In the relegation battle, VfL Bochum relies on its home strength and a biting will.
Of course, Thomas Letsch won’t call Leipzig, Marco Rose doesn’t need to worry that his former colleague will specifically point out to him the importance of a win (against Schalke). “That would be silly,” says Letsch. RB Leipzig, who has already qualified for the Champions League, knows very well what is in store for this and the other games. Letsch, who was born in Esslingen, once trained teams at RB Salzburg, as did Marco Rose, they know each other and appreciate each other. But call?
Maybe Thomas Letsch will go to the cinema, it worked out before, before the last home game against FC Augsburg, the coach watched the Michael Jordan film “Air – the Great Throw” on Friday before the game”, the next day VfL Bochum defeated the Swabians 3:2 – after six previous games without a win. In the same week, the professional kickers were having a barbecue together. A win on Castroper Straße against Bayer Leverkusen is needed, the home strength (23 of the 35 points come from Bochum) is the plus. The relegation battle has brought the team, club, half the Ruhr area closer together. And the old labor mentality celebrates its origins happily, with work, sweat, will everything is to be grabbed, everything in blue and white braces itself against the downgrading. Sometimes beer mugs fly.
If Thomas Letsch had come to VfL earlier and not only on the 8th matchday, the Bochum team might have been free of all worries long ago. Under the 54-year-old they got 31 points in 26 games, that’s solid and enough for the class goal in the “Letsch table”. However, the bald man had a heavy burden to shoulder: When he came, the West Germans had just one point in seven games, under Thomas Reis, who is now supposed to save Schalke. Bochum was long considered the safest relegated team ever. That’s why the likely achievement of the relegation games and given the constellation is a success
Bochum’s problems can be easily seen from the numbers: the second fewest goals (37) scored, the most conceded (72). In addition, there is an amazing roller coaster ride: successes against Dortmund (1:1), Leipzig (1:0), Frankfurt (1:1), Union (1:1), Hoffenheim (5:2), flops against Schalke (0:2 ), Stuttgart (2:3), Mainz (2:5).
Letsch, who used to work as a math teacher at a German school in Lisbon for three years and was later dismissed from Vitesse Arnheim and Erzgebirge Aue after three defeats, has apparently found a good mix of closeness and distance with his calm, communicative and analytical manner. He’s not “a buddy guy,” he says. He found the connection to the team anyway. He embodies a rare mixture, because on the one hand he is still fresh, but at the same time he has washed all the waters.
2023-05-25 12:06:00
#Hollywood #Castroper
