“Would have liked to have had more time”
©IMAGO
Paul Simonis, who was fired from VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday, spoke to the “Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung” for the first time about his departure. “I just had the feeling that we were starting to play better – and suddenly it was all over,” the 40-year-old Dutchman told the paper. The wolf yield under Simonis has been historically weak.
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Simonis was in office for twelve games and 131 days before those in charge at Wolfsburg pulled the ripcord. In the Netherlands he won the cup with the Go Ahead Eagles and earned a good reputation before moving to the Autostadt. His team only got eight points in ten Bundesliga games, and the Lower Saxony team also failed in the second round of the DFB Cup against second division club Holstein Kiel. The points average of 0.92 points per game is historically weak. Since promotion to the Bundesliga in 1997, only Pierre Littbarski, who was interim coach for five games in 2011, has been worse.
Simonis also struggled with the composition of the squad. “Of course you make mistakes. I’ve learned to stay calmer and be even closer to the team. If I get the chance again, I will work more closely with the scouting department – to better understand which types of players really fit into the squad and where you can target them,” he explained. “We had technically good players, but physically and in terms of running, we weren’t at the level we needed.” According to Bundesliga.de, the Wolves covered 119.5 kilometers per game – seventh place in the German upper house. The people of Lower Saxony also occupy a place in the upper midfield when it comes to sprints and intensive runs.
For Simonis, who was assistant coach to former Schalke player Kees van Wonderen at the Go Ahead Eagles and Heerenveen, the Wolfsburg chapter ended too quickly. “I would have liked to have had more time. I was convinced that our idea would have worked – but that takes time. There has been a clear development in the last few weeks. I would have liked to have continued.” With a squad value of 252 million euros – which means 7th place in the Bundesliga comparison – 14th place in the table is well below expectations (to the table). Measured against this, VfL is one of the weakest teams in Europe.
VfL Wolfsburg has not yet found a successor for Simonis; recently there were rumors about Thomas Reis, who is doing a good job at Samsunspor in Turkey. Simonis, meanwhile, has been linked to Ajax Amsterdam, where John Heitinga was recently released, just days after his exit. “I know my next task will come,” he said confidently.