Krzysztof Piatek

Krzysztof Piatek
Image from: freelargeimages.com

Krzysztof Piatek





Current Club: Hertha Berlin.

Previous Clubs: AC Milan, Genoa, Cracovia, Zaglebie Lubin, Lechia Dzierzoniow.

Loan Clubs: N/A.





International: Poland 10 caps 5 goals.

Trophies Won: N/A.





After years of hearing about Piatek and how he was the next Lewandowski, I was very surprised to see him move to Hertha Berlin from Milan, the way people talked, I would have thought a top tier team would be in for him. However, now I have seen him play, I can see he is not a top tier striker at all.



Though he is similar in build and the way he moves to Lewandowski, he is a long way off his compatriot in terms of ability. Especially his goal celebration, which is, quite simply, naff!



Piatek is strong in the air, almost an old-fashioned target man in his ability to win headers in the box, with decent movement to draw defenders deep before checking back to give himself space. He has good striking technique on his stronger right foot, loving to curl the ball into the far corner from the left side.



He is quick, sometimes deceptively so, as his legs seem to be moving slower than those around him, but he arrives to the ball ahead of them anyway. I would assume Piatek is one of those people who have particularly long legs for their height, as he has a loping stride that eats up the ground.



What does worry me is his link up play. Piatek is strong and can pass the ball, so he should be excellent at hold up play, taking the ball in and bringing others in to play. Instead he is quite poor, his pass selection is often poor and his touch can be heavy allowing a defender to take the ball off him.



On top of that, his excellent goalscoring stats have been bumped up by being a penalty taker and so are not quite as good as they first appear. All in all, Piatek is a good striker for a team that looks to hit crosses into the middle and do not ask too much of him outside of the box.



Piatek will work hard, he is not afraid to press the defence and can be aggressive in a high press system, but he is limited in his play on the ball. He would not suit a team looking to develop play through him, but bang in crosses and Piatek will get on the end of a good number of them.





Requested by - zpecialone & Reddevilfan