The 3:1 victory over Mainz 05 in the Cup on Tuesday was virtually a flood of goals. Who will provide Bochum’s goals on Saturday evening against Cologne is still open.
It was a remarkable second half in the cup round of 16 against Mainz, when the hosts even managed three goals in one half. In the Bundesliga, only fellow promoted Greuther Fürth (15 goals) have scored less often than the Bochum side, who have scored 17 so far
The big exception for VfL supporters came in the away game in Augsburg (3:2), when their favourites even scored three times in the first half. Otherwise, the big lull prevailed in many cases. Defensively, the Bochum side has been very stable of late, but now the promoted team must also offer more on the offensive side.
Sebastian Polter is the top scorer so far with six goals, but it remains to be seen whether the athletic attacker will be first choice against Cologne. He is being pressed by winter addition Jürgen Locadia, a completely different type of player.
Polter is more of a robust centre-forward who puts his body into it, ideally making his own move or letting the ball bounce for his colleagues. He always puts in a lot of effort, but is basically only very rarely involved in combination play and is often the second winner in duels. His finishing is nevertheless impressive, he often needs only one or at most two contacts to finish, and he does so with success.
A completely different story is Jürgen Locadia, who also showed during his loan at Hoffenheim that he can be a striker capable of scoring in the Bundesliga (eleven appearances, four goals). He has already proven his technical qualities in his two previous tastings for VfL and also in training. The Dutchman, who is technically much stronger than Polter, can process balls better and has already shown that he doesn’t take long to finish.
“Sebastian Polter is more into the fight, Jürgen Locadia is perhaps a bit more technically adept. Both have their qualities,” is how coach Thomas Reis sums up the duel. “I am very happy to have these options. Let’s see who will line up on Saturday. “
Bochum’s defensive problem in the box
Opponents Cologne come on Saturday with, among other things, an extremely strong central attacker. “We have to look to prevent the crosses already,” Reis said. “Anthony Modeste has scored a lot of headed goals, and defending in the box has been a bit of a problem for us recently. “
Reunion Joy
Like Marco Rose and Florian Kohfeldt, Steffen Baumgart was also among the experts who completed their football coaching course together with Reis in 2015. “I am very much looking forward to our reunion, Steffen is a positive madman. He always shows full commitment, which he already exemplified as a player. “
A power on the Castroper Straße
In his quest to beat his old mate’s team, Reis is also relying on his squad’s proven home strength. VfL have picked up 17 of 23 points at Castroper Straße, in the last seven home games Anthony Losilla and Co. have collected 14 points and conceded only three goals.