The immediate return to the Bundesliga is the goal of VfL Bochum. After the crashing opening bankruptcy in Darmstadt, however, there is only helplessness at VfL.
Kevin Vogt was served: “It was a real shit start. You just have to say that. We conceded much too simple goals,” said VfL Bochum’s newly obliged defense chief after the 1: 4 defeat of VfL at SV Darmstadt 98.
“I would like to apologize to the fans for this accident,” coach Dieter Hecking said right after relegation from the Bundesliga and promised the supporters: “We will do everything we can to repair this accident.”
Direct return as a season goal
The direct return is the goal of VfL, everyone knows that. Especially since the squad was significantly upgraded. A handful of talented players were loaned by larger clubs, with Vogt the key player seems to have found. The 33-year-old can be described as a royal transfer with the experience of 353 Bundesliga games. It is an obligation to add the “leadership quality” element to the talented squad.
So everything should fit. However, the start in Hesse went wrong. VfL was not at eye level in the crucial duels. And the boulevard already headed: “Can VfL Bochum no longer 2nd league?”
“Arrived tough on the floor”
“We have arrived on the ground of the facts,” said goalkeeper Timo Horn after the 1: 4. The Bochumers are in the penultimate place after the bitter defeat. In Darmstadt, VfL showed weak performance, especially in defense, coach Dieter Hecking became clear. “We can find the cause quickly: our defensive behavior was not good,” said the coach.
The Bochumer showed weaknesses in the standards, but also could not close the midfield when the ball has been possessed to the opposite. Darmstadt playmaker Fraser Hornby was always playable in the center, could turn up and create dangerous scenes.
Isac Lindberg – not to be kept
The Hecking protégés Darmstadt’s top striker Isac Lindberg, who scored three times, did not get under control. There are rumors that the “lilies” cannot keep the Swedes in the face of their class – but this view will not help the VfL anymore.
“Too many simple mistakes”
In order to survive in the league, the team has to “do many things better,” said Horn. Vogt, who had returned to Bochum after 13 years from Union Berlin, saw “too many simple mistakes that we have to park”. However, Vogt is still “too fast to badly talk to everything after the first game”. On the second day of the game, VfL meets SV Elversberg, which started the new season with a 1-0 win against 1. FC Nürnberg.
Our sources:
- News agencies SID and dpa
- VfL Bochum website
- Online portal “Reviersport”
