VfL Bochum celebrated three home wins in a row in the Bundesliga. The belief in staying in the class is back in full force.

The coach’s heart went out to Gladbach on Tuesday, but it was not only Thomas Letsch who was thrilled by VfL Bochum’s 2-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach in the German Football League.

The stadium once again stood behind the team like the twelfth man, which also enabled some players to hold out despite their aches and pains. The coach emphasised: “Many players went over the point in the end. When you see Ivan Ordets with his last header, that was almost slapstick. A mixture of cramp and clearing the ball. Cristian Gamboa had already hinted at the break that he was in trouble and it could be tight. But they fought through it. And that shows the character of this team and that they firmly believe they can stay in the league.”

Centre-back Vasilios Lampropoulos also received extra praise from his coach: “We set out to be brave going into the game. When Gladbach have space, they have a force and are brutally strong. When I then see how Vasilios Lampropoulos defends against players like Marcus Thuram, that was great class. “

Letsch’s conclusion: “If we perform like this, it will be difficult for any team to be successful here. We won all three home games against very strong opponents. It can go on like this, the next home game is against Hertha BSC and that has a special explosiveness because of the table constellation.”

After all, Hertha are also fighting to stay in the league, but there is still a lot of time before this match in January 2023. Before that, there is the game at FC Augsburg on Saturday (3:30 p.m.), followed by a long winter break due to the World Cup in Qatar, which is convenient for Letsch because injured players are coming back and he can meticulously pass on his ideas to the team during the preparation.

So far he is satisfied with the development, and before the match at FCA he says: “Anyone who saw the game against Gladbach can see that we have already made a lot of progress. If we look at the eight matches we have played, we have won half of them (the cup match against SV Elversberg is also one of the eight matches, editor’s note). That’s top for VfL Bochum if you win 50 percent of the games. The games in Stuttgart and at BVB were also decent, plus there were two bad games.”

Especially away from home, VfL must improve in the future; so far, all seven away games have been lost. Letsch: “We have to be consistent, so that there are less bad games and we have to reward ourselves for good away performances. But I think we are on the right track. The crucial thing is that the team is totally willing and open. “

This stadium and the power that is in here, that is unique.

Thomas Letsch

And it manages – especially at home – to make the spark fly. As a result, the Ruhrstadion is always a real witches’ cauldron, which Letsch raves about: “This stadium and the force that’s in here, that’s unique. There are a few great stadiums in Germany, but there’s just something about this one in Bochum. I don’t think any team likes to come here. You can talk as much as you want, you have to feel it. When you then get the intensity on the pitch as a team, plus you’ve got these crazy people – and I mean that exclusively in a positive way – who whip the team forward, that’s something really special.”