No participant in the Hull City dressing room has felt the demands that were put upon Kamil Grosicki this season. For country and club, the winger has he gone without a match and only after, during the November break that was international, has started 32 games in just over five months.
Grosicki could wind up starting by the time that the Championship campaign concludes on the first weekend of May but the worry is that one of the most potent weapons of City is running out of gas. The Tigers’ festive programme did not see Grosicki in the routine extended at home to Fulham and his best. The 31-year-old had his minutes to damage City rivals but also often he had been shackled. Fulham had obviously done their homework, denying both Grosicki and Jarrod Bowen opportunities distance in which to stretch them, but Grant McCann has come to expect so much more out of his wide guys. Although City’s head coach insisted he was unconcerned about the onset of exhaustion after giving his players a break he will understand the risks posed down the flank of his side are not what they were.
As a player so reliant on his bursts of energy and pace, Grosicki has found the going tough through City period of this effort. The strategy was not to use the Poland international at all although a telling effect was made at the FA Cup tie away to Rotherham United. The sports science team of City are going to have a clear understanding of Grosicki’s fitness and a drop in his degrees will be clear. Having only returned for training three weeks prior to the campaign began at Swansea, he amassed 2,292 moments of football and has started every Championship match. Jarrod Bowen and George Long may also claim to be ever-present under McCann but on three occasions they have loved opportunities to recharge batteries during international breaks. Grosicki, meanwhile, has visited Latvia Slovenia and Israel to assist Poland to reach the finals of Euro 2020.
Australia international Jackson Irvine is the only team-mate to have racked up the air miles constantly but he’s five years younger than Grosicki, who will turn 32 in June. Maybe there is more to the latest streak of form of Grosicki. It owes something he has over his future. It is although City continue to decide if they will trigger an extension. The winger’s value to City can continue to be immense in the Championship. The key will be getting these explosions of class and quality back.
