Wolfsburg coach Ralph Hasenhüttl has to rebuild his team for the game at FC St. Pauli, and there is a shortage of personnel in the midfield in particular. The chance for newcomer Bence Dardai?
On Wednesday, Bence Dardai delved a little deeper into the world of Wolfsburg. The VfL newcomers were treated to a tour of the Volkswagen factory. The new managing director Peter Christiansen was also there for a glimpse inside the owner’s premises. “It was a great experience,” says the Dane, ‘to see the production processes up close and understand how much work and attention to detail goes into each car.’ For coach Ralph Hasenhüttl, who also took part in the factory tour, the main focus is now on working with his team on the details. After the 4-2 defeat to Werder Bremen, changes are needed – will Dardai be part of them?
Majer and Nmecha are fit again
One thing is clear: “We have to make some personnel changes,” says Hasenhüttl, who can call on Lovro Majer again (after an ankle injury) and possibly also Lukas Nmecha (after adductor problems ) before the game on Saturday, the absence of captain Maximilian Arnold, who has recovered from his severe back injury but received his fifth yellow card in seven games against Bremen. Who will replace the captain? The obvious choice would be Yannick Gerhardt, who was already substituted against Werder and has always been called upon in the past when things got tight, and with whom the coach had an intensive exchange at the beginning of the week. But Dardai also plays a role in the Austrian’s considerations. “He is certainly an option for me.”
The fact is: in addition to Arnold, Mattias Svanberg (ankle) and Aster Vranckx (muscle injury) are still out, and a man is being sought to partner Salih Özcan. The supposed favorite role of Dardai, who has so far had to exercise great patience. So far, the highly talented summer signing from Hertha BSC has almost always been a spectator at VfL games. Although the 18-year-old has always been part of the matchday squad, he has only been used for eleven minutes, in the 2-0 away win in Kiel. However, David Odogu, who could be deployed in central defense, will have to wait even longer for his Bundesliga debut. So why not give the two top talents a try?
“There’s no reason not to,” Hasenhüttl insists. ‘Bence has been involved in the entire preparation, was never injured except for a few days.’ And Odogu is also fully integrated into the team training. ‘The boys already know what it’s about with us, what our automatisms are, what they have to do. I wouldn’t be afraid of that.’ The topic of ‘young or old’ doesn’t exist for the coach anyway. ”For me, it’s only about quality or not.” The average age of the Wolfsburg squad per game serves as proof: at 25.5 years old, VfL ranks third in the Bundesliga behind Frankfurt (24.7) and Stuttgart (24.7).
Hasenhüttl has to manage a balancing act
In the only decisive table, however, Wolfsburg is only 13th. Not good enough for their own standards, not good enough despite the strong opening program. A turnaround is needed, in terms of results, after the big disappointment against Bremen, but also in terms of performance. Hasenhüttl put his finger on the problem this week and must now manage the balancing act of stabilizing the weak defense without weakening the strong offense. “I believe,” says the coach, “that it is possible.” His team must now demonstrate it.
