VfL Bochum travel to VfB Stuttgart for the basement duel on Saturday. After the change of coach at VfB with some question marks.
The sun is shining again on VfL Bochum. After the 3:0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, faith in their own strength has returned. And just in time for the basement duel with VfB Stuttgart.
The penultimate team, which parted company with coach Pellegrino Matarazzo on Tuesday, will meet the last team on Saturday (15:30). With a win at VfB, VfL could pass the red lantern to the Swabians.
Already at the beginning of the week, it was noticeable at Castroper Straße that the mood had turned around, as VfL coach Thomas Letsch also confirmed: “After the bad game in Leipzig and the defeat, the mood was anything but good, now it is more relaxed. We won, we sent a sign of life, the sun is shining. Things just start differently. “
VfL Bochum: Letsch praises the substitutes
The collective was right again for Bochum. The first eleven, as well as the substitutes, which Letsch also emphasised: “Konstantinos Stafylidis came onto the pitch and was immediately present, and the three offensive players all brought in new energy. That is important. Simon Zoller, for example, wore himself out for the team, when he was tired a new player came on and continued the job.”
And on the offensive, the replacement for Kevin Stöger, who was ill with Corona, whirled. Philipp Förster scored once himself and set up two goals. Whether both could be on the pitch at the same time was something Letsch didn’t want to think through so early in the week, because: “Kevin Stöger wasn’t on the pitch until Tuesday. It is too early to think about which combination could be on the pitch. The important thing is that we have alternatives and several players who deserve to play. That’s always better than a team lining up on its own.”
Looking ahead to their upcoming opponents, there are several question marks for Bochum due to the change of coach during the week, and Letsch could almost have done without the trip to Stuttgart’s 0-1 loss to Union Berlin.
The coach knows that it will now be more difficult to adjust to the opponent: “It has an influence in that the impressions are no longer quite as interesting. We will still look at the last games. The exciting question is who will be coach. Will there be clarity about a structure, has the new coach preferred this or that system in the past? The consequence of that is definitely that we focus even more on us.” cb / gp
