Saturday, October 2nd, 2021
Nkunku does it twice again
RB-Joker break through Bochum’s bulwark
RB Leipzig tried in vain to score a goal for more than half the time. VfL Bochum is doing its best on the seventh matchday of the Bundesliga. But then two RB professionals are on the ball for the first time – and it’s in goal. Then Christopher Nkunku shows his class once more.
For a long time, Jesse Marsch talked in a circle to his professionals from RB Leipzig and sent them into the international break with praise. It was only thanks to a strong final offensive that the American coach’s team achieved a laborious 3-0 (0-0) win in the Bundesliga premiere duel with promoted VfL Bochum.
André Silva (69th minute) headed the lead 36 seconds after his substitution in front of 25,598 spectators in the Red Bull Arena, before Christopher Nkunku (73rd / 78th) increased with a brace. After the seventh matchday, the runner-up has ten points to make it into the European Cup, but continues to lag behind his ambitions.
“If we are more consistent in the first half, we can already be 4-0 up,” said Marsch at Sky and praised the substitute shooter for the 1-0 lead. It is a bit of a shame that Silva sat outside for so long, “because André is such a good player, such a good person. I told him today:” Stay strong, we believe in you “.”
For the newcomer, who came from Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer, it was the first goal for Leipzig out of the game. “It’s the belief in myself,” said Silva, but didn’t want to make any public claims: “Every player works to be in the starting lineup. It’s a process, I have to work hard.”
Bochum is not rewarding
Newcomers Bochum did not reward themselves for a proper performance and remained in penultimate place in the table with four points out of seven. “We lose another game here after a standard situation. It doesn’t matter whether the opponent comes on 45, 100 or 200 million,” said Bochum’s goalkeeper Manuel Riemann and criticized him clearly. “At one corner I already know that I have to defend my own goal, but apparently not everyone knows that.”
After the absence of defense chief Willi Orban (flu) due to illness, head coach Jesse Marsch still relied on the triple chain. “We try to work well against the ball, but also well with the ball,” said Marsch, who was again backed by Oliver Mintzlaff despite the enormous fluctuations in performance. “We are very, very dissatisfied with the yield and the lack of consistency,” said the CEO before the game. Nevertheless, he referred to the great upheaval in the team. Marsch get time “and we are still completely convinced that the path we took with Jesse is the right one,” said Mintzlaff.
But there is great uncertainty. Typical for this is the scene in the 29th minute: The last outstanding Nkunku ran free to Riemann, but instead of passing right to the also free Yussuf Poulsen, he shot himself and failed at the keeper.
Bills of exchange take effect immediately
Bochum almost took advantage of this hesitation. After RB lost the ball again after winning the ball, Bochum’s Antony Losilla (36th) slipped the ball almost to lead into the goal. After that, the number of bad passes in the build-up game increased – the RB fans loudly acknowledged this with whistles. Marsch tried to exert an influence from the outside, urging his team to be more calm and serene with gestures.
After an hour, the coach switched to a back four with the substitution of Nordi Mukiele for Angeliño. That didn’t change anything in the weak and unimaginative play structure of RB. For this he brought Dominik Szoboszlai and Silva for Emil Forsberg and Poulsen. “Szobo was angry that I didn’t come on for the free kick before,” reported Marsch with a wink.
The reward came from newcomer Silva: With his first touch of the ball, the Portuguese heads in after a corner from Szoboszlai for the lead. That was liberating. A little later, Nkunku lifted the ball over Reimann twice. Now Marsch dared more, first brought Ilaix Moriba, who was signed by FC Barcelona.