Once again it’s not enough for VfL Bochum to win against a basement child. But a striker who hasn’t scored for a long time will brighten the mood.
Finally: Philipp Hofmann celebrates one of his two goals, Takuma Asano (#11) is happy too. IMAGO/Ulrich Hufnagel
It hasn’t been Philipp Hofmann’s season so far. In his first year in the Bundesliga, the striker scored eight times; recently he only played a minor role in Bochum, and by Easter he had only scored one goal.
He deserved this chance, he worked very hard on himself.
However, the massive center forward presented himself completely renewed against Darmstadt. Wiry, better trained, much more active in the game, and ultimately more accurate. “He deserved this chance,” emphasizes coach Thomas Letsch, “he worked very hard on himself.”
How hard? Hofmann simply said that he had changed a few things, without going into detail. All around, however, the striker presented himself as an asset, enterprising and, as always, extremely enthusiastic. A bit like a bottle of ketchup: First, many attempts didn’t work at all, now the ex-Karlsruher scored two goals at once.
Ultimately, the striker was of course frustrated overall because the hosts had not managed to win against bottom team Darmstadt even after a 2-0 lead. Once again it wasn’t enough to break free from the bottom of the table, and so the situation for VfL remains extremely threatening.
No significant step forward – Bernardo classifies
It’s strange: being six points ahead of the relegation place at this stage of the season is a brilliant interim result from Bochum’s perspective. But the trend gives rise to fears of the worse. After four defeats, the 2-2 draw against newly promoted Darmstadt was not a step forward, on the contrary.
“Six points ahead, that’s nothing,” said defender Bernardo, assessing the situation in the table very realistically. “They could be gone in two weeks. So the 2-2 draw against Darmstadt feels like a defeat for us.”
Once again, the Bochum team showed themselves to be extremely unfocused in the end, and the dispersion of shots from a distance was quite grotesque, even from a good position. Offensive forces like Takuma Asano and Christopher Antwi-Adjei are still not enough of a goal threat, but at least Philipp Hofmann seems to be well on his way to becoming an important factor again.
First he scored with a shot after a corner from Stöger, then he put a header into the far corner from a difficult position after a fine frank from Keven Schlotterbeck. The fact that Hofmann was not subsequently celebrated as the match winner was again due to negligence in the Bochum backline.
VfL were able to counterattack on their own pitch and should have scored the third goal through Antwi-Adjei, but conceded the 1:2 in return, and this follow-up goal visibly threw the hosts off course. The fact that goalkeeper Manuel Riemann later let the ball slip through his fingers to make it 2-2 fit the picture of a used Easter Sunday for the Bochum team.
Before the next important basement duel on Saturday in Cologne, the momentum is not on Bochum’s side at all, on the contrary. “The situation is dangerous,” admits Letsch, “everything is happening very quickly. In any case, it will be a very intense seven weeks for us.”
2024-04-01 08:37:27
#Hofmanns #double #relief #ketchup
