By Sebastian Karkos
If not now then when? That’s what coach Urs Fischer (56) thought and released his professionals on Monday! Finally! recreation, not football. A feeling that the players of the leader did not know for a month. On September 23rd it was said: free!
A month of continuous service, starting October 1, seven games in 23 days – certainly one reason for Sunday’s defeat at bottom of the table Bochum (1-2).
Captain Christopher Trimmel (35): “It was to be expected weeks ago that at some point there would be a game in which we would simply be empty, where little would work.” And in Bochum, little would work. But that was also due to the strong opponents, whom Union had nothing to oppose for a long time.
Coach Urs Fischer suffered his second defeat of the season in the league on Sunday Photo: picture alliance/dpa
Bochum’s 2-0 goalscorer Gerrit Holtmann (27): “They felt like they had English weeks forever. You noticed that in the unions.”
Union midfielder Rani Khedira (27) disagrees: “Of course it leaves its mark if you play the seventh game in a row every three days. It takes a toll on you, but it shouldn’t be an excuse or an alibi.”
Right! Finally, compared to Wednesday’s cup win against Heidenheim (2-0), Fischer rotated to six positions. And Khedira, Trimmel and Paul Jaeckel (24), Jordan Siebatcheu (27) and Frederik Rönnow (30) were not used against the second division team.
At least the pros were able to switch off a bit on Monday. A few hours change from the program of the past few weeks. Trimmel summarizes the routine as follows: “Training, video, regeneration, soccer, soccer, soccer. But that’s part of the game.” Preparation for the game against Braga begins on Tuesday…