Uwe Rösler found several reasons for his first defeat as coach of VfL Bochum. The 1-2 loss to Dynamo Dresden will also be a learning experience for him.
On Friday evening, Uwe Rösler suffered his first defeat as coach of VfL Bochum. The final score against Dynamo Dresden, second from bottom in the 2nd Bundesliga, was 1-2. And that was avoidable for several reasons. The 57-year-old was still satisfied with the start. “The first 10, 15 minutes were good. We wanted to keep up the tempo, take quick throw-ins and use the momentum. Some of our corners were good. With a little more luck, we could have taken the lead,” he said. But then came an inexplicable half hour in which VfL completely sank into passivity and acted far too slowly and sleepily on both the 0-1 and 0-2 goals. “After that, we had 30 bad minutes,” admitted Rösler, adding: “We couldn’t build up any pressure and weren’t good collectively in our attacking play.”
Bochum also presented a completely different face after the break. “It was difficult for me to take the young players off. But I think it helped,” said the coach about his substitutions at half-time. U20 internationals Kjell Wätjen and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht were taken off, with Koji Miyoshi and Philipp Hofmann coming on. The former set up Cajetan Lenz for the 1-2 goal with his cross, while the latter provided more presence in the box and won a penalty, which Francis Onyeka missed.
“In the second half, we were really pushing hard and were close to equalizing,” explained Rösler. And yet: “We had 23 shots, three of which were on target. Dresden had 11 shots, four or five of which were on target.” We lacked efficiency. “We should have tested Dresden’s goalkeeper even more.”
But one point in particular seemed to bother Rösler: “For me, this game is a lesson that I can’t always expect everything when half the team is away for almost two weeks,” the coach complained.
He was referring in particular to junior national players Wätjen, Alfa-Ruprecht, Onyeka, and Lenz. Rösler was self-critical: “Maybe I should have made changes from the start. I’m not blaming the team; we played a very good second half.”