After his electrifying performance at Home Park against Oxford, Adam Price gives the lowdown on Tymoteusz Puchacz.
Are you struggling to keep up with all of the happenings at Plymouth Argyle across the last week? I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you were; I like to think I’ve made it my duty to know all of the Home Park goings on, and even I feel I’ve been blindsided by the sheer amount of news in recent days.
First of all, there was a frankly crazy Friday which saw Argyle appoint Miron Muslic as their new head coach, at one stage seemingly against all the odds. The day after, Muslic’s new side travelled to Brentford and finally won away from home this season, in probably the toughest away day they’re likely to have all year. If that wasn’t enough, the Pilgrims’ reward for their victory was a chance to host Liverpool, the Premier League leaders and arguably the best club side in the world right now, in round four.
With all of that happening, it can be easy to forget that the last few days have brought a new signing. On Thursday, the Greens moved to sign Tymoteusz Puchacz (pronounced poo-hatch, if you’re curious) from German Bundesliga side Holstein Kiel. He’s a 25-year-old left-sided defender who has been capped 15 times for Poland, and he joins Argyle on a loan deal with an option to buy at the end of the season.
Puchacz’s signing has excited many, and it certainly helps that he’s already played in a winning cause, featuring for ten minutes against Brentford. Once I’d finished writing this piece, he also featured heavily in Argyle’s league fixture with Oxford United. And he’s a signing who also brings me plenty of joy, though I will also carry a couple of words of warning. Let me explain more by dissecting his career to date, and assessing how he may fit in at Home Park.
A Journey West
Puchacz arrives at Argyle making his first foray into English football. Adapting won’t exactly prove to be a new experience, however; he’s been making a gradual journey west throughout his career, and has taken in plenty of new leagues in many countries along the way.
He started out, rather predictably, in his native Poland, eventually turning professional at Lech Poznan. And it wasn’t as though he broke through there and failed initially make the grade. Sure, he had a couple of loan spells in the same country before he turned 20, but he made a significant number of appearances for his boyhood club before moving on.
Here, “moving on” is quite the understatement. His performances in Poznan were enough to earn him a move across the border to Germany, where he moved to Union Berlin for around €3.5 million. And ultimately, this was the one major move of his career that didn’t pay off. It was still useful for building up his experiences though. While contracted to Union Berlin, he moved on loan to Trabzonspor, where he won the Turkish Super Lig title, and spent time in Greece with Panathinaikos.
In recent days, many fans will have become familiar with a more recent Puchacz loan spell. In 2023-24, he spent a year at Kaiserslautern in the German second tier. His club didn’t have the best of times in the league, but it was a successful season for Puchacz for a couple of reasons. He posted some superb numbers on the field, and we’ll talk about those very shortly, whilst his club had a remarkable run to the German Cup final, eventually only beaten by the domestically invincible Bayer Leverkusen.
As an unashamed international football fan, I’m particularly enamoured by the experiences Puchacz has had for his country. As I mentioned earlier, he’s won 15 caps for Poland, which whilst not being a huge number feels an impressive coup for a team of Argyle’s standing. And it’s not as if those 15 games have been unimportant; Puchacz has been part of Poland’s squad in two major tournaments, and appeared in all of their games during Euro 2020.
Adaptability doesn’t feel as though it’ll be an issue. Puchacz has arrived in the Westcountry with a wealth of experiences behind him, and I’d like to think he’ll be able to quickly settle into the side. I’m particularly keen to see how he properly gets started; Oxford marked a superb start.
Another Attacking Option
I’ll start off by looking at the numbers Puchacz posted during his time at Kaiserslautern; given that was his most recent full season, I imagine it was that spell catching Argyle’s attention and ultimately seeing him arrive. In all competitions, he played 3,039 minutes during 2023-24, so that allows us to get our teeth into some data with a more than acceptable sample size.
My initial instinct from those numbers is that Puchacz is going to be an exciting player to watch. He loves to run with the ball, with his average of 1.78 completed dribbled per 90 minutes only beaten in Argyle’s ranks this season by Ibrahim Cissoko (a frankly absurd 3.11). In that sense, Puchacz reminds me of Bali Mumba on the left. He may not be the sort of silky dribbler Mumba is to get out of tight situations in his own half, but he’ll have no problem driving into space to trouble opposition defences.
And when he gets himself forward, he can be decisively effective. Upon his arrival, Puchacz’s assists total at Kaiserslautern caught the eye of many Argyle supporters. He notched 13 in all competitions last season, equating to 0.39 assists per 90, which would be enough to top Argyle’s ranks this term. And that figure has been built on the back of some more impressive underlying data.
During his Kaiserslautern spell, Puchacz created a total of 15 big chances, which equates to 0.44 per 90. Given Argyle’s struggles to create chances this season, it won’t surprise you to know that Puchacz’s figure comfortably beats any Argyle player. It’s the same for key passes, which we explored in our analysis of Michael Baidoo. In 2023/24, Puchacz made an average of 2.43 key passes per 90. That number isn’t on a par with Baidoo. It’s on a par with Finn Azaz.
