VfL Bochum has lost the last four Bundesliga games and is therefore under high pressure in the relegation duel against SV Darmstadt 98. What is causing VfL problems is the enormous number of penalties that have been awarded to their opponents for years.
Never since the introduction of the three-point rule in the 1995/96 season have the last three teams in the Bundesliga had as few wins together after matchday 26 as they currently have. 1. FSV Mainz 05, 1. FC Köln and SV Darmstadt 98 have eight wins from 78 games.
To the live ticker: VfL Bochum – SV Darmstadt 98 arrow right 27th matchday arrow right
VfL Bochum benefits from this historical weakness. However, things are getting tighter and tighter, as the club from the Ruhr area has only won five times this season. Thanks to another ten draws, VfL has 25 points.
However, this number has stood since February 18, 2024, the day on which Bochum won 3-2 against FC Bayern Munich. This wasn’t celebrated as a rescue, but as a big step towards it.
Since then, coach Thomas Letsch’s team has lost four games in a row, and because the last game was 0-2 at 1. FSV Mainz 05, the lead over the relegation zone has become smaller. Not dramatic, because the trio in last place is historically bad, but the nine points lead that they had after the success against the champions has become six.
Letsch: “Still in a comfortable situation”
VfL Bochum is in a downward spiral that many a team has fallen into and was almost saved after about two thirds of the season. The game on Easter Sunday (March 31, 2024, in full length in the audio stream from 7:30 p.m.) against bottom team Darmstadt 98 is therefore of immense importance.
“The fact is: we are still in a comfortable situation. I don’t want to swap places with the opponent,” said coach Letsch on Good Friday during the press conference, “we are rarely the favorites. This time we are, we accept that. We have to act like that and want to win this game at all costs.”
One bitter penalty against FCA, nine away against VfL
Over the course of the season, every club collects games in which it is said that there could have been more (points). For VfL Bochum, the home games against Werder Bremen and FC Augsburg are definitely worth considering, both of which ended 1-1, with the opponent scoring an equalizer in stoppage time.
Goal scorer Ermedin Demirović benefited from a hand penalty that referee Patrick Ittrich gave Augsburg after the intervention of the video assistant. It was the only penalty awarded to a visiting team at Castroper Straße this season. In away games, however, there have already been nine penalties against VfL. Goalkeeper Manuel Riemann fended off two of them, both in the game at RB Leipzig, from which the Bochum team got a surprising point thanks to a 0-0 draw.
As the table shows, some penalties hardly hurt, such as the one that Harry Kane scored to make it 5-0 for FC Bayern, who ultimately won 7-0 in Munich. Even if Leverkusen needed a penalty to take a 1-0 lead, the game would probably have been lost by the then and current league leaders.
However, the penalty that Mainz received on the last matchday was extremely painful. Bernardo initially played the ball before bringing down Jae-sung Lee. Bochum’s sports director Patrick Fabian complained afterwards: “It’s so wild at the moment and so often against us.”
32 penalties against VfL since promotion
The number of penalties that VfL receives against itself is actually significantly high. This season there are already ten, last season there were even 14. Since promotion in 2021, the Bochum team have caused 32 penalties in the last 94 Bundesliga games, an average of one in every third game. In the same period, FC Augsburg came second in this statistic with 18 penalties against them.
Penalties against yourself since season 2021/22 Place Club Penalties 1. VfL Bochum 32 2. FC Augsburg 18 3. FC Bayern Munich 16 3. 1. FSV Mainz 05 16 3. Bor. Mönchengladbach 16 3. VfL Wolfsburg 16
Letsch: “Maybe you don’t necessarily want the ball”
“That is a frightening statistic. 32 penalties are far too many,” said Thomas Letsch to the Sportschau. It is “difficult to explain” why VfL gets so many penalties against them: “Every situation has to be viewed differently. But the fact is that we make the wrong decisions in the penalty area and are often too late.”
As an antidote, Letsch recommends not letting the opponent get into the penalty area in the first place, and if so, his defenders should “not necessarily want the ball, but just block it. We certainly have room for improvement.”
Sports show, March 29, 2024 2:05 p.m
But it’s a fine line because VfL thrives on “aggressiveness and intensity”, so it’s difficult to constantly switch gears and keep calm in crucial moments.
What annoys the coach even more than the number of penalties is the number of goals scored against VfL. After 26 games there are 54, only one team has conceded more this season – with 65 goals it is their upcoming opponent Darmstadt 98.