A quiet afternoon

The Wolves had unexpected visitors in the VOLKSWAGEN ARENA on Saturday. A delegation of Buddhist monks watched the Bundesliga round 10 home game against Schalke. The Tibetan visitors seemed to give calmness to the proceedings which rubbed off on both sides on the pitch! After the final whistle was blown on a rather serene goalless draw, both coaches were happy with the result: "We didn’t want to play into their hands and we didn’t ", explained Holger Fach. His Schalke counterpart Ralf Rangnick: "We kept a clean sheet so it was okay." 

Back three

Both sides had an attacking look about them. Fach picked Juan Menseguez for Alex, and played a 3-5-2 system for the first time this season. Despite the change, the game was at times void of goal mouth action: "Both teams were determined to do well but were unable to. It was a top level match, but was constantly interrupted by niggly fouls ", said the Wolves keeper Simon Jentzsch after the game. On the positive side, Hans Sarpei and Kevin Hofland both won 68% of their tackles which is a superb effort.

"Rightly in the top half" 

Wolfsburg’s co-trainer Michael Oenning, who replaced the suspended Wolfsburg head coach Fach on the bench on Saturday, saw two strong sides on the pitch: "Both sides tried to play aggressively and both sides are rightly in the top half of the Bundesliga table." The home side missed two good chances to take the lead early on as Andres D'Alessandro saw a deflected shot saved by the Schalke keeper Rost on 12 minutes and 7 minutes later. Belgian defender Peter Van der Heyden missed from close range from an acute angle

The numbers game

The statistics following the round 10 clash make good reading. The Wolves are still unbeaten at home after five matches, while Schalke are the only unbeaten team in the Bundesliga after ten rounds. The tradition-steeped Gelsenkirchen club is now seven points behind the Bundesliga leaders Bayern, after gaining six draws out of ten games. No less than nine South Americans on the pitch on Saturday.

Unlucky Belgian

Spare a thought for Wolfsburg’s Belgian defender Peter Van der Heyden who, to put it lightly, is down on his luck again. The defender limped off the pitch after only 30 minutes against Schalke. It is thought that he has torn a hamstring, but an examination on Monday will shed more light on the matter. Van der Heyden (29) will not play in the FA Cup clash away to high-flying Werder Bremen on Tuesday (25.10.05, kick off 7.30 pm).