We’ve been saying for years that Jon Walters is more machine than man.
And it turns out that his tireless engine has not gone unnoticed by his Stoke City teammates, one of whom he will come up against on Saturday.
Marko Arnautovic has warned his Austria colleagues to be wary of Walters’ strengths, as well as the ability of midfielder Glenn Whelan to control the game.
“Jon Walters is not a human being, he is a machine,” Arnautovic said ahead of the clash in Vienna.
“And, in my view, Glenn Whelan is a compact player who knows as a midfielder when to receive the ball and spread it wide.
“At Stoke, we didn’t talk much about this international fixture coming up. I know almost all of Ireland’s players from the English leagues and many of them we’ll have to watch closely.
“In the draw they got against Serbia, I felt Ireland played very defensively. We can expect they’ll do the same in Vienna, so the responsibility to attack will be on us.”
Ireland have enjoyed an undefeated start to their qualification campaign for Russia 2018, with two wins and a draw to their name thus far.
Here's our ode to Jon Walters: The most underrated man in football https://t.co/Y2wFlWWwsp pic.twitter.com/uZFkyOgwXa
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 16, 2015
Austria, meanwhile, sit in fourth place in Group D after suffering defeat to Serbia last month.
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