VfL Bochum will also be without key players against RB Leipzig. Coach Thomas Letsch on the defeat against Gladbach and the goalkeeper question.

VfL Bochum’s program won’t get any easier after the 5-2 defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach. With RB Leipzig next Saturday and SC Freiburg the following week, the club faces two difficult games.

However, both games will take place at the Ruhrstadion – where VfL feel most at home and have picked up the majority of their points. However, VfL will have to improve if they are to do the same in the upcoming duels and prevent their comfortable cushion to the bottom three from shrinking any further.

Coach Thomas Letsch knows that too. “If we’re at 100 percent, it’s difficult to win against us. If not, it’s difficult for us to win games,” emphasized the coach. Looking back on the poor performance in Gladbach, he said: “We weren’t that good as a team and individual players didn’t reach their performance level either.”

Bochum were also missing important players at Borussia. Captain Anthony Losilla and Patrick Osterhage were missing from the center of midfield, while Letsch also had to do without Christopher Antwi-Adjei and Tim Oermann.

VfL Bochum: Thiede or Luthe in goal?

The personnel situation will not improve against Champions League contenders Leipzig. Although Losilla is back in the team after a yellow card suspension, Antwi-Adjei, Osterhage and Oermann are still suffering from muscular problems. A return this week is not foreseeable, according to Letsch, who did not want to make any predictions. Manuel Riemann and Erhan Masovic also picked up a fifth yellow card in Gladbach.

“It’s weakening when important players aren’t on the pitch,” said Letsch, who also explained: “Nevertheless, we have enough options that we will test this week. Many players play a role in our considerations for the starting eleven.”

The most eagerly awaited question is who will take Riemann’s place in goal. Will it be Niclas Thiede, who signed from SC Verl in the summer, or the experienced Andreas Luthe, who returned to his former club in the winter? The decision will be made in the course of the week, announced Letsch, who expressed “100 percent confidence” in both candidates