Coach already under a lot of pressure
What consolation does Bochum and BVB get from Schalke 04’s misery?
By Tobias Nordmann, Rhenish Donkey
September 26, 2024, 9:30 p.m
Borussia Dortmund and VfL Bochum are carrying serious disappointments into the derby. Both clubs urgently need a win to avoid major upsets. The mood at both BVB and VfL is as bleak as an uncomfortable autumn day.
If you take a quick look from a distance at the football game taking place on Friday evening in the Dortmund stadium, those involved are at risk of being accused of wasting their lives. That’s how bad the mood is in these really not nice days in the Ruhr area. Borussia Dortmund and VfL Bochum, the two duels on Friday, can still console themselves with the fact that they are doing better than FC Schalke 04. But what good is a consoling look at the misery in Gelsenkirchen if you are not doing well yourself .
Both clubs are carrying the shock of last weekend through this week. Bochum allowed newly promoted Holstein Kiel to take two points away from them and played so weakly for a long time that when they had a beer in Castroper, they asked themselves whether this team could even win a game this season. You’re probably not leaning too far out of the window when you say: It’s definitely going to happen. Will it be a small derby in BVB’s big stadium? Phew, difficult.
Although they are not currently walking through the streets in Dortmund with their chests proud and have the confidence to sweep every opponent off the pitch. Where is that supposed to come from? At VfB Stuttgart, coach Nuri Şahin’s team was so beaten up on Sunday that any claim to be a top team had to be put aside for the time being. And so this game on matchday 5 will actually be a crisis summit, under the motto: “Cramp of the systems”. Because the trouble buttons are flashing at both locations in the industrial region. Crisis is now a familiar scenario here, not just at the steel giant Thyssen-Krupp.
Sabitzer is struggling with a role, Beier doesn’t have one
Everything should get better at BVB this season. Coach Edin Terzić, who constantly had to hear that he didn’t have an assertive idea, which would be difficult to fit into the near-triumph in the Champions League, got going. His assistant coach Sahin took over and immediately sparked great anticipation. Although he asked for time, they were already much further along in the area. The transfers had raised such high hopes that people quickly forgot that something still had to be found: national player Waldemar Anton and super goalscorer Serhou Guirassy came, Germany’s Toni Kroos successor Pascal Groß and the Thomas Müller-like Maxi Beier.
That was an official announcement to the competition and our own fans. At BVB, things should really start now. But as is often the case with a rocket launch, there are problems. Either the weather isn’t playing along, which shouldn’t be an excuse for BVB, or something isn’t working. And Dortmund can absolutely claim that for themselves. Sahin looks for the error and always finds new formations and game plans. Not everyone likes that. Marcel Sabitzer, for example, doesn’t like his role on the wing. At least he’s a bit ahead of Beier: he doesn’t have any yet. Other players struggle with form or expectations, like Felix Nmecha. Everything is in flow and hanging somewhere in front of a dam, where things only continue slowly. Sometimes Jamie Gittens regulates for BVB, other times Karim Adeyemi. In good moments it looks great at BVB, but too often it looks sad.
However, Sahin tries not to badmouth things as they are seen around him. And he promises that something like what happened in Stuttgart will never happen again. System, personnel, there is a lot on the lifting platform. In fact, if it happens again soon, it will probably be very uncomfortable for the Dortmund boy. The evil spirits are already waving from the darkness with what has actually become the M-word debate: “It would be fatal if I said that the boys have a mentality problem,” said Sahin: “We do everything together. Win and lose. We’re in the same boat.” He saw a “self-critical reaction” from his team, which was important for the maturation process of his team. After four match days, that is five points behind league leaders FC Bayern, who are inviting champions Bayer Leverkusen to the dance of super talents on Saturday evening. If BVB does not want to accumulate a large gap in points early on in the race for the cup, Bochum must not be a stumbling block.
VfL Bochum shatters tender dreams
Peter Zeidler, the head coach of VfL Bochum, is already standing in the middle of the autumnal wind. The discussions have quickly shifted from the most delicate European Cup dreams to open existential fears about remaining in the first division. Shortly before the start of the season, VfL had beaten the French first division club AC Le Havre 6-0, and people in Bochum were rubbing their eyes. We hadn’t seen such a performance in ages! There was a lot of big talk and dreaming. But the reality is different at the end of September: Cup exit at the crisis club SSV Jahn Regensburg and only one point in the Bundesliga, rumbled in against Kiel (2:2).
And how similar things are at BVB and VfL. In Bochum they were also full of confidence in view of the transfers. Of course, Kevin Stöger, the oversized hero of last season, left. He had made the Düsseldorf miracle possible in the relegation when he plunged Fortuna into a deep depression after the 3-0 win in the first duel in the Ruhrstadion. As an unstoppable leader, he steered VfL back into the Bundesliga, from which it seemed to have long since left. And with Keven Schlotterbeck another mentality monster left. Both found a new home with competitors. Stöger plays in Gladbach, Schlotterbeck in Augsburg.
But VfL, he said, was reaching higher to continue working on establishing itself as a Bundesliga club for the fourth year in a row. Ibrahima Sissoko and Dani de Wit arrived, both established forces from their leagues in France and the Netherlands. And both are definitely courted. That was a pointer that was also appreciated by our own supporters. With Myron Boadu there was also a young Dutchman who was already worth 20 million euros and played for the Dutch national team, but then suffered a serious dent in his career. He should play his way back into the limelight in the Ruhrstadion and the Bundesliga. Bochum is relying on a win-win situation, even if only in terms of sport. If he is successful, he will probably be too expensive as a loan player.
“We can actually only win”
But Bochum is currently still a long way from success, which is least due to Boadu, who has been convincing so far. Unlike Zeidler, with whom they dreamed of the “wonderful world” in Bochum, based on the successful TV format with Arnd Zeigler on WDR. Its system with a diamond – which had actually not been seen for a long time – does not yet work. Despite some good approaches, for example in the narrow defeat against RB Leipzig or at times against SC Freiburg. But de Wit, a feared attacking player in the Eredivisie, is not coming into his own in his new role. Other players are also confused about their positions and struggling with form. VfL also asked for time for the rebuilt team. But time is the most worthless currency in football. Without points she is the bitterest opponent. Is the system change coming? Or maybe a quick change of coach at some point?
“We believe in the chance to do something in Dortmund,” said Zeidler in preparation for the little derby: “We can actually only win.” A big derby moment like the one in April 2022 would come at just the right time when VfL won 4-3 in Dortmund! It would be his first win as a Bundesliga coach. And at the same time someone who would push BVB into turbulent days. Sahin counters with phrases: “We all have a duty and hopefully we have learned our lessons. We have to get the three points.” 80,000 will be in the stadium, 8,000 fans from Bochum. Friday evening, floodlights, a derby is a derby, even if the mood beforehand is as sad and dreary as a bike ride in the soaking rain along the Rhenish Esel, over the ridges of the Ardey Mountains that separate Bochum from Dortmund.
