18th matchday
Bochum (dpa) – This is not how Florian Kohfeldt had imagined the start of the new year, but Wolfsburg’s coach is not afraid for his job.
“I am absolutely sure that I will still be the coach against Hertha BSC and that we will get out of the situation. We mustn’t whine and complain,” said the 39-year-old after the 0-1 (0-1) at VfL Bochum. After the sixth Bundesliga defeat in a row, Wolfsburg is only two points away from relegation rank 16 and has set a negative club record.
“That was a game where we didn’t bring what we expected, what we hoped for,” said Kohfeldt after the sixth Bundesliga bankruptcy in a row. But the coach doesn’t want to change much: “We will continue with the plan that we developed over the winter.”
His striker Wout Weghorst, on the other hand, was at a loss and kept shaking his head in front of the DAZN microphone: “We absolutely have to change something quickly.” Maximilian Arnold said: “We’ll give full throttle together, then we’ll get out of there too.” VfL is only two points away from relegation rank 16. In the empty Vonovia Ruhrstadion, Bochum’s goalscorer Milos Pantovic (65th minute) caused the former Champions League participant to have a false start into the new year. In the next Bundesliga game, the table-14 expects. from Wolfsburg on Saturday the table-13. Hertha BSC.
Reis: “Still stay on the ground”
Host Bochum benefited from its home strength even without the support of the fans. Thanks to the fifth success in his own stadium, the climber climbed to eleventh place. “We still want to stay on the ground,” said coach Thomas Reis. “First and foremost, staying up is important for us,” said goal scorer Pantovic. Bochum’s captain Anthony Losilla stated: “We deserve the win.”
The team of Bochum’s soccer teacher Reis, who was U19 coach for the “Wölfen” from 2016 to 2019, convinced with a lot of running work and courageous duel management. It took Wolfsburg a long time to move forward in the game. Promising for the first time, they approached the opposing goal in the 26th minute when the slightly deflected long shot from Ridle Baku narrowly missed. However, this did not help to increase the until then modest entertainment value of the game.
Harmless attempted attacks
It was similarly dreary until the break. Both teams made too many bad passes, avoided the risk and remained alarmingly harmless in attack. Even after the restart, Bochum got off to a better start and missed the possible 1-0 with a weak header from Anthony Losilla (48th) into the arms of goalkeeper Koen Casteels. Only five minutes later the Wolfsburg approached a goal in a volley from Baku.
After all, both teams now increased the pace. That paid off quickly for the Bochumers. After a cross from Gerrit Holtmann, Milos Pantovic headed to the spot and brought the Revierclub into the lead from close range. Wolfsburg then pushed for the equalizer, but remained unsuccessful.
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