VfL Bochum will face FC Augsburg in the next Bundesliga matchday. The opponents have defensive worries.

In the next Bundesliga matchday, VfL Bochum will once again attempt to secure their first win of the season under head coach Dieter Hecking.

The fact that the game is at FC Augsburg (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.) can almost be seen as a good omen for the club from the Ruhr area. Bochum have fared well against FCA in recent matches. Since their return to the Bundesliga, they have only lost one of six games and have remained unbeaten twice in Augsburg (2:2, 1:0).

Left-back Dimitrios Giannoulis sustained a minor muscle injury in the adductor area against Bayern. He is unable to train for the time being, the FCA announced on Monday, without giving a prognosis for the game on Saturday. The Greek has started all competitive games so far and is the longest-serving player in the Fuggerstadt club.

If Giannoulis is also ruled out along with Schlotterbeck, then Augsburg’s defensive woes will be even greater. After VfL (32) and Kiel (28), Thorup’s team have conceded the most goals (23). Perhaps a chance for VfL, whose offense, however, was harmless in the 0-2 defeat to VfB Stuttgart.

“We’ve focused on compact defending in the last two games,” explained striker Philipp Hofmann afterwards. ‘Now we’ve got opponents against whom we’ll have the ball more often. We’ll have to come up with something to get our first win. If we keep working like this in training during the week, we’ll be rewarded soon.’