The VfL Bochum training ground is bursting at the seams. Before the Frankfurt game, VfL has hardly any absences to complain about.

On Saturday (February 10, 3:30 p.m.), VfL Bochum will face Eintracht Frankfurt. Despite the late equalizer against FC Augsburg, the mood among the team of coach Thomas Letsch should be better than at Eintracht, which, although it is in sixth place, has not yet been able to convince in 2024.

Patrick Osterhage does not yet see the opposition at the top level of the Bundesliga, but he still warns of Eintracht, who recently lost 2-0 at 1. FC Köln and also lost Niels Nkounkou and Tuta with yellow-red for the VfL game. “This is a team with a lot of quality, they just don’t always play consistently. There are always games like the one in Cologne where they couldn’t win with their strength. Eintracht aren’t a top team yet, even if their quality is very high. We need to put in a great performance to get anything out of this game.”

And Letsch doesn’t believe that Eintracht are down: “I’m not really interested in what’s happening at other clubs. Frankfurt strengthened their squad a lot in the winter. The players from the Africa Cup are back too, so we’re in for some real quality. It’ll be a nice challenge and we’re looking forward to it. We’ve always looked good against Frankfurt.”

And so VfL finally wants to be rewarded for an away performance, after they were able to play well for a long time in Leverkusen and also played on an equal footing with BVB – despite the defeat. Letsch: “When you play on an equal footing with BVB, it’s crucial scenes in which the game tips in one direction or the other. We didn’t manage to turn the game in our favor with one scene. We have to work on that.”

The big hitting and stabbing continues.

Thomas Letsch

And for this, the coach has almost all players available again, with Takuma Asano also back in Bochum. 28 players were in training. Letsch: “The big fight and stab continues.” Even Asano doesn’t have a free pass, as the coach reported: “He always played from the start until the Asian Cup. There is a good chance that he will return to the squad when he is fit. I haven’t seen any injured outfield players yet. There will be hardship cases, but I prefer it that way to letting the team line itself up.”

Especially since there will certainly be absences in the coming weeks, because five players – Christopher Antwi-Adjei, Matus Bero, Anthony Losilla, Erhan Masovic and Manuel Riemann – have four yellow cards each. But Letsch is not taking them into consideration: “That’s a tricky subject. We have five players who have been booked. Why should we go easy on one of them? I don’t actually do that. We will not take that into consideration in Frankfurt.”

The depth of the squad is also so large because the young talents are putting pressure on them. Recently, a trio made the leap – Tim Oermann, Patrick Osterhage and Moritz Broschinski all got a few minutes of game time. Letsch: ”It’s also about introducing young players. We currently have three talented players who are doing quite well. The criterion is never old or young. But it’s nice to see how the boys are developing.”