8 times first, 8 times 9th…

VfL Wolfsburg finished the 2004/5 season in 9th place. After a fabulous first half of the season, the Wolves were unable to recapture their form after the winter break. During the first half of the season, the Wolves topped the Bundesliga table no less than 8 times. In the second half of the season, they were in 9th place eight times. That statistic alone underlines the erratic form produced by the Wolves. Read here how the season went for your favourite team…

 

 

Through the middle: 48% of all Wolves goals came through the middle, 52% of the goals conceded also came through the middle…

 

Positive I: The longest unbeaten period enjoyed by the Wolves was between the rounds 3 to 7, as they didn’t only remain unbeaten for five matches, but also won all of those matches..

 

Positive II: The Wolves went 271 minutes without leaking a goal, between the rounds 21 to 24.

 

Negative l: The longest negative run came between the rounds 18 to 21. During that time, the Wolves lost four consecutive matches..

 

Negative II: Between the rounds 28 to 31, the Wolves went 233 minutes without scoring.

 

Strength I: 21 Wolves goals came from dead ball situations, only Bremen and Bochum did better (22 goals each).

 

 

Strength II: 15 goals came by way of counter attacks. Only 3 Bundesliga teams had a better record.

 

Strength III: The Wolves kept a clean sheet 10 times during the 2004/5 season, which beat the previous club record set in 2000/01 and 2002/03.

 

Strength IV: Four gaols in a single match by a single player. Martin Petrov was the only player to do that in the Bundesliga, in the 4-3 win over Mainz.

 

Weakness I: The Wolves scored most of their goals between the 31st and 45th minute. They conceded most during the last 15 minutes of a match-11.

 

Weakness II: Wolfsburg conceded the most goals in the Bundesliga, scored by substitute players (12). It is therefore not exactly surprising, that the Wolves lost 4 games through goals scored during the last five minutes.

Weakness III: No team conceded more goals following corners than the Wolves (6).

 

One goal lead...: The Wolves won 12, drew once and lost four matches after going a goal in front.

 

All or nothing: The Wolves gained only 3 draws during last season, the same as HSV and Schalke. The side coached by Erik Gerets won 13 matches, but also lost 16, only the three relegated teams lost more matches.

Highest win: The biggest win of the season saw the Wolves beat Bielefeld 5-0.

 

Blackout: The heaviest defeat of the season came away to Bochum, where the Wolves went down 1-5.

 

Fair play table: The Wolves finished 8th in the fair play table.

 

Goal hungry: Thomas Brdaric and Martin Petrov both scored 12 goals last season.

 

Pure class: Martin Petrov scored 12 and set up 14 goals during last season, making him the top scorer in the Bundesliga. Only Bayern’s Roy Makaay came close to the Bulagarian winger. Petrov scored three goals by way of a direct free kick.

 

Fastest goal: The fastest goal last season was scored in the AOL Arena in Hamburg by Thomas Brdaric, who put the Wolves ahead after only 18 seconds. The Wolves still lost the match 1-3…

 

Danger men: Thomas Brdaric firde in 79 shots on goal, closely followed by Martin Petrov (78).

 

The "waiter": Martin Petrov "served" up 107 passes which led to shots on goal.

 

Most-fouled: Andres D' Alessandro was fouled 74 times.

 

Yellow fever: Kevin Hofland was shown a yellow card no less than 13 times last season, the most yellow cards of any player in the Bundesliga last season. On average, Hofland saw a yellow card every 162 minutes. Mind you, he committed the most fouls (86). Stefan Schnoor collected 10 yellow cards.

 

Red…: D'Alessandro was the only Wolves player to be shown a red card.

 

Yellow/Red: Facundo Quiroga was shown the yellow/ red card twice during last season, Hans Sarpei and Kevin Hofland once. No other Bundesliga side had as many yellow/ red cards.

 

Aerial power: Kevin Hofland won 71% of his battles in the air. Only Dortmund’s Christoph Metzelder was better. In the tackle stakes, Hofland won 62% of his, just behind Maik Franz (63%).

 

Ever-present: Miroslav Karhan played all 34 Bundesliga matches for the Wolves last season. Simon Jentzsch and Pablo Thiam missed only one game each. Thiam played  2,901 Bundesliga minutes for the Wolves.

 

Part time…: Mirko Hrgovic was the Wolves player who had the least amount of minutes of Bundesliga action to his name last season. He played only 49 minutes for the team, all of those minutes as a substitute.

 

Unlucky: Marko Topic came on as a substitute 18 times. He also made the starting line-up four times; he didn’t score a single goal.

 

Early shower: Argentinean striker Diego Klimowicz was taken off early no less than 15 times.

 

The 12th man: In all, 408,552 spectators attended Bundesliga matches in the VOLKSWAGEN ARENA last season. The average home gate was24,032.