by Johannes Freitag

Whoever has the damage does not have to worry about ridicule. VfL Wolfsburg had to do this after Select 2:3 versus cologne. Cologne’s top scorer Anthony Modeste couldn’t resist the quick kicks: “It’s very good to beat Jörg Schmadtek’s team and send Wolfsburg into a crisis. You always meet twice in life,” said the 33-year-old who obviously played with him in fact. That Schmadtke sold him to China in July 2017 as coach at 1. FC Köln for €35 million, although the striker did not want to leave.

Negative series like the last 44 years ago

The criticism of the French is likely to be the least of the problems facing the “wolves”, who have not only been in crisis since their defeat on Tuesday. Even before that, five consecutive competitive defeats meant a sad record in the Bundesliga, and now there are six. Recently, 44 years ago, the Wolfsburg team often went empty-handed in the second division north.

“We all know the kind of situation we’re in, that things aren’t working out at the moment. You have to work your way out hard.”
Wout Weghorst

After 16 days of matches, VfL, who was a proud player of the Champions League at the start of the season, stands in front of a pile of broken glass: last week the first season ended, Lower Saxony failed in the DFB Cup in the first round, and they are in the cup places Europe is in the Bundesliga table and at the same time far from the relegation zone. Friday evening (8.30pm, at the NDR Livecenter) the Wolfsburg-based company will be in Munich – if things go very badly for Lower Saxony, progress in the relegation classification could slip to one point after the predicted defeat in the Autumn Champions.

Video: Modeste: “It’s nice to send Wolfsburg into a crisis” (1 minute)

Schaeffer: ‘We must not allow ourselves to be divided’

Coach Kohfeldt, who knows the relegation battle since his time at Werder Bremen, is aware of the danger: “We shouldn’t be mistaken in saying: ‘No, no, no, we have enough quality and it has nothing to do with us. “. We must collect the points, then we can talk about quality again.”

VFL sporting director Marcel Schaefer, who won the championship with Wolfsburg in 2009 but later hit his lows, knows what is important now: “We must not allow ourselves to be divided, even if such stages are really difficult. We have to resist throwing Even more in the balance to get out of this stage. It’s not going to be easy, and you can’t easily turn the lever,” I saw again against Cologne.

VfL Defensive as a major construction site

Schaefer also detailed his analysis: “We are clearly not defending well at the moment.” It is clear that the team cannot deal with the setbacks in the match at the moment: “We are not going back. It is bittersweet and a huge disappointment,” said the 37-year-old.

In fact, the defense has become a major building site: since its last victory at the beginning of November (1-0 against Augsburg), Wolfsburg have conceded at least two goals in each of the next eight matches, including the friendly match against the second division. Hansa Rostock (1-3). VfL goalkeeper Quinn Castells (“I don’t know how that could happen”) was puzzled, but he also acted furiously: “We were better as a team than in the past. That’s why we’re twice ahead. We have to fight it now. And we’re going to turn the thing around” .

Kohfeldt depends on winter break

Kohfeldt is also aware that the Bayern match is unlikely to turn things around. At 39, he is the youngest of VFL manager Schmadtke She got a job guarantee, based on the winter break: “I think the leverage I have now with this team will be in January – in the early prep and in the weeks of training we have there.”

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