There is one more key element to consider: set pieces. Puchacz was Kaiserslautern’s regular set piece taker, trusted to take corners from both the left side and the right, and his superb delivery contributed to plenty of big goalscoring chances for his side. We’re all very aware that Argyle have struggled to consistently threaten from set pieces this season, and the hope will surely be that the 25-year-old’s dead ball ability can help to turn the tide.
We’ve heard a lot about Muslic’s preference for a direct style of play, which one presumes will require a tall centre forward. We’ve also heard rumours, some more reliable than others, that Argyle are looking to sign some burly centre backs this January. With that in mind, we may be about to see Puchacz’s crossing becoming a key part of Argyle’s style. Again, we saw exactly that against Oxford.
Good Enough the Other Way?
Puchacz isn’t the first full back/wing back Argyle have signed who has posted strong numbers going forward in the past. Matty Sorinola had some good crossing figures at Swansea City, whilst Nathanael Ogbeta created plenty of big chances during spells at Peterborough United and Bolton Wanderers. We also know that Bali Mumba is at his best when he can threaten opposition defences.
However, the jury is very much out on at least two of the above signings. Ultimately, there is a fair argument that neither of those three (and if we’re honest, Ogbeta in particular) have been good enough defensively to shine in the Championship. It’s therefore worth us looking at Puchacz going the other way, and asking whether he’s good enough defensively to allow Argyle to take advantage of his attacking talents.
If I am to be completely honest, this area leaves me concerned. Puchacz wasn’t the best out of possession during his Kaiserslautern spell, and has posted numbers in several areas that leave plenty to be desired.
Let’s look at his tackling as an example. Last season, Puchacz made a total of 45 tackles, and was dribbled past on 30 occasions. That gave him an implied tackle success of 60%, which to be blunt isn’t good enough. Compared to Argyle’s options in the full back positions this term (and remember Argyle have had a hugely disappointing season defensively), Puchacz’ figure ranks poorly.
Player | Tackles | Dribbled Past | Tackle Success |
Bali Mumba | 52 | 8 | 87% |
Joe Edwards | 32 | 6 | 84% |
Nathanael Ogbeta | 7 | 2 | 78% |
Matty Sorinola | 11 | 7 | 61% |
Tymoteusz Puchacz* | 45 | 30 | 60% |
I’d argue there are at least some caveats to Puchacz’s disappointing figure. Given his attacking output, it’s possible (highly likely, I’d suggest) that he overcommitted on occasion. As such, he may well have not found himself in a position to tackle, and made himself easy to dribble past as a result. Still, that would explain a small discrepancy; here, we have a player who completed fewer tackles than Mumba, but was dribbled past almost four times as much. That must improve.
We can also look at his total number of defensive actions. Across last season, Puchacz made an average of 3.52 defensive actions per 90. Again, that figure is mediocre at best. Once again, we can compare that number to Argyle’s other full back options, and Puchacz once more comes out looking poor.
Player | Defensive Actions per 90 |
Joe Edwards | 8.58 |
Nathanael Ogbeta | 8.30 |
Matty Sorinola | 6.31 |
Bali Mumba | 5.14 |
Tymoteusz Puchacz* | 3.52 |
Occasionally, there is an obvious counter-argument when looking at Argyle’s defending. Because the Greens have been under the cosh so regularly this year, you’d expect their defenders to rack up their number of defensive actions. Here though, I don’t think Puchacz can be let off the hook. Kaiserslautern conceded 64 league goals last season, more than all teams bar bottom side Osnabruck, and as a defender he ought to have been more decisive and built up his figures.
Just because he’s defended poorly in the past, it doesn’t mean he always will. There’s room for improvement for sure, but he absolutely can improve. Right now though, he looks to be another defender who would suit a wing back role much more than one at full back. Over to you, Mr Muslic.
The New League Conundrum
We can (and believe me I will) analyse numbers to death when looking at a new arrival. There is a far more intangible point though, that in cases such as this we have to consider. Puchacz is coming into a new league; will he be able to settle in quickly, and get up to speed with his new head coach’s demands?
From the earlier section on his career to date, I’ve no concerns that he has the personality to adapt to a new country in a new environment. He’s been around the block, and tends to deliver for at least one club in every country he’s visited. Still, it’s worth noting that Argyle have probably only been able to sign Puchacz now because he wasn’t able to adapt to a higher level.
Following the conclusion of his spell at Kaiserslautern, Puchacz completed a permanent transfer from Union Berlin to Kiel. His new side played at the same level as Kaiserslautern during 2023/24, but won promotion to the Bundesliga after finishing in second place. In general, I think one would argue the move hasn’t worked out. I’ll defend Puchacz in some quarters – he’s actually got his tackle success up to 80%, which is far more respectable – but he’s ultimately only been afforded 479 minutes during the first half of the season.
This is where we enter the great unknown. Puchacz has plenty of tools to allow him to succeed in the Championship, but will he be? It may be the same sport, but the second tier of English football isn’t for the faint-hearted, and previous performances aren’t necessarily a predictor of success. Whilst Ibrahim Cissoko performed largely as expected when he arrived from Toulouse, Victor Palsson posted some outstanding numbers in Belgium before struggling to make a mark at Argyle (before, of course, the start of his redemption arc in Brentford).
That’s the nature of football. We’re around 2,000 words into analysing a player at the moment, but can we say for sure whether he’ll be a success? No. Let’s just hope we have a lot of fun finding out.