VfL Wolfsburg wanted to make a splash this season, but now there is great frustration. Out of the cup, out of Europe – last year’s fourth-placed team has only the league left. And a lot of work.
The starting position seemed more favourable than ever. VfL Wolfsburg had recovered from the chaotic years in the bottom of the table, qualified for the Champions League again last May for the first time since 2015, and was therefore one of the few clubs in the Bundesliga able to invest properly despite the Corona pandemic and its consequences for the football business. Bornauw, Waldschmidt, the Nmechas, Philipp, Lukebakio, Vranckx, van de Ven – managing director Jörg Schmadtke and sporting director Marcel Schäfer made a big splash in the transfer market, keeping the successful squad together. They had big plans: “Our goal remains,” emphasised ex-professional Schäfer, who has become the voice and face of Wolfsburg’s management, “to qualify for the European Cup, and we want to make a big splash in the Champions League and the Cup.
Now, a few months later, not much remains of that intention. A mistake in the cup led to an embarrassing exit in the first round, followed by a European exit. In front of a disappointing crowd of 6544 spectators, VfL stumbled out of the top flight on Wednesday evening in “probably the most important game in the club’s recent history” (Florian Kohfeldt), finishing last in Group G, which was as balanced as it was weak. Pure gloom. Furore? No such thing. In the end, there was only one victory at home against Salzburg (2:1), everything else was poor football.
And thus the normal state of affairs of the past months. In any case, there was no real euphoria around the reawakened giant, which almost traditionally always trips itself up when it really gets going. In 2009, after the championship, and in 2015, after winning the DFB Cup and finishing as runners-up, the team almost went all the way to the second division. And now? The current situation is one of grey mediocrity. Even the last successful season ended on a relatively cheerful note, despite qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, and the chewing gum poker over the future of coach Oliver Glasner has turned into a mood killer.
But despite all the interpersonal problems around the pitch, the Austrian had at least ensured that there was a team on the pitch that hurt every opponent. When his successor Kohfeldt now almost begs in a three-day rhythm for his team to at least bring intensity and aggression onto the pitch, then you know that a lot of things have broken down recently. The sheer will against Lille, the forcing of victory in such a momentous final? “I would definitely have liked it,” Kohfeldt says around midnight, a sentence that really says it all.
Team has lost its spirit, unity, vigour and greed have given way
The team has lost its spirit, its unity, vigour and greed have gone out of the squad like the air out of a previously popped balloon. It would be far too easy to blame Mark van Bommel for all this. Every player is obviously struggling, is far from being in normal form. The bosses Schmadtke and Schäfer were fatally mistaken in their choice of Glasner’s successor, correcting this misunderstanding early on, which Kohfeldt can now hardly straighten out within a few weeks. “I know what you didn’t do last summer” – that’s how the VfL season so far can be summed up.
The new coach puts it diplomatically: “We have to remember what can make us strong” – keyword intensity. “At the moment, we lack the automatisms for the other areas of the game. They can’t be trained in the short time available.” Failures in the preparation, in which van Bommel wanted to implement his ball possession style. Unsuccessfully – although there had been players who recognised the danger and the risk early on. And so the pressing and switching team lost its strength, and with Xaver Schlager (cruciate ligament rupture) a key player on top of that – currently the team stands for practically nothing. And it is obviously not in a position to extricate itself from this mess. It is significant that recently it is above all the 19-year-old Aster Vranckx who is fighting back against the inertia in the VfL game.
Kohfeldt: “It’s my job to radiate positive energy “
With a view to the second half of the season, it almost seems like an advantage that the Lower Saxons can now concentrate fully on the league. Coach Kohfeldt must now save this season and in doing so be careful not to be caught up emotionally by his Werder past, when he was unable to free himself from the negative maelstrom. By dancing on only one wedding, the football coach at least gains training sessions on the training ground. But he also has to convince the team of his idea, he obviously must not overload them, he has to bring the simplicity of the football game to the pitch at the moment. “It’s my job to radiate positive energy and try to solve these problems,” he says.
The belief that the 39-year-old can get VfL back on track remains unchanged. Kohfeldt demands more courage in all areas of the team, but chose the cautious option himself against Lille by initially fielding only two attacking players in Wout Weghorst and Luca Waldschmidt. “A few weeks ago,” he recalls back to the end of October, “when I started here, it looked like it could go in the right direction quickly.” And now? “You can already tell there are a few things that need some time.” Time that is actually hardly available.
