“It just isn’t working”
The numbers behind Mathias Stokkeland and Götz Rosen on Ponferrada’s right flank are grim, and the side drop from 1.8 goals scored to 0.7 when they play together.
“It just isn’t working,” said a Ponferrada source close to the dressing room. The figures suggest the same. When Mathias Stokkeland and Götz Rosen have shared the right flank this season, Los Bercianos have played six games, won none, lost four, scored four goals and conceded ten. That is 0.7 scored and 1.7 conceded a game. Without one of them, in 17 matches, the record is nine wins, five draws and three defeats, with 31 goals scored and 12 conceded. That is 1.8 scored and 0.7 conceded. The contrast is stark.
Stokkeland, the 21-year-old Norwegian, arrived from Molde in January 2062 for £6.6m and has 92 appearances and five goals for the club. Rosen, the German, cost £54.4m from Hertha Berlin last July and has one goal in 18 games. Together they have started six times on the right side, and the team have taken two points from a possible eighteen. Their partnership has not clicked.
Ponferrada sacked manager Valdeir Pinto Morel on 14 December after a run of one point from five games. The club sit 11th in the Spanish First Division. The next match is at home to struggling Oviedo on Monday. Whether the new man keeps Stokkeland and Rosen together on the right is the first big call. The numbers say they should not be.