Christopher Antwi-Adjei drew attention to himself with three assists against TSG Hoffenheim. Since the change of coach from Thomas Reis to Thomas Letsch, things have been looking up for the 28-year-old.
Can’t get a grip on TSG Hoffenheim: Christopher Antwi-Adjei.
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The journalists in the belly of the Bochum stadium experienced an unusual Christopher Antwi-Adjei. In fact, the winger stood still for five minutes in the mixed zone to discuss the 5-2 win over TSG Hoffenheim – given the pace of the 90 minutes before, it would have been almost unsurprising if he had still tried to swing around to sprint in the adjoining circular sports hall. Until he was substituted a few minutes before the end, the 28-year-old always had the feeling that every possession he had had the potential for a big chance.
Courageous to cheeky, he kept dribbling on his left side, if necessary against several opponents. And three times in the brilliant first half of Bochum he was also a decisive pioneer for his teammates. With the first goal, after a good run and a perfect chip pass from Danilo Soares, he found his center forward Philipp Hofmann with a sharp cross pass, with the second goal he deliberately put it back for Philipp Förster after a little dance against two men, before the third goal he directed a ball straight on to the starting Takuma Asano, who then duped Stanley Nsoki in a running duel. Three VfL goals in the first half, all set up by Antwi-Adjei, who doubled his assist tally to six this season.
“We were incredibly effective up front,” said the match winner: “Our pace gave us space and we tried to use it.” That worked particularly well before the break, not just with the three goals. And the fact that Antwi-Adjei even managed a flawless assists hat-trick was almost historic, because since the start of assists recording in 1988/89 he is the first VfL player to do so. There have only been two other pros with this feat this season: Dani Olmo in Leipzig’s 6-1 win in Gelsenkirchen on Matchday 17 and Raphael Guerreiro in Dortmund’s 5-1 win over Freiburg that matchday.
Antwi-Adjei believes in the coach effect – Letsch disagrees
Has he ever managed such an assist hat-trick in his career? “I think when I was young…” replied Antwi-Adjei: “But of course I’m really happy that it went so well today.” It is also the expression of a constantly improving form, especially since Thomas Reis switched to Thomas Letsch. Is he one of the winners of the coach swap? “Yes, you can say that,” he says and finds a simple explanation: “I try to give it my all in training and in games and to recommend myself. We generally have a good squad, especially offensively. We don’t rest , we push each other.”
Only Letsch himself wanted to downplay his own role in the rise of Antwi-Adjei. “I wouldn’t sign that he benefited from the change of coach,” says the 54-year-old, who simply sees a “great player and he shows that week after week”. And he is “in very good shape at the moment and is doing very well”. It just has nothing to do with him as a coach: “We work together, he also benefits from a team that is working well at the moment.”
