The game wasn’t the most entertaining ever but Gladbach threatened early on with Benaglio tipping a shot around the post. Even though I couldn’t watch the game, basing my judgement on the highlights and reading the match report, it is not difficult to reach such a conclusion. I don’t recall any instant through which Dzeko or Grafite threatened yesterday. Even Diego’s only contribution, in addition of initiating the move we scored from, was a shot that was deflected wide by a desperate defensive block. Gladbach smelled blood after they got their equalizer and we lost Benaglio to injury and they came close to snatch a winner a couple of times late in the second half.

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M´gladbach vs Wolfsburg 1-1
Uploaded by triglycee. – More professional, college and classic sports videos.‘ >Wolves vs. Gladbach

Over a course of a season, it is expected that we have one of those days where we find ourselves in a winning position away from home but can’t preserve such a lead and come home only with a draw. But hey, I will take that draw especially when you look around and see the mire a club like Schalke is going through. Even Bayern Munich are struggling to score these days. It is not about finding excuses but it is early days in the season and there are plenty of winnable points out there.

One last thing, Kahlenberg is the first player to score a goal this season for the Wolves without being name Dzeko, Grafite or Diego.

Take it easy!

The opening minutes of the first period posed serious threat by Hamburg with Choupo-Moting particularly proactive and there was a couple of dangerous free-kicks by Petric that were well-saved by Benaglio. Yet on a rare foray by Pekarik on the right flank, Dzeko managed to poke it home inside Rost’s near post. Hamburg responded strongly and regained control as Westermann threatened with a hooked shot from a corner and the equalizer arrived soon afterwards through Choupo-Moting’s header with Schaefer and Kjaer the main culprits. Schaefer was easily skinned on the left by Pitroipa and Kjaer could be accused of ball watching as Choupo-Moting planted his header into the goal. McClaren really needs to sort out the individual mistakes that riddles our game this season.

The second half was a similar affair as Hamburg poured forward and we were hanging on waiting for the right time to break.
Heiko Westermann crashed a header against the post before a fast break culminating with Schaefer squaring the ball to Grafite to score our second. Minutes later, our Brazilian made the points by dispatching our third on the night. A really good win considering the run of play and our precious position at this moment in which the team showed greater resilience and will to win.
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It is no coincidence that the turn around in our form came after restoring Grafite to side with all subsequent tactical adjustment needed. The players look more at ease in a familiar 4-4-2 formation that brought the best out of them two years ago.

On a different note, Dzeko spoke of his disappointment due to the collapse of his move to Juventus this summer. While he is a truly professional player on the pitch whose form did not show any ill-effects because of his regular wantaway rants, this can really affect the unity of the dressing room. Having your captain constantly venting his frustration because he is still around hardly send the right vibes for his teammates and the whole club.
An update on Ziani’s injury situation, it seems like he will be out for up to three month as his groin requires an operation.
That’s it for today folks.. I’d like to know about your perceptions regarding last night’s game….till next time!

The opener duly came after the break with Diego showing lots of guile and bravery to score with a spectacular overhead kick following Pekarik’s deflected cross. Soon afterwards, he was at the receiving end of a nasty kick to his lower back which duly forced him to be substituted. We secured the points with a second from Dzeko who rolled the ball into an empty net following some calamity goalkeeping from Fromlowitz.

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In his post match reaction the Manger sounded really relieved:
“They were three very important points today. We were expecting a difficult game but the players dealt with the situation very well. We need to continue working on our performances though, then next time it will be more than just the result that looks good”

While it is really great to register that elusive first win, we need to keep our feet firmly on the ground for the upcoming games to compensate for our earlier blip. Elsewhere, Mainz continued their surprising start to the season by winning at Werder Bremen and Schalke were unable to replicate our results for once this season as they capitulated at home to their fierce Ruhr rivals Dortmund. It will be interesting to see how our former coach Magath will react to that acute situation. Football is a funny game indeed.

The good news is that they have a mini-injury crisis in central defense as Emanuel Pogatetz, Karim Haggui and Sergio Pinto are all unavailable which is not bad news for Dzeko & co.

On our side, we welcome Sacha Riether back to the side with Karim Ziani the main absentee from today’s fixture.
According to the Wolves official website, today’s squad for the game includes:
Benaglio, Lenz, Hitz, Cicero, Dejagah, Dzeko, Grafite, Barzagli, Hasebe, Johnson, Josué, Kahlenberg, Kjær, Madlung, Mandzukic, Diego, Pekarik, Riether, Schäfer.

