another lesson from Hoffenheim

By: j | November 16th, 2008

Die Wölfe were taught an important lesson from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim but a lesson I sadly do not expect to have an impact with the club as they fell 3-2 at Carl-Benz-Stadion. While Felix Magath employed a greater defending influence with five in the back, although with a peculiar absence of Cristian Zaccardo from the starting grid, it lacked the supporting depth and width to control the home sides attack. The loss find Wolfsburg drifting eighth in the table, nine points behind Bayer Leverkusen.

Bosnia and Herzegovina international Vedad Ibišević showed his intent early and after narrowly missing twice, found the net after the twenty-second minute. Continuing the pressure, the home side looked on the verge of scoring again before a defensive slip-up gave Grafite the chance to level the match three minutes before the half-hour mark. Carlos Eduardo returned the home sides lead eight minutes before the break before one-half of Wolfsburg Bosnian connection, Edin Džeko brought it even only three minutes later. The match at this stage was marked with notable attacking influence by Hoffenheim but critical defending errors on their part which Wolfsburg capitalized on. Play tightened up marginally after the break with Wolfsburg offering little forward and whether they were intending on countering is a debatable point as they showed little. With just over twenty minutes remaining Nigerian international Chinedu Obasi added the final score of the day to give the home side Hoffenheim a deserving 2-1 victory.

After the match Felix Magath commented:

“We played our part in a very interesting encounter. We were a good visiting side and gave a good account of ourselves. Hoffenheim were slightly more active than we were so they deserved to win here today.”

As Wolfsburg looks to advance with firm goals in the Champions League it must embrace stronger defensive tactics and nullify open runs that dotted Hoffenheim’s performance. Wolfsburg returns to Bundesliga action next week against VfB Stuttgart next Saturday.