Joel Pohjanpalo’s successful season shows a transition from the years of uncertainty in Leverkusen to the years of certainty in Venice, writes HS sports reporter Ari Virtanen
Four goals in one match is a rare day’s work for any top striker. Forward of the Finnish national football team Joel Pohjanpalo28, is having the best season of his career, and is in such a mood that goals can come in droves on a good day.
Pohjanpalo managed to score four goals in the Serie B home match against Modena on May Day and at the same time moved to share the first place in the Serie B goal exchange.
Pohjanpalo has scored 17 goals and provided six assists in 34 matches this season.
Bottom fire has always been a talented striker and has been able to score goals in different environments and in good leagues such as the Bundesliga and second Bundesliga.
The success of Pohjanpalo this season is influenced by his experience, the transition of his career to the prime years of a footballer, the trust he received from the club and the relaxation brought by trust and self-confidence.
According to several studies, the peak years of soccer players’ careers fall between the ages of 25 and 27. Pohjanpalo turned 28 last year.
Last season in the Turkish league, he played more league games (2112 minutes) than ever before in his career and scored more league goals (16) than ever before in one season.
The same development has continued this season. Now he has played 2660 minutes in Serie B. The number of minutes Pohjanpalo has played and the number of goals above all tells how strong his position is in Venezia.
Pohjanpalo was a Bayer Leverkusen player for almost nine years. First a loan player and then a contract player that Leverkusen loaned around Germany and later to Turkey. At Leverkusen, he never got the responsibility he expected.
Venezia bought Pohjanpalo from Leverkusen for a couple of million euros and signed a multi-year contract. Venezia trusted Pohjanpalo and showed their commitment to the player by giving them a lot of playing time.
Confidence the importance is talked about a lot in the case of athletes. However, according to a meta-analysis published a couple of years ago, the relationship between self-confidence and performance is small. After all, does self-confidence play a crucial role in, for example, Pohjanpalo’s success this season? Would the relaxation brought by security and trust be more important?
One indication of the relaxation is the fact that Pohjanpalo has already made Venezia fans laugh twice after the match by getting a mug of beer from the corner kiosk of the stadium after the match. The first time the abduction attracted a lot of attention in Italy. On May Day, it was already familiar to supporters and the media.
A beer drinking on the sidelines is a kind of prank. Pohjanpalo has always had showman antics, but now he also seems to know how to laugh at himself. Leverkusen goalkeeper with similar means Lukas Hradecky has made supporters in Germany laugh.
Pohjanpalo has been able to pull the right strings in Venice and has become a player loved by the fans. He is the first club player in decades to live on the island of Venice, and that fact is also appreciated by the supporters.
Pohjanpalo’s successful season shows a transition from the years of uncertainty in Leverkusen to the years of certainty in Venice.
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