VfB determined ahead of Bochum trip

“I was unhappy because I’m convinced that if we’d played as well as we can against Leverkusen, we’d have seen a completely different game,” VfB head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo said at Friday’s pre-match press conference. “In attack, I felt we lacked the determination and drive in front of goal. Defensively we need to rediscover that desire to clear our lines. Games are decided by duels in the penalty area and we want those to go in our favour again in future.”

Sunday’s trip to VfL Bochum (kick-off 15:30 CEST) would certainly be a good place to start. “We’re focusing on doing things better in this match,” said Matarazzo, adding that the hosts have worked a lot on their game recently. “To hold our own in Bochum, there is no way around the fact that we need to play to our limits. Bochum are very direct.”

Chris Führich is back in full training and stands a good chance of being named in Matarazzo’s squad. “I’m glad he’s shown his qualities in the past few days,” Matarazzo said of the winger. Wahid Faghir has been training on his own this week due to a muscle issue, while Philipp Förster (infection) is still struggling with his chest muscles and unable to do high volumes of training. The 26-year-old will not be in the squad on Sunday.