Union Berlin - VfL Bochum

The teams are neighbors on table at 10. and 11. what means that they are not far away from the red zone. Both teams did not know where they stand right now after the winter break and this is their first and important test. They need Points immediately as they do not want to get involved in the relegation battle in this case the first game is important to walk on and go step by step. If you start with a lose it is always hard to get the right feeling back for the next match in this case it looks like that the statement for this encounter is "no lose".

After a big disaster to begin of the season they did better in the last matches before the break despite they lost 0-1 in Düsseldorf but they look forward and they were absolutely confident about the last matches this season. The friendlies were not the best at all and the results anyway. It was Ludogerets 1-0, Luzern 0-1 and Esbjerg 1-2 and with this results it was not a big step and it was also far away from euphoria. Additional they had some blows too with the injury from Thiel (shoulder), Leistner (suspended) and the illness from MID Köhler who suffer on cancer. This was not the best message before this important game and the football was not the first thing some days for Union. Nevertheless Coach Düwel has to prepare his team for the game against Bochum and they have to look forward.They want to play for Köhler and give him some motivation and power back for his way back. Also they signed some new players, first one Sulejmani from Hannover sit on bench as alternative first as with Polter and Skrzybski are two attackers are already set to play in Düwel's system. Behind both are expected to play quick players like Quiring and Brandy who should rotate a big and bring the defensive line from Bochum in some trouble. In central midfield plays Zejnullahu and Kreilach while the defensive line will be build with Schönheim, Puncec, Parensen and Trimmel.

This is the first match for new Coach Verbeek, yes he is back after his engagement in Nürnberg. He wants to bring in the same philosophy as in Nürnberg and this means that they defend very high and press also. Maybe a bit hard to learn and some open space for the opponent in some matches but if the system works it can be great but the team needs also a lot of condition. This was the key point in their preparation and the results form the friendlies were as follows .... Cercle Brügge 0-1, Lima 1-0, Erfurt 3-1, Bayern München 1-5 and Fürth 1-1. There are some positive trends to see in some matches but it takes time and the situation was not the best anyway as they had a lot of injury problems. For this reason it is a bit of a mess and Coach Verbeek searching for the right players because with Simunek, Bulut, Weis and Tasaka miss he additional players today to the already long injured players like Gyamerah, Holthaus, Butcher and Gregoritsch are overall 8 players missed today.
Back in team and in the starting eleven is keeper Luthe who has some problems too but Coach Verbeek think to let Esser in goal and sit Luthe on the bench. New signing Bastians plays instead of Cacutalua and beside him Fabian in central back. The second new one is Eisfeld but he is not destined for the first eleven, only as alternative on bench. On the wing is youngster Gündüz and Cwielong who gets a new chance there an option. In attack it is the same with Terodde and Sestak who plays behind Terodde. The system is more 4-2-3-1 for today.

This encounter take place 12 times already and it is almost even between both (6-1-5). In the last games it is a big disaster for the home team, because when this both meet each other the last 4 matches did not won the home team. Union won in Bochum 2-1 and 4-0 while at home they lost 1-2. The first match this season ended 1-1 in Bochum.