Wolfsburg (dpa) – While the ex-club Union Berlin lost in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup Leipzig and ranked in the European Bundesliga in the Bundesliga, Max Kruse is in a relegation battle.
In the important game against FSV Mainz 05, VfL Wolfsburg has to make amends for the bitter swatter from last matchday against Borussia Dortmund today (8.30 p.m. / DAZN).
“Every player, the team and we all have a duty to give an answer on the pitch tomorrow, to show a reaction and thus come a big step closer to staying up in the league,” said sports director Marcel Schäfer, who will also see the VfL veterans in have taken the duty.
The plan with Kruse has not yet worked out
Kruse has so far failed to completely fill the role of the leading figure – after all, that’s what he was brought in for. In the 1: 6 debacle at Borussia Dortmund, the 34-year-old was one of the weakest players on the pitch, after the first half coach Florian Kohfeldt took him off the pitch. His poor record: 16 ball contacts and not a single shot on goal.
And in general, VfL’s plan with the Bundesliga veteran didn’t work out. In January, Kruse surprisingly moved from Berlin to Wolfsburg. The veteran player would join Danish striker Jonas Wind to bring back the scoring threat that had been lost with unhappy ex-attacker Wout Weghorst. So far, Kruse has only scored three goals in ten games.
Nmecha praised Kruse as a “great guy”
After all, he seems to inspire a teammate. Lukas Nmecha praised Kruse as a “great guy” who had “certain moments in the game” and did “unusual things on the pitch”. But Nmecha was skeptical at first, as he said in an interview with “Sport Bild”: “I have to say honestly, I was surprised. I followed the stories about Max Kruse and his postings on the Internet and thought: Now this is breaking for us chaos out.”
But neither much positive nor much negative chaos has been seen in Kruse’s second Wolfsburg station so far. Since his move, VfL has barely moved in the table and has even slipped down one place.