Sebastian Kehl: Borussia Dortmund lacked sharpness and intensity against Bochum
Sebastian Kehl has admitted that Borussia Dortmund did not play with the necessary sharpness and intensity against VfL Bochum on Saturday.
Borussia Dortmund’s struggles continued on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by VfL Bochum away from home. The Black and Yellows were outplayed for most of the game, and often lacked a spark in the final third. And Sebastian Kehl believes that a draw was a fair result in the end.
"“It was a fair draw. Bochum were very aggressive in the first half and deserved to take the lead. We did better in the second half and deserved to equalize in the end. Overall, the point is not enough for us, we have to take the blame for that.”"
Bochum took the lead in the first half through Kevin Stöger’s stunning strike. A poor piece of goalkeeping from Manuel Riemann then allowed Borussia Dortmund to equalise in the second half, with Donyell Malen finding the back of the net. Bochum looked to be the likelier of the two sides to find a winning goal, and BVB had the woodwork and Gregor Kobel to thank in the end as they were able to come away with the draw.
Kehl feels that the required intensity was missing from Borussia Dortmund’s game against Bochum. But he does not think that their struggles against smaller teams are down to a fundamental problem.
"“We didn’t play well in the first half and lacked sharpness in the duels. We didn’t contest the 50-50 balls with the necessary intensity. We knew what Bochum would do, how they would do it – and yet we didn’t respond well. This performance was not good enough.”“We have a different squad, we have some different issues. We didn’t play a good game against Bochum. But to talk now about a fundamental problem, I don’t see the need for that. We won a lot of points last season, even against smaller teams. We also turned the game against Köln around last week.”"
dark. Next. Borussia Dortmund player ratings from 1-1 draw vs Bochum
Borussia Dortmund will look to return to winning ways on Friday as they take on newly promoted side 1. FC Heidenheim at the Westfalenstadion.