Werder Bremen manager Horst Steffen has admitted that he wasn’t impressed with the performance of Super Eagles striker Victor Boniface in their recent 3-0 Bundesliga defeat to SC Freiburg, Footynaija.com reports.
Boniface, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, made a good first impression on his Werder Bremen debut. He entered the fray in the final 15 minutes with Bremen 3-0 against Mochengladbach and provided an assist for the fourth goal.
On Saturday, the Nigeria international was afforded double the time against Freiburg but this time, in completely contrasting circumstances as Werder Bremen trailed by two goals.
He was unable to impact the game in any significant measure, managing only two touches inside the Freiburg penalty area and one shot in 30 minutes.
Bremen’s woes were further compounded after 18-year-old defender Karim Coulibaly put through his own net in the 75th minute to give Freiburg a 3-0 lead and put the game beyond any doubt.
Speaking after the defeat, Steffen couldn’t hide his dissatisfaction with his side’s overall performance. He faulted Boniface’s positioning, complaining that the Nigerian striker was “too everywhere.”
“I felt he was too ‘everywhere’. It’s fine for him to be more central,” Steffen told Transfermarkt after the game.
“It wasn’t the way I wanted it. It wasn’t just him, but a lot of players who weren’t staying in their own spaces. We have to be positionally consistent so that we can overload the attack every now and then. That’s an issue I’ll address.”
The defeat leaves Werder Bremen in 14th place with just four points from four games (1W, 1D, 2L). It doesn’t get any easier for Boniface and co as their next Bundesliga test will be against a perfect Bayern Munich on Friday, September 26.