Who did Michniewicz miss? Five names on the absent list

We waited for these calls from the end of December, when it became clear that Paulo Sousa had escaped from the Polish national team. Already then there was an avalanche of guesses which players would lose on the Portuguese’s departure and who could gain. And although many scenarios have passed through the minds of the fans, there is probably no one that would effectively select Monday’s appointments.

surprised the fans by dusting Marcin Kamiński, the 30-year-old Schalke stopwatch, who last appeared in the national team in 2018. But the real sensation is the appointment of 24-year-old Konrad Michalak, who knows the taste of the representation only from youth groups. Anyway, the Konyaspor winger met Michniewicz in the U-21 squad.

But we want to focus on players that Michniewicz did not invite, although they were important links so far or it seemed that they should get a chance.

Kamil Jóźwiak (22 matches in the national team, 2 goals and 4 assists)

Jóźwiak made his debut in the team in 2019. And since then, he has only missed two matches (both against San Marino). Jerzy Brzęczek was the first to call him, but the 23-year-old will still be considered Paulo Sousa’s pet. The Portuguese blindly believed in him, even when he failed, as for Euro 2020, the quintessence of which was the match with Sweden, which could be described as a “festival of misses”. Jóźwiak also did not show off in the last defeat 1: 2 with Hungary, when due to his mistake we dropped out of the group of players in the World Cup play-offs.

Michniewicz surprised with the lack of a calling for Jóźwiak, but he had a right to do so. Let’s take a look at his club situation. Jóźwiak never became a leading figure in Derby County, although he got many chances. In the current season he played in 17 games and can boast of just one assist. These are extremely meager statistics for an attacking winger. In total for the club from the Championship, across all competitions, he played 64 games, scored one goal and made four assists. In the days he is to go to the American club Charlotte FC, which is just making its debut in MLS. The Pole is to cost just over a million pounds. Such a low transfer amount is quite surprising even if we take into account Derby County’s financial problems. Suffice it to recall that in September 2020, Lech Poznań sold Jóźwiak to England for EUR 4.3 million. This means that its value has dropped more than three times.

Mateusz Klich (38 matches, 2 goals and 4 assists)

Fans joked that Klich breathed a sigh of relief when Michniewicz overtook Adam Nawałka on the last straight race for the position of coach. Leeds United midfielder, passionate esports, ł: – Who will be the new coach? Like Nawałka, it’s a whore, probably played – the 31-year-old footballer emphatically admitted. Klich, however, forgot that he was live, which was quickly realized by the host of the stream. Paris Platynov quickly deleted the entire broadcast record, but nothing is lost on the Internet and the speech of the Polish representative has already circulated on social media.

Klich referred to Nawałka’s term of office, during which he only played four matches. But the former coach was not guided by the antipathy towards the player. The career of Klich simply gained momentum in 2018, when Nawałka left the staff.

Klich was supposed to be an important link in Paulo Sousa’s team, but it wasn’t for one reason only. Due to the coronavirus, he left two training camps, which means he lost as many as six matches! It seemed, however, that the midfielder, with 57 matches in the strongest league in the world, must be called up automatically. Klich will miss the first play-off game () due to the cards, but it seemed that such an important player should show up at the training camp anyway to get to know Michniewicz, a tactics enthusiast, better. If the new manager treated Klich as an indispensable player, he would have invited him to the training camp, even for a potential sparring match (instead of a match with Russia)

Kamil Piątkowski (3 games)

. In the national team of the Austrian champion we will find young footballers who play football beautifully. Salzburg produces big stars, the best examples of which are Sadio Mane and Erling Haaland. In the 1/8 finals of the Champions League they faced Bayern Munich, who only equalized after a goal in the 90th minute. This is the environment where Kamil Piątkowski, born in 2000, is developing, with 11 matches this season.

He has appeared in the Sousa squad three times. It seemed that Michniewicz would also reach for him, the more that Piątkowski was a player of his youth team. But most importantly: the former Raków Częstochowa stopwatch is used to playing in a three-person defensive block, and this is what Michniewicz intends to set. And Piątkowski feels good with the ball next to his leg, which is an additional advantage of a stopwatch.

Kamil, however, will go to a youth camp. Nicola Zalewski will also go there.

Nicola Zalewski (1 game)

The 20-year-old from Roma only played against San Marino, but the game was decorated with an assist. It is difficult to draw conclusions from a meeting with such a weak rival. It was also difficult to analyze his matches in Roma, because in the 25th round of Serie A he had three games to his credit. But he spent a total of … 14 minutes on the pitch. And it’s hard to resist the impression that his longest performance – eight minutes in the September match against Lazio – was a wipe of tears. A few days earlier, his father died. Jose Mourinho decided that this would cheer the boy up. However, the situation has changed dramatically.

Roma is playing unevenly this season, so the Portuguese started to mess with the squad and rotate more and more players. Zalewski, who played three matches in a row for the first time in senior football, took advantage of this. First he played 45 minutes with Hellas Verona (2: 2), then 80 minutes with Spezia (1: 0), and now over an hour against Atalanta .. The Portuguese decided to set 1-3-4-1-2, and the right-footed footballer it appeared, quite unexpectedly, on the left pendulum. And although he seemed to be a strictly offensive player, he had to remember about defense first.

It could be assumed that Michniewicz would want to see Zalewski against the background of the senior staff, because the left side is our biggest problem. Arkadiusz Reca, a Spezia player, looks good on the offensive, but he has gaps in defense. Tymoteusz Puchacz is just rebuilding himself in Trabzonspor after his unsuccessful adventure with Union Berlin. Maciej Rybus has the most experience, but he often gets injured, and in addition he plays for Lokomotiv Moscow, so his future – due to the Russian attack on Ukraine – is in question. Michniewicz decided, however, that Zalewski, at least for now, would be more useful to Maciej Stolarczyk’s staff.

Jakub Kiwior

On the Apennine Peninsula, it is also worth following the development of Jakub Kiwior, another graduate of the defensive school named after Michniewicz. The 22-year-old from Spezia has flown to Italy as a stopwatch, but Thiago Motta, once a great midfielder for Barcelona, ​​PSG and Inter Milan, saw his potential as a midfielder. And since Kiwior started playing in the second line, Spezia started to score points. They even managed to beat Milan and Napoli. Kiwior, like Zalewski and Piątkowski, will play at Stolarczyk.