“Give it all again”

VfL Bochum 1848 have played a stellar season so far. Many emotional victories, securing the league with a win over our neighbouring rivals. The only question that remains is whether more points will be added to the 42 points and where VfL will ultimately end up in the table. For the last Bundesliga match of the season, VfL are facing 1. FC Union Berlin away from home this Saturday afternoon (15.30 CET). At the press conference, head coach Thomas Reis once more answered the journalists’ questions.

Thomas Reis on…

… the personnel situation: Konstantinos Stafylidis (recovering from a light knee injury) and Christopher Antwi-Adjei (cold) are not available. Some other players also have a cold. We hope that at least some of them will be back on board.

… the 2-1 home win over Arminia Bielefeld: The lads did a brilliant job against Bielefeld. The mentality was outstanding and there was no sense of tension dropping. So far this season, only two teams have beaten us in both games. Union have the chance to be the third team but this alone should be motivation enough for us to give it all again.

… 1. FC Union Berlin: We’re looking forward to the match. We lost the first leg fixture unluckily and both teams have developed since then. Union are playing a spectacular season. I have the gresatest respect for Urs Fischer and his team. Recently, they performed strongly against Freiburg this win secured them an international spot next season. Union are defending with eleven players and at the same time, their switching game is very dangerous. We are aware of that and we’ll try to convert our style of play.

… a potential change between the sticks: It is likely that Michael Esser might be playing. He would have absolutely deserved it. For a manager, nothing better can happen than to have such a positive guy in the team. He always behaves impeccably, motivates the boys and gives full throttle in every training session.

… post-season international trips: Takuma Asano will be on the road with his national team after the season. Perhaps, also Cristian Gamboa might still be nominated for the World Cup qualifiers. More than that, our U21 internationals Armel Bella Kotchap und Patrick Osterhage should be on the road. Also Christopher Antwi-Adjei and Gerrit Holtmann could still be invited bei their national teams. We’ll let that flow into the training plans for the new season.

… the end of the season: Saturday will be the end. We’ll be heading home to Bochum by bus and then the season will be over for us. Fortunately, we managed to stay in the league at an early stage, which we were able to celebrate together with all the VfL staff.

… the ongoing squad planning: Of course, we want to bring together a strong squad for the new season. I am very confident about that. I am in contact with Sesi. As he always says, when something is fixed, we will announce it.