Letsch remains critical despite win: "Not a good game from us."
Neither VfL Bochum trainer nor SV Darmstadt 98 were entirely satisfied with the performance of their respective sides when commenting on last night's results.
Last night's 2-1 win away at Darmstadt may have been an important result for Thomas Letsch's VfL Bochum, but the Revierklub's trainer still reserved plenty of criticism for his side in his post-match interview last night. Letsch lamented his team's tendency to turn the ball over and place the defensive ranks under unnecessary risk when speaking to the DAZN microphones after the full-time whistle.
"it wasn't a good game, but to be honest I don't give a shit whether the game was good or bad," Letsch told his interviewer, "It doesn't matter whether we deserved to win the game or not. We took our first three points and we were happy to take them. [They delivered] the fight I expected. It certainly wasn't a good game of football from our perspective. We turned the ball over to our opponents, taking far too much risk instead of taking control."
Letsch specifically criticized his team for not playing more sovereign after Takuma Asano scored the opening goal. When it came time to comment on the performance of the Japanese international (scorer of both goals), the VfL gaffer had only reserved words. The fact that the squad couldn't build upon the lead seemed more on the forefront of his mind.
"He scored the goals," Letsch flatly said of Asano, "We had opportunities to put the game to bed, but didn't finish cleanly. That's us for you. We need to keep the pressure on. Last week, it wasn't enough. Thank God it was enough tonight."
Letsch's opposite member Torsten Lieberknecht also tended towards the critical. Lieberknecht acknowledged that defeat against direct relegation rivals didn't help his newly-promoted side's chances of remaining in the league, though the SV gaffer remained dismissive about the "drivel" associated with the quest to avoid the drop when speaking to his DAZN interviewer.
"Football is known to be a game of mistakes," Lieberknecht said of the latest effort, "We simply made two mistakes too many. We gave Bochum gifts that they capitalized on."