I think it is quite possible to witness a change in our tactical shape as McClaren is getting desperate to rejuvenate his faltering troops.
Till Tomorrow

An awful start to the season (our worst start to be more precise) must have preyed on the minds of players alittle bit particularly after our second half capitulation against Mainz in the previous match. McClaren is adamant that he doesn’t have the luxury of time when it comes to turning things around as he says:

“I knew that it was going to be hard to start with, but it is harder than I thought. The pressure is mounting.”

On the poor form of some of the players, he added:

“The players are playing below their actual ability. It is hard to explain, and I don’t only mean Diego. Simon Kjaer is usually far more assured than he is and I know that Cicero is a lot better than this. We are in a critical situation.”

These are testing times at the VolksWagen and I wonder which McClaren we are going to see, the “wolly with a brolly” manager of England who failed to qualify for EURO 2008 or the assured manager of Middlesborough and FC Twente… Only time will tell but he must be wary that Herr Hoeness is not very patient when it comes to showing loyalty to struggling managers. A quick look on Hertha Berlin’s list of Ex-coaches tells its own story.
Till next time!

The Skinny:

Wolfsburg has had a difficult start to the season, losing 2-1 to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena followed by utter heartbreak as they blew a 3-0 lead and lost 3-4 to Mainz. They’ll need all of Steve McClaren’s considerable ability in seeking to beat Dortmund on their home pitch. The yellow and black will surely be up for the game after a convincing 3-1 victory against Stuttgart on Aug. 29. Though set for Europa League play next Thursday against Karpty Lviv, Jurgen Klopp will have to keep his squad focused on the task at hand if they want to get the result against Wolfsburg. The team feels they are better than what their record indicates and they’ll be anxious to show what they can do tomorrow.

Wolfsburg (Players to Watch): Edin Dzeko and Diego
Dortmund (Players to Watch): Lucas Barrios and Mats Hummels

What are Wolfsburg’s chances? Let us know what you think?

The question now what fits the team better? , the playmaking skills of Misimovic or the Brazilian talent of Diego? On the one hand, in terms of stardom criteria, Diego checks all the marks ,at least on the Bundesliga level if not the international level. He performed consistently well in his three years with Werder Bremen and showed up in the Champions League and that’s the place where the Wolves aspire to compete on regular basis. Diego also looks like a more proactive than Misimovic when it comes to scoring goals a point I will revisit later in this post. On the other hand, Misimovic creativity was a a perpetual source of goals, particularly during his Wolfsburg days, and he struck perfect understanding with the prolific front pairing of the last three seasons of Dzeko & Grafite. The figure below clarifies the goal and assist records of the two players in the league over the last four seasons.

From the figure above, it is obvious that Deigo’s record was superior during 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 season but we have to note that while he was plying his trade in Bremen, Misimovic was a playmaker for much lesser teams; Bochum and Nurenberg respectively. Moreover, the stats prove that the 4-4-2 system deployed firstly by Magath and later by Veh made great use of Misimovic’s ability to create goals especially last season where he assisted 18 goals. In a way Diego’s goal record,with the exception of his aberration of a season at Juve, classifies him as a striker or at least as a deep lying forward who is playing in the hole. Conversely, Misimovic can be regarded as an attacking central midfielder who plays at the tip of midfield diamond.

Conclusion
McClaren looks set to use a 4-2-3-1 system regularly and he sees Diego as the attacker in the middle of the “3″. His dribbling ability and his eye for goal arriving late into the box should ensure plenty of goal scoring chances but whether this system would make the full use of Dzeko’s ability remain to be seen even if they combined superbly to destructive effect in the first half of last week’s defeat against Mainz.
Let’s hope our wait for the Bundesliga to resume will end very soon!
Cheers!

McClaren cutting an animated figure

Since this is a football blog after all, we will only discuss the Wolves horrible start to the season. To keep everything in perspective, in each of the two games we played this season, they were games of two halves. Against Bayern, the team was woeful in the first half but improved considerably in the second half, getting an equalizer and nearly nicking a win before the Schweinstieger’s injury time winner.

