VfL Bochum has three games in eight days ahead of it. But first, the only thing that matters is the basement battle in Fürth, says the VfL coach ahead of the game.

VfL Bochum has a busy week ahead and must manage the balancing act of climbing out of the basement in the league and holding its own against VfB Stuttgart in the DFB Cup.

First up is perhaps the most important game of the coming days. On Saturday (1 p.m.), coach Uwe Rösler’s team travels to SpVgg Greuther Fürth – 1,570 Bochum fans are making the trip south. Tickets are still available for the visitors’ section. The fifteenth-placed team welcomes the fourteenth-placed team. After the home defeat against Dynamo Dresden, this is a chance to make a statement at the bottom of the table.

Next up is the DFB Cup on Wednesday against VfB Stuttgart, before Arminia Bielefeld travels to Bochum three days later. But first, it’s all about Fürth, where Rösler will have to do without Matus Bero (who is expected to return to training next week), Ibrahim Sissoko, and Kevin Vogt. Leandro Morgalla returns to the squad after his yellow card suspension—and will likely be in the starting lineup.

Ahead of the 90 minutes in Fürth, Rösler emphasizes: “The first game of the three is the most important. We have to put a quick-witted team on the field to win. There are no harder or easier tasks in the league. Every game is 50:50.“

The coach left it completely open as to whether and how he will rotate the squad afterwards. ”I’m not thinking about Bielefeld yet. I have an idea of what we can do against Stuttgart. First, we have to get through the game in Fürth. We have more depth, but not all players are at their top level yet. Not all players are ready to play three games in eight days.“

Unlike in Dresden, there may be changes to the starting eleven in Fürth. But one thing is important to Rösler: ”We have competition. If we make changes, it’s not because players have disappointed me or are out of form. We try to put the most powerful team on the field.“

Koji Miyoshi could be one of those players, and the coach praised him: ”I think his development is very good. He has gotten better from week to week. You can see his quality on the ball, he gives us several options—as a number 10, in the half-spaces, on the wings. He’s an intelligent player—even against the ball. Good positioning, good positioning, good pressing—I like him and he’ll definitely get playing time.”