Left in tandem, Fortuna fly; one wheel off, the cart stalls
Six games with Juan Manuel Cobián and Aviad Biton on the left have brought three wins; four without one of them have brought none.
Three wins. Six games. That is what Fortuna Düsseldorf get when the Mexican and the Israeli line up together on the left — a record of 3-2-1, scoring 1.5 a game and conceding 1.0.
Take one of them away and the thing falls apart. Four games without one of the pair: 0-1-3. Not a single win. The goals dry up to 0.8 a game and the back door swings open to 1.5. That is the season so far in two lines, and nobody at the club needs a spreadsheet to read it.
Cobián came from Manchester City in August 2058 for £6.0m. Biton arrived on a free from Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon in July 2051 and has been grafting down that flank ever since. Two hundred and ninety-six of his 396 games for Fortuna are behind him now, and 77 goals from wide. Cobián has 190 games and six goals in the same shirt. They are not kids. They are workers, and the Ruhr respects nothing else.
"We know where the other one will be," Biton said of the partnership. "I do not have to look. That is worth more than a yard of pace."
You saw it in the Rhine derby at the start of September, when Biton struck on 74 minutes to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach again. The pair had worn Gladbach down all afternoon, and the goal came from the pressure they build.
The flip side is brutal. Split them and Fortuna look like a side waiting for something to happen. The numbers say the dependence is total. A club with a worldwide following should not live or die on one flank, and the fixture list will not always be kind.
So here is the verdict from the terraces: keep them together. When these two play, Fortuna are strong. When they do not, they are struggling. The table knows it. So does every coach in the Bundesliga.