Arsenal star Jakub Kiwior started for Poland against the Czech Republic last night, and he has received mixed reviews from his country’s media.
Poland hosted the Czechs at the National Stadium in Warsaw last night in the UEFA Euros qualifiers. A win would’ve taken them to second in the table, but Kiwior and co could only manage a draw. The Arsenal defender had an interesting game.
Polish media reacts to Arsenal star Jakub Kiwior’s performance
Arsenal signed Jakub Kiwior from Italian side Spezia for £20 million in January this year (Sky Sports).
The Pole is a terrific talent. He is incredibly calm on the ball, very fast, fantastic in possession and he has impressed almost every time he has played for the Gunners over the last 10 months.
Kiwior earned his 17th international cap for Poland last night. It was a difficult fixture, and the Arsenal man showed both, the good and bad sides of his game.
The 23-year-old made a mistake very early that almost cost the hosts. Arsenal old-boy Wojciech Szczesny saved the day. Then, in the second half, he made another silly error inside his own box. Luckily, Poland got away with that too.
Apart from that, Kiwior had a good game. He was calm and commanding on the ball and even saved the game late on by blocking Alex Kral’s strike that could’ve gone in and cost Poland the game.
Polish media outlet Meczyki gave him a 5/10 rating and wrote: “In the first half, he was solid and quite confident in his actions. In the 61st minute, however, he easily made a mistake in his own penalty area, which could have resulted in a goal for the opponents, making the score 2-1. At the end of the match, he saved us from defeat by blocking a dangerous shot.”
Sport.pl gave him a rating of two out of six and wrote: “Already in the 2nd minute he lost the ball under his own penalty area, but his mistake a moment later was corrected by Szczęsny. In the 61st minute, he recorded a second clumsy intervention at his own gate, but he was saved again.
“If the Arsenal stopwatch is to be the leader of our team, we expect a better game from him, although it should be noted that he was useful again in playing the action.”
Wprost Sport only gave him a 4/10 rating but wrote: “Generally solid, although no errors were avoided. Already in the first minute, he behaved badly in our penalty area, which allowed opponents to fire a dangerous shot. Fortunately, the charges of trainer Silhavy are also far from the optimal form.
“At other times, he tried to knock out the football so secretly that the gift for the Czechs came out again. On the other hand, in the end, he blocked a dangerous blow, thanks to which we did not lose. Well, the Arsenal stopwatch game still shows no regular club play.”
Super Express Sport were the most generous of them all. They called Kiwior “the most reliable of the three defenders”.
Kiwior has been linked with a move away from Arsenal
Jakub Kiwior is by no means the first choice at Arsenal, which is why he has been heavily linked with a move away on loan in January.
AC Milan are said to be keen to sign the Pole, while Jose Mourinho wants him to join Roma until the end of the season.
Arsenal are also said to be leaning towards being open to letting Kiwior go out on loan and get regular game time if a good opportunity arises.
It will be interesting to see what will happen, but we think keeping hold of Kiwior makes the most sense, especially after what happened in the Premier League title race when William Saliba got injured last season.