Having dismissed head coach Peter Zeidler following a run of just one point in seven games, VfL Bochum left interim head coach Markus Feldhoff with an unforgiving assignment: encouraging a group of demoralized players and getting them ready to face Bayern Munich — within a week.
In light of the circumstances, the friendly relationship between the two clubs was never going to save Die Blauen. The subsequent 0-5 loss to the Bavarian giants was therefore not unexpected, but the performance allowed for some positivity. Feldhoff weighed in after the match and tried to pick out the positives.
“We showed great resistance in the first half and had that huge chance to go ahead. That would’ve given us a huge boost,” Feldhoff said in remarks captured by FCBayern.com. “What we can’t allow to happen is that we concede two goals from set pieces. We defended well in open play. We know you can end up losing 5-0 to Bayern. They have huge quality.”
Defender Maximilian Wittek echoed the same thoughts, including the emphasis on the one golden chance Bochum created: “We had a decent game today, especially in the first half, and made things tough for Bayern. We then went behind through two set pieces. We’d had a huge chance before that, could’ve even gone ahead, and the game would’ve looked different. In the end, Bayern showed their quality. The three goals in the second half all went in the corners. You know what to expect when you play against Bayern. You also have to say that Bayern’s game during the week didn’t help us.”
The goal-scoring chance in question fell to forward Moritz Broschinski, who just failed to squeeze the ball past the line. But his comments revealed that the build up to this chance was far from just a case of luck:
“We came up with a clear plan during the week. My chance was exactly what we wanted. I thought the ball was in, but then Min-jae Kim came in and cleared. We fought, threw all we had. We’ll find some luck soon.”
That luck will need to come soon. Though their performance was at times brave against Bayern, they are now left with just 1 point after 8 games with a -15 goal difference and a 4 point chasm between themselves and FC Saint Pauli in the relegation playoff. Bayern will certainly hope that their friends will find a way to pull themselves together and earn the moniker Die Unabsteigbaren (the unrelegatables) yet again this season.
Looking for more thoughts and analysis on Bayern Munich’s 5-0 dismantling of VfL Bochum, plus some talk about why Max Eberl could be on his way to losing the fan base? Great, then we have you covered with our combination Bavarian Podcast Works Postgame Show / Flagship Show. You can get the show on Patreon, Spotify or below:
