On Easter Sunday, the course is set in the lower part of the Bundesliga table. Before that, Gladbach and Wolfsburg are in action.
Bor. Moenchengladbach – VfL Wolfsburg (Sunday, 3.30 p.m.)
Daniel Farke is counted at Borussia Mönchengladbach – no question. For the first time this season, Borussia was without a win in five Bundesliga games in a row (three draws, two defeats). Observers accuse Farke of putting himself too often protectively in front of his players, who often made it too easy for themselves – according to the criticism.
The fact is: Mönchengladbach is the Bundesliga team with the fewest average sprints (200) and intensive runs (643) per game, Wolfsburg is at the top of both rankings: an average of 268 sprints and 802 intensive runs per game are the most in each case .
Wolfsburg’s current coach Niko Kovac has very good feelings when he enters Borussia Park. He made his debut as Bundesliga coach in Mönchengladbach, suffering a 3-0 defeat with Eintracht Frankfurt on March 12, 2016. However, things went much better in his following games in Gladbach: In the 2016/17 season, Kovac won the cup semi-final with Eintracht at Borussia on penalties, in the Bundesliga he got a 0 with SGE in October 2016: 0 and won 1-0 in September 2017. And his last guest appearance with the “foals” even ended with a 5-1 victory for Bayern (March 2, 2019).
VfL Bochum – VfB Stuttgart (Sunday (5.30 p.m.)
Who knows how Thomas Letsch managed to turn his VfL Bochum into a really nasty Bundesliga club again. At the beginning of the season, the Ruhrstadters looked hopeless, but in the meantime they have taught the other relegation candidates to fear, especially with their home strength. Against VfB, the Letsch team has a very good chance of taking a decisive step out of the endangered zone.
Maybe it’s the simple details that made the difference at VfL – for example the work on the standards: On the last two matchdays Bochum scored after a long throw – both times by Christopher Antwi-Adjei in the opponent’s Thrown into the penalty area (once from the left, once from the right). Here the ball was then passed on by the head and then led to the goals by Erhan Masovic (against Leipzig) and Takuma Asano (in Frankfurt).
The new Stuttgart coach, Sebastian Hoeneß, faces a mega task. After 26 Bundesliga matchdays, VfB Stuttgart has only four wins under their belt, it has never been so few at this point in the season! The Swabians have lost seven of their last nine league games. After all, there was a first glimmer of hope with the cup success in Nuremberg (1-0).
TSG Hoffenheim – FC Schalke 04 (Sunday (7.30 p.m.)
Anyone who had already written off Pellegrino Matarazzo at TSG Hoffenheim was recently taught otherwise. Of the teams from the bottom half of the table, Hoffenheim was the only one to win last matchday (2-1 in Bremen). After the previous 3-1 win over Hertha BSC, TSG had two Bundesliga victories in a row for the first time since August. Coach Matarazzo can now create a premiere: three wins in a row would be a first for the coach in the Bundesliga.
The game against Schalke is undoubtedly a real “summit meeting” in the current relegation battle. While Hoffenheim finally seem to be on the right track and can use their undoubtedly playful skills, Schalke are still lacking in penetrating power. Coach Thomas Reis was not able to eliminate this problem either, but Schalke became much more stable at least defensively.
Schalke lives offensively to a large extent from standard situations, the “Royal Blues” scored a third of their goals (seven out of 21) from dead balls. And the team relies on commitment and duels: Reis has been Schalke coach since matchday 12, during this period S04 played the second most duels man against man – only 1. FSV Mainz tops the team from Gelsenkirchen.