RB Leipzig wins narrowly against VfL Bochum - Schröder promises improvement

Although Rouven Schröder was delighted with the victory, he did not want to ignore reality. "The result is good in principle. On the other hand, you can also address things, the coach will do that," said the RB Leipzig sporting director after the laborious 1-0 win against VfL Bochum. The 48-year-old promised: "We will improve, that's for sure. We'll play cleaner."

It wasn't just the many inaccuracies in passing that made life difficult for RB. Some professionals made a lot of wrong decisions, others always made one hook too many. There's a lot of room for improvement, but that's acceptable and halfway normal after the first matchday in the Bundesliga.

Nusa shines as a wild card

Antonio Nusa can definitely feel like a winner. The 19-year-old needed just four minutes to score the goal of the day in his first Bundesliga game for Leipzig and got off to a similar lightning start as he had in the DFB Cup. The Norwegian scored just one minute after coming on as a substitute.

It is only logical that the attacking player, who signed for €21 million from FC Brugge, should be in the starting eleven for the first time on Saturday in Leverkusen. Especially as the game against Bochum exposed Leipzig's problems in central midfield due to the long-term absence of Xaver Schlager.

Problems in the center

The strong Amadou Haidara played more offensively, but is actually needed in the control center, as Nicolas Seiwald is still unable to build on his performances with the national team at the club. Schröder therefore has a tricky task ahead of him in the final week of the transfer window. A new signing should help in the short and medium term, emphasized the sports director. He should also be young.

It could also be acute in central defense, but probably only for the next two games. After his emergency brake, defensive boss Willi Orban will definitely be missing in Leverkusen and certainly against Union Berlin afterwards. This brings back unpleasant memories of last season, when the captain was injured for four months and the team had serious problems getting stability in defense. When Orban returned to the starting eleven in the second half of the season, they lost only one of 15 games.

Coach Marco Rose tried almost imploringly to minimize Orban's punishment through his statements to media representatives. "You can see in the last slow motion that the ball briefly changed direction. I would like to point that out again," said the 47-year-old. Rose accepted the sending off after the foul on Myron Boadu without discussion.

Poulsen and Klostermann as replacement candidates

Whether the coach can replace Orban with Lukas Klostermann, as he has done in the past, is completely open. Like Yussuf Poulsen and André Silva, the international is one of the players who could leave the club in the coming days. The departure of Klostermann, who has been at Leipzig since the summer of 2014, or Poulsen, who has been at Cottaweg for a year longer, would hit the club harder in terms of identification than in sporting terms.

Accordingly, Schröder emphasized the importance of these "cornerstones", which are urgently needed to improve the numerous top talents. On the other hand, Schröder also argued that the long club affiliation is an argument for agreeing to a transfer - if the player wants it.