Will Letsch lead VfL out of the cellar?
There are phases in a football club’s season when things just don’t work out. Whereas in the past people were patient with the coach and relied on the development of the team, now managers are fired much more quickly. In the Bundesliga, Domenico Tedesco and Thomas Reis have been hit this season. The ex-clubs of the two coaches, RB Leipzig and VfL Bochum, meet in a direct duel on Saturday.
When you part with your coach so early, you can already guess that not a lot has gone particularly well so far. With eight points from seven games, the cup winners from Leipzig have fallen far short of their own expectations. At the moment, that is only good enough for twelfth place. For a team that wants to and has to play for Champions League places, that is of course far too little.
The situation is even worse for VfL Bochum. The second year after promotion is commonly referred to as the hardest, and that’s exactly how things look for the Revierklub. After seven games, they have just one point to show for it.
Besides VfB Stuttgart, VfL Bochum is the only team that has yet to win a point game this season. The gap to 17th place is already four points. New coach Thomas Letsch’s team will not be able to hand over the red lantern on this matchday. In fact, there are more signs that the gap will continue to grow, because we think that only a tip that has something to do with a home win can be successful in the match between RB Leipzig and Bochum.
RB Leipzig – Statistics & current form
It’s not as if RB Leipzig’s players have been able to draw any amount of confidence from the season so far. Marco Rose had hoped that his players would get a broad chest in the international matches with their national teams. But if we exclude the victory of Hungary (with Gulacsi, Orban and Szoboszlai) against Germany, that went thoroughly wrong for almost all of Leipzig’s national team players.
At home things are going reasonably well
Now it’s up to Marco Rose to get his players back on their feet. But that will be no easy task, as the Bullen have lost four of their last five games, most recently twice under the new coach. At least the Saxons have taken seven of their eight points in their own stadium and have won there twice without conceding a goal. Therefore, you could look at the odds for a win for the home side between RB Leipzig and Bochum.
Things went very badly for RB before the internationals. First, they suffered a 2-0 defeat at Real Madrid after a good game in the Champions League. Then the Saxons had to travel to Gladbach, Marco Rose’s former club. There they suffered the next bad defeat when they had to take home a despondent 0:3 defeat.
At least all the national team players returned to Leipzig in good physical condition. So the Bullen have plenty of personnel options again on Saturday against the bottom team. Nevertheless, the Saxons also have notable players on the injured list. Dani Olmo, Lukas Klostermann and Konrad Laimer will all be out for a few weeks. The use of Yussuf Poulsen, who is suffering from a flu infection, is also questionable.
Predicted line-up of RB Leipzig:
Gulacsi – Simakan, Orban, Diallo, Raum – Kampl, Schlager, Szoboszlai, Forsberg – Werner, Nkunku – Coach: Rose
Last matches played by RB Leipzig:
Bundesliga
17/09/2022 – Gladbach 3 – 0 RB Leipzig
Champions League Grp. F
15/09/2022 – Real Madrid 2 – 0 RB Leipzig
Bundesliga
10/09/2022 – RB Leipzig 3 – 0 Borussia Dortmund
Champions League Grp. F
07/09/2022 – RB Leipzig 1 – 4 Shakhtar Donetsk
Bundesliga
03/09/2022 – Eintracht Frankfurt 4 – 0 RB Leipzig
Bochum – Statistics & current form
Thomas Letsch is now expected to get things right at VfL Bochum. The Swabian has done a good job in Austria and Holland. His only professional stint in Germany, however, ended after just three games with Erzgebirge Aue. Now he is supposed to provide an upswing at Castroper Straße. However, the coach is more of an advocate of attacking pressing. It is questionable whether this is possible with the oldest team in the Bundesliga.
The long wait for a win
Bochum are also one of the teams with the least run in the Bundesliga this season and that is reflected in the results. After seven Bundesliga games, VfL are still waiting for their first win of the season. We can’t imagine predicting a point win for the Revierklub in the match between RB Leipzig and Bochum now.
After all, Bochum, there under interim coach Heiko Butscher, earned their first ever point before the international break. 1. FC Köln were guests at Castroper Straße and VfL benefited from an own goal by the Geißböcke after nine minutes. For a long time, Bochum held on to this narrow lead, but shortly before the final whistle, Cologne managed to score the final goal to make it 1-1.
It will be interesting to see how Thomas Letsch sets up his team for his Bundesliga debut. It seems to be completely open which system the VfL will play with. What is certain, however, is that the new coach will have to do without at least four players. Takuma Asano, Paul Grave, Dominique Heintz and Konstantinos Stafylidis are all still in the Bochum hospital.
Predicted line-up of Bochum:
Riemann – Gamboa, Ordets, Oermann, Danilo Soares – Losilla – Osterhage, Stöger, Zoller, Holtmann – Hofmann – Coach: Letsch
Last matches played by Bochum:
Bundesliga
18/09/2022 – VfL Bochum 1 – 1 1. FC Köln
10/09/2022 – Schalke 04 3 – 1 VfL Bochum
03/09/2022 – VfL Bochum 0 – 2 Werder Bremen
27/08/2022 – SC Freiburg 1 – 0 VfL Bochum
21/08/2022 – VfL Bochum 0 – 7 Bayern Munich
RB Leipzig – Bochum Direct comparison / H2H balance
The paths of RB Leipzig and VfL Bochum have crossed seven times to date. Four duels took place in the second division, twice they met in the top flight and one match in the DFB Cup. The Bullen have won all seven of these encounters. The goal difference of 16:2 speaks for itself.
In the Bundesliga, VfL have not yet scored against the Saxons, albeit only in two matches. Last season, RB won 3-0 at home after goals from Andre Silva and Christopher Nkunku (2). In the return match, it was a little closer. This time, the Bullen only won 1-0 in the Ruhrpott, with Christopher Nkunku once again the match-winner with his goal.
RB Leipzig – Bochum tip
Things are not going well at all for RB Leipzig this season. In the Champions League, the early exit threatens and in the Bundesliga, the Saxons are clearly running behind the music. Yet RB has a squad at its disposal that should actually be playing for the championship. However, Leipzig has suffered four defeats in its last five league games.
Nevertheless, Marco Rose’s team has great quality and VfL Bochum, the bottom team in the top flight, is coming to the Red Bull Arena. The Revierklub have only picked up one point from seven games this season.
The Saxons have won all seven duels against VfL so far. In the Bundesliga, Bochum are even waiting for their first goal against RB. We think the matter should go relatively clearly in favour of the hosts. In any case, we have decided to play the betting odds on a home win without conceding a goal between RB Leipzig and Bochum.
