VfL Bochum won 2-0 at 1. FC Köln, showing exactly the reaction to recent weeks that coach Thomas Letsch wanted to see.

Finally another away win, finally another zero. It was a thoroughly successful Friday evening for VfL Bochum. Coach Thomas Letsch saw the face that his team needs to show in the relegation battle in the Bundesliga in a 2-0 win against 1. FC Köln.

“The decisive factor that we won the game was the way everyone sacrificed themselves.” He said his players delivered a cohesive and, above all, passionate performance. “We threw ourselves into many balls and had fun defending our goal.”

This was exactly the reaction the 54-year-old had wanted to see after the painful derby defeat and a total of four defeats in a row. “I hope everyone who thought there was no fight last week saw that we are alive. We are ready for the relegation battle and far from giving up.”

Emblematic of this was goalkeeper Manuel Riemann, who has taken a lot of criticism for his performance in recent weeks. “There was a lot written, a lot discussed and then to put in a performance like that, that deserves absolute respect.” For the first time since the away win in Augsburg on matchday 15, the nil was kept at the back. “‘Manu’ played a class game and I take my hat off to that. “

Squad place free, finger pointing at substitutes

Before the game, Letsch had surprised by leaving a squad spot vacant. Silvere Ganvoula, Vaseilios Lampropoulos, Jordi Osei-Tutu and Jacek Goralski remained in Bochum. “You have to earn your way into the squad and I was not happy with the performance of these players.” A hint from the coach that he will not shy away from tough measures in the relegation battle. “We have to take responsibility, we need guys on the pitch and I saw that.”

With the win, Bochum climbed to 14th place, at least overnight, but for Letsch it’s just a nice snapshot. “These five teams that are in the bottom, that’s where we want to be in the top two. That’s our goal, it was an important step – nothing more, nothing less. “