Don’t feel any pressure yet
The downward trend at VfL Wolfsburg reached its temporary peak on Saturday. In the 1:3 defeat at VfL Bochum, the Lower Saxony team were not only inferior in terms of play, but also in terms of combat. And that despite the fact that the 2-1 home win against RB Leipzig a week earlier was supposed to have been the turning point. Coach Niko Kovac took the team to task, but blamed himself.
“Of course I put the shoe on myself, I’m not running away from it,” said the 52-year-old on Monday (quoted via “Kicker“). “I’m just as much a part of the team, I set them up and give the instructions. We win and lose games together. We have made our contribution, both positive and negative.”
With just one win from the last seven Bundesliga games, the question is beginning to arise as to whether the 52-year-old will soon have to fear for his job. VfL is only in eleventh place in the table, although only Bayern, Leverkusen, Leipzig and Dortmund have a higher squad value. Only Union Berlin has a higher discrepancy between these two values (for statistics). Added to this is the fact that coaches in Wolfsburg usually don’t have a long half-life. Of the last eight trainers, only Oliver Glasner (2019-2021) survived the two-year mark.
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Kovac has been in office for almost a year and a half, but is currently not feeling any particular pressure: “I have experienced too much in my life. There are always ups and downs, at some point things will go back in the right direction, namely upwards.” The start will be on Tuesday in the DFB Cup at Borussia Mönchengladbach. “I hope tomorrow’s game helps to build confidence. You can use games like this as an opportunity to maneuver yourself in a different direction,” said Kovac. “Every single person lives from hope and faith. If we don’t believe that tomorrow will be better, we don’t have to go on living. I’m a realist, never a pessimist.”
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