The second weekend of February is the date of the first trip of the new coach of the Polish national team around our country. Fernando Santos appeared on Friday at the match between Lechia Gdańsk and Widzew Łódź, and a day later he moved to Płock and watched the match of the local Wisła once morest Lech Poznań.
Candidate for a place in midfield
Radosław Murawski, one of the leaders of “Kolejorz”, was a definitely outstanding character. The experienced central midfielder not only controlled the situation in the middle of the field very well, e.g. not allowing the rivals’ players to play freely, but also made a noticeable contribution in the offensive game, playing a lot of very good balls and scoring the goal that was crucial for the result of the match, making it 1:0.
Murawski’s performance did not go unnoticed by fans and journalists, who praised his game with pleasure. Among them was our editorial colleague, Filip Modrzejewski, who knows the reality of the Ekstraklasa perfectly and the possibilities of playing football for Lech Poznań players.
Selector’s chance
Today’s performance of the central midfielder of “Kolejorz” is important because Fernando Santos watched him from the stands, who is looking for potential reinforcements for the Polish national team in our national league. Considering the problems in the midfield, where Grzegorz Krychowiak has been the main defensive midfielder for years, replaced by Krystian Bielik, who plays in the Championship, Murawski’s attitude may bring him closer to playing with an eagle on his chest.
So far, the 28-year-old footballer has not had the opportunity to play for the first team of the national team. In the past, he only managed to appear in the U21 team twelve times and play 13 times in the white and red colors in junior categories.
During Saturday’s meeting in Płock, Fernando Santos might also look at a few younger players who would gladly receive a call-up from him. We are talking regarding Michał Skóraś, Filip Szymczak or Filip Marchwiński, who quite unexpectedly receives many minutes from John van der Brom to present his skills.
The game is better than the result
As for the meeting itself, from the very beginning it was controlled by the guests from Poznań. Mikael Ishak and the company appeared more often under the opponent’s penalty area, although Wisła also had its chances. The only goal in this match was scored by Radosław Murawski in the 20th minute of the match, taking the ball from the rival in front of the penalty area and confidently sending it to the net.
In the second half, the hosts from Płock did everything to lead to a draw, not allowing themselves to be pushed into the defense. However, the full fight did not bring any results, only Jakub Rzeźniczak’s red card in the 71st minute of the match, which seriously hindered chasing the result.
Thanks to today’s triumph, Lech Poznań strengthened its third place in the Ekstraklasa table with a four-point advantage over Widzew Łódź. Wisła Płock, in turn, maintained its eighth position, which it may lose to Radomiak and Warta Poznań on Sunday.
