“The lights were out” – Terodde identifies the key to the turnaround

VfL Bochum has managed to climb out of the bottom of the table for now. Former striker Simon Terodde points to 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 visitors. In the end, however, it was a 2-2 draw. Nevertheless, the trend at Castroper Straße has been positive for weeks.

Former striker Simon Terodde identifies a clear factor behind 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 people thought they were done for. The squad was written off. I’ll be completely honest: I suspected in the summer that they would finish in the top three because I don’t think the squad is that bad. Uwe Rösler has shown what you can get out of a team if you make the right adjustments,“ says Simon Terodde on the ‘Bild’ podcast ”Stammplatz.”

In fact, since taking over Bochum on Matchday 9, Rösler has secured five wins and three draws. The only loss was a 1-2 defeat against Dynamo Dresden.

The recipe for success? “He’s given young players like Kjell Wätjen, Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, Francis Onyeka, and Mats Pannewig more responsibility. That was really, really good for the moment. Older players, like Maximilian Wittek or Philipp Hofmann, naturally carried the downward spiral into the season: they lost a lot in the Bundesliga, and then things aren’t going well in the second division. A breath of fresh air does them good,” said Terodde.

Points Table

And then there’s Uwe Rösler: “With his emotional style, he fits in very well in the Ruhr region. That’s perhaps what the club was missing to some extent at the time. Then you play a season like this and get back on track.”

Exciting: Fellow relegation side Holstein Kiel sits just one point behind VfL in 13th place. Both clubs were actually linked with promotion before the season began.

The second division’s all-time leading scorer knows this well. He has been the top scorer in the second division four times and has helped VfB Stuttgart (2017), 1. FC Köln (2019), and FC Schalke 04 (2022) each secure promotion to the Bundesliga as second division champions. While playing for VfL Bochum from 2014 to 2016, Terodde scored 47 goals and provided 12 assists in 72 games.