions himself near the touchline more often, even during the team’s build-up. This force the opposition’s defensive shape to stretch wider in order to overload the left-wing and prevent both Karbownik and Novikovas from attacking down their flank. But at the same time, it allows the attackers in the central half to find pockets of space in which they can position themselves while also turning themselves into a viable passing option.
In Karbownik’s perspective, his positioning benefits him in having a clear perspective of his teammates’ positions and the available pockets of space, similar to the situation below. By staying wider than Lechia’s defensive shape, he was able to receive the ball without any significant pressure and allowed him to scan for any possible through balls, which he did find one.
There are many occasions this season where he showed his amazing vision that allowed him to pick out teammates who were in advanced positions. The above situation against Lechia and the one below against Łodź are just two of them. With their teammates, in this case, were Novikovas (vs Lechia), Luquinhas and Antolić (vs Łodź) already pinned down the wide players, the opposition’s centre-backs did not have enough time to react to that, which resulted in space being created behind their back. Given that one similar aspect of poor positioning of the opposition’s defenders, Karbownik immediately noticed the opportunity and sent a through ball towards Luquinhas and Jose Kante.
Statistically speaking, he registers 54.09 passes per match this season and completes 79.55% of them, which are quite decent numbers for a left-back. Furthermore, with 0.68 chances created and 1.36 accurate key passes per match, Karbownik proves that he has the ability to set his teammates into good scoring chances even from his position. Those numbers also show the possibility of him being tested as a playmaker in the central of the park or even as a no. 10 behind the striker more often.
Not only can he creates chances for his teammates from his passes, but crossing is also another favourite option of his inside the final third. Indeed, with 1,18 attempted crosses per match, it remains as another method for him to get the ball to the attacking players inside the 16-yard box. Off-the-ball, he tends to overlap high up the pitch and offers a viable passing option on the left-hand side of the pitch. Depending on the position where Novikovas is placing himself into, Karbownik will change the direction of his overlapping run to either into the half-space or keeps on hugging the line. Eventually, the main goal is for him to reach the edge of the area with the ball and allowing him to scan for teammates inside the box.
Another strength of his that I really like is the way he anticipates the situation that is happening around him and being able to read the direction of the ball. It allows him to identify unoccupied space being left across the final third and positions himself into it to become a viable passing option, similar to the situation above. He can capitalise the negative state of the opposition’s centre-backs, like Rafał Kobryn in the above situation, to move into space either next to him or behind his back to receive the ball from the ball carrier.
When he has the ball on the edge of the box, he also makes good use of his ability to read the situation by predicting where will his teammates move. Karbownik has the tendency to slow the ball down for a couple of seconds and scans the box quickly to determine who is ready to pick up the cross from him. Those factors allowed him to find Kante in the below situation even before the Guinean-Spanish striker started to move, which also set up a dangerous chance for him as he forced a good save from Michal Peškovič.
At the other end of the pitch, he is considered as an active defender given his determination when involved in the team’s defending situations. Having an average build and a decent height which is 1m75 (5’74”) but this season, he already involves in 7.32 defensive challenges and won 4.32 of them. Along with that, three yellow cards to his name this season is an average number amid his aggression in 1v1 duels with the opposition’s ball carrier.
One of the reasons that allow him to reduce the number of unnecessary fouls is making good use of his anticipation. At a young age, it doesn’t come as a surprise to see Karbownik being a bit aggressive when he attempts to regain possession for his team. Like in the situation below against Cracovia, with a slight mistiming and not being able to anticipate the pass being made, the young Polish defender could have involved in a 1v1 duel that he might lose out given the head start of the Cracovia’s attacker. But by keeping a considerable distance to that player, Karbownik was able to intercept the pass and, therefore, avoiding an unnecessary duel that he might be in a disadvantaged state and forced to foul the opponent.
When chasing after the ball, Karbownik has the tendency of scanning the field many times before reaching for the ball itself. He will look for the opposition player’s positioning in order to determine if he can make a head start or not and, at the same time, identifying any teammates around him that he can make a pass towards. This is why many considered marking is one of the Polish defender’s strengths as he is able to monitor the situation well and come up with good decisions that are less risky but still allowing him to regain possession.
With 3.27 attempted tackles per match and at the success rate of 60.36%, Karbownik has proven to be a decent defender and there are still rooms for him to improve when he plays a part in a more modern tactic. In the role of a complete wing-back, he will need to fulfil both his attacking and defending responsibilities and both stamina and decision-making are the two attributes that he can improve in order to excel at the role.
Looking at Karbownik’s performance this season, it seems hard to believe that he is 19 years old with his anticipation and decision-making abilities. In his debut season with the first-team, the Polish prospect has defied all expectations and even excels down the left-hand side of the pitch. What he really needs right now is more first-team football in order to improve certain aspects in his style of play and at least one more season playing for Legia before getting ready for a bigger challenge. One thing for sure, there are already clubs expressing their interest for him and looking at him as a developing prospect that they want to have at their club, which makes the prospect of him playing in one of the top leagues in Europe more realistic than ever.