Yesterday on the other hand, we started the game in proactive fashion despite Mainz attempts to close us down at every turn with Diego showing some nice early touches. Dzeko managed to ghost in and capitalize on a poor clearance by the Mainz defense. Soon later, he added to his tally after combining athletically with Mandzukic and then the script for the match couldn’t get any better with Diego rounding the goalkeeper and scoring a third. The home support were in dreamland by then with only Rasmussen goal before the end of the half staining an imperious team performance and great result.

What happened afterwards is beyond comprehension as we gave away three cheap goals that were all due to individual and collective mistakes. For Mainz’s second goal, two of our players were easily found out by a piece of skill from Lewis Holtby who crossed for Soto to score. Didn’t I single out Holtby in yesterday’s post as the creative outlet in that team?! Benaglio should have really done better with their equalizing goal as he was easily beaten from distance. As for the crushing blow provided by the amusingly named Hungarian Szalai who received Zabavnik’s pass and turned Kjaer far too easily to score. If you want to relive the agony of yesterday’s game you can watch it here (enjoy!). This team seems to have a real problem in closing attackers down which is a mystery as we are supposed to be playing a 4-2-3-1 with two pivots shielding the back four. McClaren has a lot to do to improve the team’s defensive play as well as try to pick up the morale of the players as they find themselves rooted to the bottom of the table with no points to show after two games.
While anybody can be defeated away to Bayern. Mainz at home is a game we fully expect to win not to throw away after going 3-0 up after 30 mintues. It will be interesting to see how the team is going to respond this.
Have a much better day than yesterday!

Come in # 28!

Looking into today’s game, it seems like Mainz are carrying their good form of the 2nd part of last season with them. The way they handled VfB Stuttgart showcased their menace particularly at home. They lined up in a diamond 4-4-2 formation with Lewis Holtby the architect of their two goals that we were scored by their forwards; Allagui and Rasmussen.

Thus, it is will be interesting to see how McClaren will be approaching this fixture. He must be really determined to get over the disappointment of that last gasp loss against Bayern last week. Most probably we will continue with the 4-2-3-1 formation used against the Bavarians with Josue and Cicero protecting the back four and keeping Holtby in check. The right back position was our Achilles heel against Bayern with young Pekarik constantly skinned by Ribery so expect to see Riether taking his position. So it looks like we will be starting the game with something similar to this:

(4-2-3-1): Benaglio; Riether, Kjaer, Barzagli, Schaefer; Josue, Cicero; Ziani, Misimovic, Mandzukic; Dzeko

Let’s hope we will nick the 3 points today as any other result such as this will be a dent to our hopes of recapturing the spirit of 2009.

Cheers and have a good Saturday!

The revival of Diego’s on-off transfer from Juventus is making the headlines as the McClaren is set to secure his services for around 15million euros. The brazilian completed his medical on Wednesday and is expected to ink a four-year deal with the Club. I think that’s great news as it will bolster our attacking ranks with a playmaker of proven qualities in the Bundesliga.

Spending three seasons at Werder Bremen, Diego cemented his reputation as a provider and scorer of goals. However, his brief stay in Serie A with Juventus was not as productive as the Old Lady endured a season of mediocrity similar to ours last time around. I think he will have alot to offer to the team for this coming season and hopefully he will be supplying the bullets for Dzeko and Co.

I think Hoeness and McClaren will be very satisfied with their transfer activity this summer having strengthened the team in all departments especially with the signing of Simon Kjaer which I think is a sign of intent sent out by our new managing duo. Yet one big question mark lingers around the future of our original No.10 Zvjezdan Misimovic. It is quite possible that McClaren doesn’t consider him part of his plans and is planning to bring in his own players for the coming season. I think that’s a reasonable assumption as you don’t start your playmaker on the bench away to FC Bayern. The remaining few days will prove if there is any truth in the rumors linking him to Schalke.

On a different note, our recent summer signing Arne Friedrich will be out of action or up to three months because of a back problem that requires a surgery. It is such a blow for the team that will deprived of the services of the versatile defender. I think this will tie McClaren’s hand in the upcoming games as he will be forced to use Riether as a right back after the poor first half show of young Pekarik against Ribery in last weekend’s defeat against FC Bayern.

All right wolves, that’s it for today. Tomorrow we will have a preview for out next game at home against Mainz.
Cheers