Sunday, January 09, 2022
Pantovic sets a record
Wolfsburg’s threatening series is now historic
VfL Wolfsburg simply cannot get out of the negative spiral: After six match days, the club is still top of the Bundesliga table, after the start of the second half of the season and the eighth competitive defeat in a row, the relegation zone is threateningly close. VfL Bochum continues to stand out.
New year, old problems – VfL Wolfsburg continued its downward trend at the start of the second half of the season. In the 0: 1 (0: 0) in Bochum, the team of coach Florian Kohfeldt had to accept the sixth Bundesliga defeat in a row and is only two points away from relegation rank 16. In the empty Vonovia Ruhrstadion, the Bochum goalscorer Milos Pantovic (65th minute) gave the former Champions League participant from Wolfsburg a negative club record. The previous mark from 2004 was five defeats in a row.
In contrast, the hosts benefited from their home strength even without the support of their fans. Thanks to the fifth success in his own stadium, the climber climbed to eleventh place. Despite the Wolfsburg’s good intentions to do better than at the end of the first half of the season, VfL Bochum got off to a better start. Only the courageous rescue operation by John Anthony Brooks after a shot by Takuma Asano (3rd) prevented the North Germans from falling behind early.
The team of Bochum’s soccer teacher Thomas Reis, who was the U19 coach for the “Wolves” from 2016 to 2019, stayed on the trigger in the following minutes with a lot of running work and a courageous duel. However, the Revierklub initially no longer created any really compelling chances. It was only when Danilo Soares shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 21st minute that the goal was again recognizable.
It took Wolfsburg even longer to move forward in the game. Promising for the first time, they approached the opposing goal in the 26th minute when Ridle Baku’s slightly deflected long-range shot narrowly missed. However, this did not help to increase the until then modest entertainment value of the game. It was similarly dreary until the break. Both teams made too many bad passes, avoided the risk and remained alarmingly harmless in attack.
Even after the restart, Bochum got off to a better start and missed the possible 1-0 with a weak header from Anthony Losilla (48th) into the arms of goalkeeper Koen Casteels. Only five minutes later the Wolfsburg approached a goal in a volley from Baku. After all, both teams now increased the pace. That paid off quickly for the Bochumers. After a cross from Gerrit Holtmann, Milos Pantovic headed to the spot and brought the Revierclub into the lead from close range. Wolfsburg then pushed for the equalizer, but remained unsuccessful.