VfL Bochum has climbed out of the bottom of the table for the moment. Former striker Simon Terodde identifies a clear reason for this.

The recent 2-2 draw against Karlsruher SC was actually not enough for VfL Bochum. VfL had too many chances to win against the struggling spa town team. In the end, however, the score was 2-2. Nevertheless, the trend at Castroper Straße has been positive for weeks.

Former striker Simon Terodde identifies one clear factor in the upward trend. “Uwe Rösler… VfL Bochum had three points after the first eight games (under former coach Dieter Hecking, ed.). The lights were out and everyone thought they would be relegated. The squad was written off. I’ll be completely honest: in the summer, I thought they would finish in the top three because I don’t think the squad is that bad. Uwe Rösler has shown what you can achieve when you make the right adjustments,“ says Simon Terodde in the ‘Bild’ podcast ”Stammplatz.” In fact, since taking over Bochum on the ninth match day, Rösler has achieved five wins and three draws. The only defeat was a 1-2 loss to Dynamo Dresden. The recipe for success? “He has given young players such as Kjell Wätjen, Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, Francis Onyeka, and Mats Pannewig responsibility. That was the right thing to do at the time, really good. Older players, such as Maximilian Wittek and Philipp Hofmann, naturally carried the negative spiral into the season: they lost a lot in the Bundesliga, then things didn’t go well in the second division. A breath of fresh air is good,” said Terodde.

And then there’s Uwe Rösler: “With his emotional nature, he fits in very well in the Ruhr area. That’s perhaps what the club was missing at the time. Then you play a round like that and you’ve caught up.”

Exciting: Fellow relegated team Holstein Kiel is just one point behind VfL in 13th place. Both clubs were actually linked with promotion before the season.

The second division’s record goalscorer knows all about that. He has been the top scorer in the lower division four times and has helped VfB Stuttgart (2017), 1. FC Köln (2019), and FC Schalke 04 (2022) win the second division and gain promotion to the Bundesliga. Terodde scored 47 goals and provided 12 assists in 72 games for VfL Bochum between 2014 and 2016.