VfL Bochum has established a good starting position for the relegation battle in the Bundesliga. However, two players have been left out of the fight lately.
Final spurt in the relegation battle for VfL Bochum. With six games left in the Bundesliga, the goal is to stay in the relegation zone. Coach Thomas Letsch never tires of emphasizing that every player is needed for this – even in unfamiliar roles, as two leading players are currently experiencing.
“We have the fortunate situation that we have all players on board.” Only Keven Schlotterbeck is out for the time being. “That means in reverse that 23 field players and four goalkeepers are available. And as a rule, we can only play with eleven.”
You don’t have to be a math teacher to make that calculation. But the fact that Letsch used to be one doesn’t hurt. “That means more than half aren’t playing and, of course, aren’t happy with the situation.” A dissatisfaction that is completely normal and somewhere also a basic requirement for a professional footballer, he said.
“In the end, it’s all about staying in the Bundesliga with VfL Bochum. We simply have to put the individual fates to the back of our minds now and everyone has to do everything they can to make it as a team.” Individual fates like those of Gerrit Holtmann and Simon Zoller.
“Of course he can’t be satisfied with that”
“Of course, these are two players who have the claim to play from the start.” Both were set for the most part in the Hinserie, then fell out injured and recently did not find their way back into the starting eleven. “Gerrit probably played the best season of his career last year. This year it is an up and down, sometimes he plays from the start, sometimes from the bench. Of course he can’t be happy with that, I understand that too.”
The situation with Zoller is similar, he said. “Simon was injured, is now fit again and wants to help the team.” However, VfL meanwhile also knew how to help itself in the meantime. “Takuma Asano and Christopher Antwi-Adjei are currently doing very well.”
The duo has played a significant role in Bochum’s interim upswing, relegating Holtmann and Zoller from the wing positions to the bench. “That this is not the claim is clear.” However, Letsch again emphasized, “Someone who only comes on the pitch for two minutes in a game at the end and wins a duel there is just as important to me.”
So Holtmann and Zoller currently have no choice but to continue to offer themselves in training and accept the joker role. “The player often feels differently there, but we think something about it and that the player is not always happy about it, that’s normal.” The main thing, he said, is that everyone in Bochum is happy at the end of the season – when they can celebrate staying in the league.