Poland boss Nawalka never feared defeat against Germany

Poland coach Adam Nawalka insists he was never worried Germany would condemn his wasteful Poland side to defeat in Group C on Thursday.

Arkadiusz Milik missed two excellent chances to give Poland the lead in Euro 2016’s first goalless draw as the world champions failed to make him pay in Saint-Denis.

“If you ask me if I was worried about the score and if we were going to concede a goal, no I wasn’t,” said Nawalka, whose side beat Northern Ireland in their opener and face pointless Ukraine next.

“We were controlling what was happening on the pitch. There were periods of the match when Germany had the initiative, but we were giving them that space consciously to move from pressing to counter-attacks. You could see that in the second half in particular.

“We had goalscoring chances. Those chances were worked out in a much better way than against Northern Ireland.

“I’m happy with the performance of the team. Their discipline and tactical awareness was at a very high level. Everything has been realised on the pitch as prepared.

“Like in the first match, the players put a lot of heart and ambition into this match and the results came.

“Maybe I couldn’t be fully happy, we didn’t score a goal. But 0-0 is a fair result and we are already thinking about the next match.”

Robert Lewandowski was far from his best as he drew another blank, but Nawalka does not doubt the Bayern Munich striker’s value.

He added: “Robert Lewandowski’s performance in every single match is incredibly important for our game plan. 

“Robert Lewandowski is working towards the team. Even though he hasn’t scored a goal both in the last match against Northern Ireland or tonight, he is doing tremendous work.

“He is taking the attention of the players so others have goalscoring chances. 

“He is at the highest level and l and I am pleased that he is in optimal form. In the coming matches he will play equally as well as he did in the last few matches.”

Poland and Germany have four points apiece, with Northern Ireland on three and Ukraine out of the tournament.