FC St. Pauli

Irrepressible Sobota

There was no way past Waldemar Sobota for Ewald Lienen last season. The attacking wide man missed just three league games and was the club's most used player, racking up 2,582 minutes of playing time altogether. Second and third were Lasse Sobiech on 2,518 minutes and Bernd Nehrig with 2,477.

Waldemar Sobota made 31 of a possible 34 league appearances. He featured in the starting lineup every time, scoring one goal and providing six assists.

Sharpshooter Bouhaddouz

The only player to register more attempts on goal than Aziz Bouhaddouz last term was second division leading scorer Simon Terodde (69 shots) of champions VfB Stuttgart. Bouhaddouz set sights on the opposition goal a total of 67 times, finding the back of the net on 15 occasions. Only Terodde (25), Hannover's Martin Harnik (17) and Dresden's Stefan Kutschke (16) scored more often.

Aziz Bouhaddouz logged 67 attempts on goal last season, netting 15 times. The 30-year-old striker scored an uninterrupted second-half hat-trick in the 5-0 home win over Karlsruhe on 27 February.

Nehrig – king of the interceptions

Bernd Nehrig missed just three games last season. In his fourth year at the Millerntor the 30-year-old impressed not only with good tackling stats but also with outstanding positional play. The holding midfield logged a total of 108 interceptions for an average of 4.4 per game, the highest in the league. Hannover's Waldemar Anton (4.18) and Aue's Julian Riedel (4.09) followed in second and third place respectively.

Bernd Nehrig made 31 appearances during the 2016/17 season and finished as the leading interceptor in Bundesliga 2.

Ball-winner Sahin

The name of the game when losing possession is to engage reverse gear and try to halt the opposition's attack. The best way to do that is to win the regain possession straightaway, and in 2016/17 no one in the league was better at that than Cenk Sahin. The attacking wing man won the ball back 150 times in total – an average of 7.96 possession regains per game. Coming in behind Sahin were Hannover's Manuel Schmiedebach (7.07) and Braunschweig's Mirko Boland (6.87). Jeremy Dudziak regained possession an average of 6.61 times per game to come in sixth.

As here against Düsseldorf's Julian Schauerte, Cenk Sahin was quick into the tackle and able to win back many crucial balls.

Strong-tackling Sobiech

As in the previous campaign, Lasse Sobiech was the club's leading tackler. The 26-year-old centre-back won 63.3 per cent of his tackles to finish eleventh in the league in this category. Sobiech came out on top in 73.9 of his aerial challenges, a stat bettered only by Hannover's Salif Sané (74.1 per cent). Philipp Ziereis (60.5 per cent), Daniel Buballa (56.8 per cent), Christopher Buchtmann (54.8 per cent) and Bernd Nehrig (54.6 per cent) claimed second to fifth place in the club's internal rankings.

Lasse Sobiech was again very dependable in the challenge – especially in the air, as seen here against Fürth's Serdar Dursun.

Dribble wizard Dudziak

Last season Jeremy Dudziak really came into his own after the winter break. The 21-year-old full-back pushed forward at every opportunity, often attempting to dribble in the process. Dudziak embarked on a total of 34 dribbles, of which 19 were successful, which equates to a success rate of 55.9 per cent. Würzburg's Patrick Weihrauch was the only player to do better: 27 of his 45 dribbles (60 per cent) were successful. Waldemar Sobota attempted 108 dribbles across the season, 48 of which (44.4 per cent) were successful. That stat puts Sobota in 25^th place in the league rankings.

The technically gifted Jeremy Dudziak leaves Sandhausen's Leart Paqarada trailing in his wake.

Møller Dæhli keeps on running

Mats Møller Dæhli, who moved to the Millerntor on loan from SC Freiburg during the winter break, covered an average distance of 11.74 kilometres per game to make him the club's most mobile player. Defensive midfielder Christopher Buchtmann was also full of running, covering an average distance of 11.61 kilometres. Buchtmann repeatedly joined in the attack as well and was rewarded with six goals. Third place went to Kyoungrok Choi, who clocked an average of 11.4 kilometres per game.

After joining the club on loan from SC Freiburg midfielder Mats Møller Dæhli made 13 appearances in the second half of the season, providing ample evidence not only of his footballing skills but also his running ability.

Photos: Witters