There was already a bit of unrest in the stands when Sebastian Polter struck ice-cold. The Bochum centre forward scored his third goal of the season against SC Freiburg. And continues to pose a riddle.
When fit, Polter is a fixture in Bochum’s attacking centre, even if he rarely really comes up big. The powerful striker has scored three goals in twelve appearances, which isn’t terrible, but there is room for improvement.
It is not easy to classify the performance of the athletic attacker. A bit of a grab bag, sometimes accurate, sometimes a hindrance.
Polter’s inadequate involvement
Not for the first time Polter was insufficiently involved in Bochum’s attacking play, letting balls through far too often and often missing the ball. Only rarely does he manage to let the ball bounce to the following players.
The former Union Berlin striker, who scored nine goals in 32 appearances for Fortuna Sittard last season, makes a great effort. That is. As the first starter, he throws himself into the fray, makes many metres, brings his body into play.
However, when the ball is played from his own ranks to the front, despite his athleticism, he seldom makes contact with the ball, loses the duels and is more of a hindrance in the Bochum game.
At the right moment the striker is on the spot
It was understandable that a little unease was already spreading through the stands at Castroper Straße. Nevertheless, Polter’s contribution to the home victory against SC Freiburg was extremely important. Once again. Polter is not one to give up when things are not going well for him.
At the right moment, he was actually on the spot: After some fine work by Gerrit Holtmann, he broke free and slipped the ball past Freiburg keeper Mark Flekken to make it 1:1 in the net.
In the meantime, coach Thomas Reis had also tried out a different option in the centre of attack and nominated the lively Takuma Asano as a completely different type of player as central striker. The Japanese player is certainly better placed on the wing or in a more withdrawn position. Polter, on the other hand, is also important for the Bochum team because of his height of 1.91 metres, especially with high balls.
Reis must “put players in front of their heads “
Now, however, the striker could face new competition, on a par, so to speak. Silvere Ganvoula, also 1.91 metres tall and previously left out by Reis due to a lack of diligence in training, used his short appearance against Freiburg to promote himself. He courageously threw himself into the fray, used his body and helped to keep the lead against Freiburg alive. “He did a really good job,” said Reis.
The Bochum coach now also has alternatives in other areas ahead of the away game at FC Augsburg next Saturday. This speaks, among other things, for the depth that does exist in the squad. “It looks like “, said Reis, “that I’m going to have to knock some players on the head soon.” It didn’t sound as if the Bochum coach was unhappy with that prospect.
