The Bayern camp was understandably delighted with an eighth win in ten attempts so far this term, but coach Ottmar Hitzfeld enjoyed a touch of good fortune with his substitutions in the 2-1 success away to VfL Bochum. “The subs gave us fresh impetus," the General acknowledged, thinking primarily of match-winner Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Reaction to VfL Bochum v Bayern
Uli Hoeneß: “It was mainly tough going for us today. Normally you’d expect to win in Bochum, but we had to work very hard because Bochum played extremely well. They were resolute and hard-working. Lucio and Demichelis played in South America in 35 degree heat on Wednesday, and you could see we found it hard to get going in the first 20 minutes. But there’s extra class in this team. We’ve again seen how Franck Ribéry can turn a game around. He scored a goal and laid on the second. We have players capable of single-handedly settling a match – that’s the difference from last season.“
Ottmar Hitzfeld: “We were in control but went behind to a long-range effort. We turned up the heat after that and should certainly have scored earlier than we did, we might even have led at half-time. It became more difficult after that, Bochum changed their tactics to contain us. The subs gave us fresh impetus, and we were fortunate in that Ribery has hit peak form again. He was the best player on the field today. And Bastian Schweinsteiger gave his critics the right answer by scoring a good goal.”
Mark van Bommel: “We’re strong in every area at the moment, even when the pressure’s on. Each one of us has class, that was obvious again today. But we’re not invincible, and apart from the League Cup, we’ve won nothing yet. We have to show our ability for a full season, and if we succeed, we can call ourselves a decent team. But I have a good feeling about it.“
Marcell Jansen: “It wasn’t easy for us. Bochum gave it everything and they’re good on the break. They played well. We had chances even before we equalised. We’re a good attacking side, but it’s still important for us to keep it tight. We don’t care about tables and points, we just want to win every match.“
Marcel Koller (Bochum coach): “Everyone thought Bayern would blow us away, but that wasn’t the case. We need to show the same resolve in our forthcoming matches. We’ve been in this position before, we’ll retain our belief and we’ll be patient."
Dennis Grote (Bochum goalscorer): “Looking at the course of the match, we might have expected more from it. We’ve taken the lead but we’ve gone and let in two unnecessary goals, where the ball dribbled over the line. It was certainly irritating, because it was obvious from the course of the match we could have got something. We didn’t run and hide, we put up strong resistance.“
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