Bundesliga: VfB and Schalke each lose twice

VfB Stuttgart and Schalke suffered two defeats at the weekend. Hoffenheim’s victory in Bremen ensures that the next matchday can set the course in the relegation battle.

Saturday (04/01/2023) was bad enough for VfB Stuttgart and Schalke 04. There were own defeats, which were clear at 0:3. VfB lost to the Alte Försterei at 1. FC Union Berlin, while Schalke lost to Bayer Leverkusen in the Gelsenkirchen Arena.

There was also bad news as Hertha BSC drew at SC Freiburg after VfL Bochum had already picked up a point at Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday night.

Vain hope for Werder Bremen

Temporarily, the SV Werder fan base grew enormously. Bremen should now at least win against TSG Hoffenheim in order to keep their situation precarious. But Werder lost 1:2. Hoffenheim now has three points more than Hertha on the relegation place, four more than Schalke and five more than VfB. In addition, there are plus points for Hoffenheim by far the best goal difference of all relegation candidates and probably the best squad.

VfL Bochum has the worst goal difference, so coach Thomas Letsch also said after the 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt that he “do not outperform the competitors” become.

On the 27th matchday, Bochum have a great opportunity to gain further ground on the points. On Easter Sunday (from 5.20 p.m. live in the radio report on sportschau.de) VfB Stuttgart will come to Castroper Straße. With a win, VfL, who have taken seven points from the last three games, would extend their lead over the Swabians to nine points.

Conversely, this means that with a defeat, VfB would leave a competitor out of reach. The same could happen to FC Schalke 04, who play TSG Hoffenheim in the last game of Easter Sunday (from 7:20 p.m. live on the radio report on sportschau.de).

Hertha BSC picked a good time to play against RB Leipzig. The Saxons have lost their last two Bundesliga games at VfL Bochum and 1. FSV Mainz 05 without scoring a goal. In addition, Leipzig will play against Borussia Dortmund in the quarter-finals of the DFB Cup on Wednesday (05.04.2023).

Eight game days are still to come. There will still be many direct duels. Schalke and Hertha open the 28th matchday, the Berliners also have to deal with Stuttgart and Bochum in home games. In between is the away game at 1. FC Köln, which is currently only six points ahead of Hertha and has enormous problems on the offensive.

Schalke have to improve enormously compared to the first half of the season

Assuming that the teams in the relegation battle score similar points in the last few games as in the same games in the first half of the season, things are looking very bleak for Schalke. The “Royal Blues” only got three points from the eight games, it started with a 0:3 in their own stadium against Hoffenheim. After that there were only two points for TSG until the end of the first half of the season.

On the other hand, VfL Bochum and VfB Stuttgart scored splendidly. In a direct duel there was a 4:1 victory for the team that had been hired by interim coach Michael Wimmer.