Football Season Guide

Bochum finished comfortably in mid-table last season. They were never in danger of going down but at the same time not doing enough to maintain a promotion push, poor away form being the main reason for this. Manager Robin Dutt has added to his youthful setup in the summer bringing Osei-Tutu on loan from Arsenal at right-back, hopefully to fill the void left by Gyamerah. Young recruits, midfielder Wellers and defender Gyamfi join the squad from the U19s and Ulrich Bapoh also returns from his stint on loan at FC Twente and will be hoping to break into the midfield. Bochum could look a little threadbare up top this coming season after the loss of their star man Lukas Hinterseer to Hamburger SV. Striker Ganvoula however, has now made the permanent switch from Anderlecht after impressing on loan last season. Danny Blum will also be a good addition on the left wing. Saulo Decarli has been brought to help shore up the defence and Patrick Drewes comes in as an understudy to goalkeeper Manuel Riemann. Bochum are set to play open, exciting football once more and will look to the youth to play with a no fear attitude, maintaining their strong home form from last year. They could struggle without the goals of Hinterseer. Ganvoula and Zoller will need be more ruthless in front of goal. Potentially naive and inexperienced away from home, better game management will need to be applied.