Wolfsburg preview - "We have an obligation"

Markus Gisdol on...

...the opposition:

Wolfsburg are a good team with a lot of exceptional individual players, but they have a few problems at the moment. De Bruyne and Perisic, who last year were involved in 50% of VfL’s total goals, are not easily replaced. Not everything is going to plan over there, so it would be nice if we were also able to take some points. We have to pay attention at set pieces – five of their ten goals have come from dead balls.

...personnel:

The international players are returning one at a time, but without any injuries. Eduardo Vargas will be the last to arrive on Thursday night. His three goals in the last two matches for his country show the form that he’s in. We will have to assess him to see what state he is in physically. Almost all the players have come back in a good mood, having enjoyed successful results. That should help us as a team. Oliver Baumann is still struggling with an illness.

...the current situation:

We have made small steps forward in our recent matches. Five points from three games – we will take that. It was overshadowed though by the late VfB goal, and we are not satisfied. The overall positioning in the table has a certain significance after eight matches, and six points is simply not enough. We have to sort this out. Good results produce self belief, and self belief lead to good results – it’s a cycle.

We have been very compact, and have defended well recently. That is the basis which we can build on. A certain level of desire and aggressiveness in the tackle has also played a role. This strength in tackles is our key to success. We are positive, must keep looking forward and certainly won’t feel sorry for ourselves, that won’t get us anywhere.

Eugen Polanski on...

...the opposition:

Wolfsburg are not playing as well as they can. But that is largely irrelevant. It’s all about us, and how we perform. If we turn up then we can get something from the game.

...the current situation:

We only have ourselves to blame for any problems. We have conceded three goals in added time, which should only be happening at most once a season, let alone three times in eight matches. We have discussed this as a team, and we have to make sure we perform for 92, 93, 94 minutes, as we have been practising in training; 100% Hoffenheim until the final whistle.

The first matches were okay from a footballing perspective, but we didn’t get any points. In phases like that, one quite often resorts to self reflection and speculation, which rarely lead to positive thoughts. This doesn’t help in improving our performances. We can read the table, and are determined to change our position as quickly as possible.

Past meetings:

TSG and VfL have met 14 times in the Bundesliga. Hoffenheim have been able to take points in half of the matches (4 wins and 3 draws). The Lower Saxony team have claimed seven wins. Their last meeting was on matchday 20 last season, a 3-0 win for Wolfsburg. TSG will prefer to look back at the 2013/14 season, where they sent the Wolves home with nothing after beating them 6-2 – the Kraichgau club’s biggest ever Bundesliga win.

The opponents’ form:

Wolfsburg have claimed only one point in their last three league matches. It’s anyone’s guess how they will respond after a two-week long Bundesliga break. Max Kruse scored for Germany, Ricardo Rodriguez qualified with Switzerland, Bas Dost bowed out with the Netherlands, Luiz Gustavo lost against Vargas and Chile in their opening World Cup qualification match – mixed results.

Key battles:

Dante (1.88m) and Naldo (1.98m) have been the most common centre-half pairing for the Wolves this season, making long balls a bad idea for TSG. The strengths of Schmid, Zuber, Volland, Vargas & Co. are in short passing, agility and movement – perfect for opening up gaps in between the two towering centre halves. Their king de Bruyne has left, but prince Draxler has made his mark since his arrival. The recent signing has quickly become their main attacking threat, and TSG would be wise to keep the ex-Schalke man in their sights.

 

Match facts and statistics »