After the 3-0 defeat against VfB Stuttgart, VfL coach Paul Simonis explained his choice of starting eleven on the left. Instead of the offensively strong Mohammed Amoura, the coach surprisingly relied on Aaron Zehnter and Joakim Mæhle – two trained full-backs, with Mæhle acting as a winger.
“Mo Amoura was just back from his international trip shortly before the game, so we started with Joakim,” explained Simonis after the game. “We may have made a wrong decision, we don’t know, but we had a good plan and it worked well in the training sessions. It was different in the game.”
Looking back, the coach indicated that the tactical idea against VfB did not pay off as hoped. At the same time, he wanted to give Amoura some rest after his return from the national team due to stress reasons.
