VfL Bochum continues to tread water in the 2nd Bundesliga. In addition to the familiar reasons, new ones were added against 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
Another slight improvement in performance, but again no points. VfL Bochum lost for the sixth time in a row in the 2nd Bundesliga at 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
Maximilian Wittek found it difficult to sum up the game, as he admitted after the match. “I don’t know if it does us much good. It feels like we say the same thing every week after a game. That’s why it’s probably better to just say less. It doesn’t help if I say the same things for the second or third time in a row. We might as well just copy and paste last week’s comments.”
What did he mean? Simple mistakes leading to goals conceded, too little determination in attack. And another narrow defeat – the third in a row by just one goal. What was perhaps different this time was the pitch, which was quite deep and bumpy after continuous rain. “I was wearing big spikes, the biggest I had, and I still slipped,” said Gerrit Holtmann, adding: “I’m sure I’ll hear something from the fans now, but it wasn’t because of stability, it was because there were a few corners where you slipped.”
Lack of grip, heavy pitch? Wittek refuses to accept that
His coach, David Siebers, also saw slips on both sides, “but perhaps in decisive situations for us.”
Wittek refused to accept that. “It’s a fact that it wasn’t easy on the pitch, you could see that. You have to wear the right footwear, the opponents have the same pitch, even if they’re a little more used to it. But that can’t be an excuse. We just have to question ourselves, maybe use the international break and clearly define for ourselves what we actually want.”
Much more crucial than the pitch is the question of why VfL Bochum completely collapsed after a decent hour in a difficult away game.
We make mistakes on the goals that simply shouldn’t happen. On the second, we let them counter with a deep ball, on the third it’s a misplaced pass that leads to the counter. That shouldn’t happen.
Maximilian Wittek
Wittek also thought that it wasn’t “a bad away game” up to that point. “Difficult. We gave Kaiserslautern too many set pieces. That allowed them to play dangerous balls. Of course, that gives them more confidence, the crowd gets behind them, and then the whole thing takes its course.”
Because the opponent is also part of the analysis of this game, and they were simply more physical on the day. Especially in the air. “When you know what their record is at home and how much pressure they can generate, especially in the second half, they had the clearer chances,” Holtmann admitted, emphasizing: “The corners were outstanding. Ivan Prtajin – it’s unbelievable how high he can jump. Even the left-back jumps so high, it’s unbelievable. That’s quality.”
VfL Bochum had Timo Horn to thank for the fact that the score was 1-1 until the 79th minute. Prtajin and Co. had several excellent chances before that. Then Prtajin scored his seventh goal of the season to make it 2-1, and disaster struck.
“We make mistakes on the goals that simply shouldn’t happen. On the second, we let them counter with a deep ball, and on the third, it’s a misplaced pass that leads to the counterattack. That can’t happen,” said Wittek, adding: “We have to address this head-on and be hard on ourselves.”
