VfL Bochum are in third-last place in the U19 Bundesliga West at the winter break. Coach Heiko Butscher knows where the problems lie.

In the U19 Bundesliga West, VfL Bochum have so far fallen well short of their own potential and are only in twelfth place out of 14 at the winter break. Although relegation has been ruled out by the upcoming reform, their aspirations are different.

In the Forecasting interview, coach Heiko Butscher explains why it was a good thing that his team went down 5-1 to newly promoted Alemannia Aachen at the end of the year and what needs to change in the new year.

Heiko Butscher on…

… the first half of the season: “Of course we’re all disappointed with how the first half of the year went. We don’t need to dwell on that. The position in the table is not what we expected. The performances have simply not been consistent enough, which is why we are where we are. But it’s also a snapshot that prompts us to analyze it very critically so that we can do a lot better in the second half of the season. I believe that we have found the lever and know what the problem is. We simply don’t have the right attitude or emotionality to be successful. These are basics that you hope are always there, but they’re not so pronounced this year. That’s costing us a lot of points and of course that’s what’s really annoying us

.. the best moments of the season so far : There are a few things that make me feel positive. I know that the team has a certain quality. If the mentality and attitude are right, then this team can deliver good performances. But they have done that far too rarely. I’m thinking of the Schalke game, which we turned around to win 2:1. We were also good at Viktoria Köln (3:2, editor’s note) and in the 1:1 in Duisburg, we gave everything we had on the pitch for 70 or 80 minutes. But that’s only three games out of 14 and that’s not enough.

… the worst moment: That was the 1:5 against Aachen in the last game. I have all due respect for Aachen because they simply have a very good squad with a top attitude. But that 1:5 was formative and opened our eyes as a coaching team and hopefully the players as well. Even if it sounds stupid, we were almost a bit happy that it really hit us again. The manner in which it happened was simply not right. The performance really triggered a lot here once again

… the goals for 2024: Our aim is to even out our win-loss record. We’ve only won four times and lost nine, which is pretty tough. It would simply be important to me that we play a very focused and good preparation, because we start right away against Leverkusen and then have Schalke at home. Those are direct games, they won’t be easy. But the league shows that with a top attitude and good preparation, you can also win against the big teams. We want to deliver consistent performances, communicate a lot, remain critical and increase the pace of learning.