When February arrives, the die are usually cast. In other words: the squad for the remainder of the campaign is set. The Green-Whites also made a few late adjustments to their personnel. Pirmin Schwegler was newly responsible for this.
After his first transfer window at VfL Wolfsburg, the VfL sporting director spoke about…
… his assessment of the squad movements: We’re very satisfied. We knew we still wanted to do something and invested a lot of time into it. Of course, you can never realise every idea you come up with. That’s always the case and will remain so in the future. What matters, though, is that you’re genuinely convinced by what you then go ahead and implement. And that’s absolutely the case. We’re very happy with the lads who are here now.
… the perceived hectic nature of deadline day: Generally speaking, the winter transfer window is extremely difficult. But that’s not just the case for us – it’s the same for every other club, too. If deals are then completed on the final day, it naturally looks very last-minute. But longer processes are always running behind the scenes. With Jeanuel Belocian, for example, it was several weeks of groundwork. And when a door suddenly swings open – as it did in this case – things can happen very quickly.
… the need to act: Originally, there was the plan to reduce the size of the squad. We did also let a player go in Mathys Angely. But it has to be said that we’ve been plagued by extremely bad luck with injuries throughout the season: I’m thinking of Cleiton, who joined us and was immediately sidelined, but also Jenson Seelt, Joakim Maehle, Jonas Wind, Rogerio – you can name so many. So we no longer have a surplus by any means. But there’s no point complaining about it. With the group we have now, we’re going full throttle into the final 14 games.
… the current sporting situation: It’s absolutely clear that we can’t be satisfied with the points return. The reasons for that are varied. What’s crucial is to look ahead and not lose conviction. We have to restore belief in our strengths through hard work. I do think that the second half in Cologne, however disappointing the result was, showed how it can be done. We played forward with high intensity, with courage and risk. Now we have to build on that against Dortmund.
… the desire for consistency: Cologne was the best example. Leaving everything out on the pitch for 90 minutes and beyond – which really should be a given – is something we’ve struggled with far too often in recent weeks. If we finally manage to do that, we definitely have the quality to win enough games and get back on track. But phases like this always also offer the chance to stand even closer together, so that you ultimately come out of it stronger. I’m firmly convinced that we will achieve exactly that.
