Derby over, Westphalian duel ahead – or even ‘El Westfalico’. Less said about that namage the better…The last week of official matches in 2021 is coming up fast, with VfL travelling to East Westphalia for their away match against Armina Bielefeld. Here’s our LOOK AHEAD:
THE TEAM
Arminia’s strength is their team spirit, which has already been the case in the previous season, when managed to stay in the league and finished 15th – certainly their number one goal this season. During the summer break, the management made a number of changes to the team from East Westphalia. Although key players such as keeper Ortega, stalwart Klos and defender Pieper are still in the squad, but new signings for all parts of the team were presented in the summer. Andrade or Czyborra at the back, Fernandes, Okugawa, Schöpf or Vasiliadis in midfield and up front, Klos had to adjust himself completely to new teammates as Hack and Wimmer, as well as Lasme, Krüger and Serra joined the team. However, the “new” Arminia has not really found their feet yet, with ten points from the first 15 games, winning only one match so far. With a record of only ten goals, they are currently the lowest in the league in this respect. But as we know from our last league game, numbers and statistics are nothing!
THE HEAD COACH
Frank Kramer saved Arminia from the drop last season. Internally, the coach is highly respected, and it is no coincidence that he replaced Frank Neuhaus last year, who was responsible for the club’s promotion the year before. And so, it is hardly surprising that sporting director Samir Arabi is backing the coach. “It would be very easy to make the manager responsible for the situation we’re currently in. But we do not stand for that, we have a different set of convictions,” Arabi recently told Kicker. That was the case after the 2-0 defeat at Hertha Berlin last weekend. Kramer has now been in charge in 29 games. The former DFB youth coach has been in charge in Bielefeld since March 2021. Previously, he coached Greuther Fürth and Fortuna Düsseldorf, among others, and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on an interim basis.
THE RECORD
Admittedly, the last few trips to Bielefeld weren’t too much fun for VfL. We’ve lost the last four away games in East Wetsphalia in a row. Their last encounter in the 2. Bundesliga ended with a 2-0 win for the home team with also Manuel Riemann seeing red. On the positive side: Andreas Voglsammer was a regular goal scorer against us and he’s no longer part of the squad as he was transferred to Union Berlin – our opponents this Saturday. Yet the overall balance still favours us. 19 wins in Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal, with 16 draws and 14 defeats. Number 20 would taste good, wouldn’t it? Then we would no longer have 20 points, but the VfL fans could probably live with 23…
