Ralph Hasenhüttl: “We don’t reward ourselves for the effort”

Bochum picks an invaluable point away at Wolfsburg in Dieter Hecking’s return to Volksparkstadion. Both coaches were satisfied with different phases of the game.

Dieter Hecking picked a point on his first return to Volksparkstadion since 2018. The vastly experienced coach had won the DFB-Pokal with Wolves back in 2015 after defeating Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund.

“At the beginning of the game, we didn’t have much access. Wolfsburg played very flexibly in attack,” said the 60-year-old about his former club. “But, we caused the opponent’s first big chance with a back pass that was too short.

“After that, we were better in the game. In addition to being willing to fight, we also started to play football. The way we conceded the equalizing goal is perhaps the punishment for not scoring the second. It’s annoying. We need to defend better. But, in the end, we’re happy to take the point because the performance was very good overall. ”

For Wolfsburg’s Ralph Hasenhüttl, there was no surprise to Bochum’s aggressive approach. “Today we had exactly the opponent we expected. They were very strong in tackles, they had strong runners, and well organized defensively. Nevertheless, I think we got off to a good start with our intensity,” said the former RB Leipzig coach.

“But, we were unable to take anything tangible from this phase. Instead, Bochum did well with the long balls to Philipp Hofmann. After the equalizer, we still had good chances. But we just have to manage to win games like this. That’s what we’re still missing. We don’t reward ourselves for the effort.”