“It will be a fight” – Marco Rose on Bochum

Matchday 25 is coming up, with RBL travelling to take on VfL Bochum on Saturday (15:30 CET).

Head coach Marco Rose spoke to the media the day before the game and looked back to the game in Manchester, VfL Bochum’s strengths and the upcoming international break
 

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Team news

• Excluding Xaver Schlager, Christopher Nkunku and Abdou Diallo, the team are at full strength.
   
• The latest team news can be found here.
   

MARCO ROSE ON …

… The days after the Manchester City game:

• “Everything goes differently when you lose. I can only speak for myself, but day after, waking up, was terrible. The morning after that was already a lot better and this morning it was already really good.

  They are evenings that you don’t need. These are experiences that you want to avoid – but also be a part of. In our case it couldn’t be avoided because we were not good enough in certain aspects on the night.

  I felt that the boys reacted well directly after the game. We travelled to Manchester with the score 1-1 and had the feeling also with this draw that something was possible. Then you get this result which was just a huge disappointment.

  Everyone felt the same way, but this should be out of mind by the final training session today at the latest. In football, everything moves very quickly and tomorrow we have the possibility of going into the break with a positive result.

  We sat down with the team yesterday and have realigned ourselves. We spoke about how things were and how they are. Now, there is still this game against Bochum before the international break and we want to fight for points there once again and get a win.”

   

… Team news:

• “There are no additional injuries, which means that everyone who was with us in Manchester are also ready to play tomorrow. Also, no players are returning now.

  With Abdou yesterday was the first time that he was back on the pitch and could join in with passing drills. This means that we will possibly be able to integrate him back in during the international break. Those with long-term injuries are still out.” 
   

… VfL Bochum:

• “We know what’s in store for us in Bochum, that there will be a few more eyes on us here and there. Bochum are a team that are fighting a relegation battle at the moment. They played well in Cologne [2-0 win] and play with unbelievable intensity. They mark a lot man-to-man and compete strongly for first and second balls. It will be a difficult task.

  We are expecting a full stadium in Bochum, with a good crowd. It will be a fight, I think , and we have to take it on. It will be a completely different game to the one in Manchester. I expect that we will be ready.

  Thomas (Letsch) has stabilised the team brilliantly. 21 points from 17 games under his watch means clearly staying up. They are very man-focussed out of possession and perhaps a little less aggressive than you would expect from Tomi.

  They have a lot of pace out wide. They also have a target man upfront in the shape of Philipp Hofmann. They can also really play football. My view is that Tomi is doing a very good job.”

… Preparations for the Bochum game:

• “We did some work out on the pitch yesterday. The day before that was a recovery session, but yesterday we got back to work, even the players who played a lot. We were all together on the pitch and today we’ll have our usual final training session.

  We’re used to midweek games and know that you can’t work on many things when you play midweek. It has to be said again though, that tomorrow’s game will be a completely different one to the one in Manchester. I think we can expect a similar level of intensity and another strong man-marking opposition; those are two similarities between the sides. But aside from that, it will be a completely different game.

  It’s important that we play with a lot of confidence in ourselves tomorrow and have belief in our strengths, what we can do and what we’ve done so far. We need to take on the nature of the game and deal with what comes our way.”
   

… The potential starting XI:

• “I think we’ve always dealt with midweek games and tomorrow we need to bring in some fresh legs.

  They will be players who have enough in the tank and can deal with our demands. We won’t rotate to a massive extent and there will be a few players out there tomorrow who also played against Man City.

  I didn’t see a team that gave up in Manchester, including the players who came off the bench. It was never a question of our approach or commitment, just that we were overwhelmed in other areas on the night”

… A potential Spain call-up for Dani Olmo:

• “We’re always pleased for our players who get called up to the national team. Obviously it’s always something that we need to consider in relation to players who are just returning from injury and haven’t played much.

  In that case we speak to them and decide what makes sense and what doesn’t. National teams also want players to stay fit.

  When you know what happens at a club during an international break, when a lot of players are away with their national teams, then sometimes it makes a lot of sense for a player to go on international duty to get some good training and playing time.”