Hecking and Bochum "can't afford to fall behind" against Mainz | OneFootball

As VfL Bochum hope to escape relegation once again, head coach Dieter Hecking answered questions ahead of their Matchday 33 meeting with Mainz.

"It will be a very intense game tomorrow, as it always is against Mainz. We can't afford to fall behind; that would make the task enormously complicated.

"We have to do our homework first, and then we can see what happens next.

"Bo Henriksen is doing an excellent job in Mainz. He has developed many players. Nebel, Burkardt, Amiri, Lee.

“They have a few injuries at the moment, but they can compensate for that, as we saw against Frankfurt,” Hecking said.

As for the injury front, Hecking highlighted that the list is relatively short and gave insights into who will and won't be available on Saturday.

"Philipp Hofmann was released from the hospital yesterday. Of course, we miss him, also as a person and captain.

“We have to adjust to that with personnel, but it won't change our game that much,” he added.