VfL Bochum - MSV Duisburg

On Round 2 we have the first West Duel between Bochum and Duisburg. Both towns not far away from each other and maybe can lead into a full stadium today. This is the second match between these two clubs in short time because some weeks ago VfL Bochum played a test friendly in Duisburg and won there 2-1. With this result they would be very pleased again of course. With a win they are up with 6 Points out of 2 matches what is an excellent start anyway then. On the other side MSV had not the best start and got a hard defeat at home against Kaiserslautern to begin. They were not really able to beat Lautern, above all the first 30 Minutes they were far from good and lost the game in this sequence. They have to do much better today if they do not want to sit on the bottom from beginning on.

The start from Bochum was good and they confirmed their pre-season performance. With a 1-0 win against relegated Paderborn who was aiming for more to begin they started very well. Coach Verbeek was very pleased with his team and the performance they brought on the pitch on the first game. He sees that his system is working more and more now but he said also that they have to play constant in the future. We can expect the same lineup who started in Paderborn. It was only one question mark behind central defender Fabian who got injured in the last minutes and was out in Paderborn. But he is back in team training and can play after his head injury. But nevertheless they have some players in hand of course. For Fabian came Simunek and he made his job very well. Also under the week they played a test friendly against Bamberg 3-0, here could convince Nando Rafael with two goals.
The next good option is Weis in midfield but he returns after slight injury and is on bench first. He can play a lot of positions in midfield what makes him such important for Coach Verbeek's squad.

It was a hard start for MSV after returning to 2.Bundesliga after some time. Coach Lettieri was searching for all the positive things they have done in the match against Kaiserslautern. They have to think positive and try to do better this time. In an interview he said that they had 9-6 shots on target and 5-0 corners but the end result was 1-3. This was maybe because of too many individual mistakes in team and his players. In this interview he was very positive and this give us a small view about the starting lineup for today. There are not many changes, he gives his team a match to recover. Maybe it is also due to less alternatives right now. With Hahri they miss still an important player while new singing Holland is not ready yet but sit on bench. This means that Dausch and Albutat plays again in front of the defensive row. In central defensive we have Bomheuer and Bajic but they must improve a lot compared to the last game.
In offense we have Broker who plays for sure while replaced Grote has to fight for his place. If Grote is out of the starting lineup Janjic can move to the wing but he has his best games in the middle and is much more dangerous there. Up front Iljucenko can play beside Onuegbu what means a much more offensive minded lineup with two attackers. Therefore it is a bit doubtful if Lettieri makes changes.