VfL Bochum will have to do without important players against RB Leipzig as well. Coach Thomas Letsch talks about the defeat against Gladbach and the goalkeeper question.

The program for VfL Bochum will not get any easier after the 5-2 defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach. With RB Leipzig coming up next Saturday and SC Freiburg the following week, the club faces two difficult games.

But: both games are taking place at the Ruhr Stadium – where VfL feels most at home and has scored the majority of its points. However, VfL will have to step up to ensure that it continues to do so in the upcoming duels and that the comfortable cushion between it and the bottom three doesn’t continue to shrink.

Coach Thomas Letsch is well aware of this. “When we’re at 100 percent, it’s hard to beat us. When we’re not, it’s hard for us to win games,” the coach emphasized. Looking back at the weak performance in Gladbach, he said, “We weren’t that good as a team, and individual players didn’t reach their level of performance either.”

In addition, Bochum was missing important players at Borussia. With captain Anthony Losilla and Patrick Osterhage, the midfield center was gone, and Letsch 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. Losilla is returning to the team after a suspension for yellow cards, but Antwi-Adjei, Osterhage and Oermann continue to suffer from muscular problems. A return this week is not foreseeable, according to Letsch, who did not want to make any forecasts. In addition, Manuel Riemann and Erhan Masovic received their fifth yellow card in Gladbach.

“It’s a weakness when important players are not 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 main question on everyone’s lips is who will take Riemann’s place in goal. Will it be Niclas Thiede, who joined from SC Verl over the summer, or the more experienced Andreas Luthe, who returned to his former club in the winter? Letsch announced that the decision will be made during the course of the week, expressing “100 percent confidence” in both candidates.