Image via Mikolaj Barbanell/Shutterstock
It would be fair to say that Krzysztof Piątek has not been in the best form so far in 2023: with just one assist so far this calendar year and he managed a comical open goal miss this past weekend in Salernitana’s 3-0 win over Monza to top off this run of poor performances.
This hasn’t gone unnoticed: his new manager, Paulo Sousa (former Selekcjoner), said that Piątek has elements of his game to work on, pundits are debating his place in the national team more than ever and fans have already consigned him to the dustbin of history.
However, with Arkadiusz Milik being ruled out until after the international break by his manager at Juventus and the news that Robert Lewandowski is set to be sidelined for two weeks with a hamstring issue means that Piątek may well end up in the starting eleven against either the Czech Republic or Albania.
There are positives to this; Piątek is well-versed when it comes to playing for Poland and his overall performance against Monza in particular looked like he was someway back to the form of playing well, if not scoring goals.
On the negative side however, we can’t ignore his general level of play prior to this last weekend, and if Fernando Santos plumps for Piątek and things don’t work out many fans will already feel negative towards the new Selekcjoner.
The other options for Poland are equally as attractive in terms of form, if not experience. Karol Świderski generally does very well when he plays for the national team, and Dawid Kownacki deserves a call-up given how much of a stand-out he has been at Fortuna Düsseldorf in the 2. Bundesliga. Younger options like Filip Szymczak and Bartosz Białek have also been solid this season, and perhaps Santos wishes to start bringing younger players into the senior side.
Whether or not Santos trusts Piątek to play his way into form we will find out in the next few weeks, and the Polish squad for the European qualifiers is set to be announced in around two weeks’ time.
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