VfL Bochum improved on their 9th place from last season as they finished 6th having briefly looked like potential promotion candidates.
Bochum’s season can be divided into two parts: Before Robin Dutt’s arrival and after. Before Dutt took over control of the team Bochum played highly defensive football and struggled for both goals and wins: after the experienced coach took over, the squad flourished and were one of the best sides in the league.
In total four men would take charge of Bochum in this season, with the first being Ismail Atalan, plucked from near obscurity as the head coach of regional side Sportfreunde Lotte. But neither he nor successor Jens Rasiejewski were able to produce results of any significance, and as the end of the season drew close it seemed Bochum were destined for a relegation battle.
Dutt himself lost his first game in charge after taking over with the team 2 points above the bottom three. But he would guide his side to just one defeat in their last 11 matches winning 6 of those games.
When Dutt took over, his side had managed just 20 goals in the opening 22 rounds of the season. After Dutt arrived they scored 17 in their final 12. The main beneficiary of the new coach’s arrival was Lukas Hinterseer who scored 8 goals in the final 8 games of the season. Had he been more consistent throughout the season Bochum may have had genuine promotion chances.
Robbie Kruse too was given a fresh breath of life under Dutt, and he would finish on 7 goals and 5 assists. But the leader of the team and the player who will surely be on bigger sides’ radars was Kevin Stöger. The midfielder ran the midfield throughout the season and Dutt will hope to build his team around the Austrian next season.
