A clash of two immediate neighbours is on the schedule: On Saturday, February 3rd (kick-off 15:30 CET), VfL Wolfsburg play host to VfB Stuttgart in the Volkswagen Arena. VfB currently in 14th place in the Bundesliga table and thus one place behind the Wolves. Ahead of the meeting with the Swabians, who installed Tayfun Korkut as their new head-coach earlier in the week and have so far claimed just one point from ten away games so far this season, VfL head-coach Martin Schmidt spoke about…
…the possibilities presented by the new signings: I now have players who are strong in their combination play and can get deep very well. Players likes Josip Brekalo and Renato Steffen are also excellent in one-on-one situations in the wide positions. From Admir Mehmedi, we all know about situations when he drifts inside from the wing with a trick. He also has a very strong shot from distance. We now have a more evenly balanced squad with real depth of quality.
…the personnel situation: We have 21 fit players, who are all in the running for a place - Admir Mehmedi is one of them. Felix Uduokhai and John Anthony Brooks are both working intensively in rehabilitation-training. We hope to have them back in full team training during next week. Right now it would be reckless to say that one will play on Wednesday and that the other we be there in Bremen. For the coming packed week, it will be a close call for both of them. The target for Ignacio Camacho is that he can begin with some light jogging next week. It’s all going according to plan for him right now. Jakub Blaszczykowski has been in rehabilitation-training since Wednesday. Back problems always require more patience.
…the current situation in the table: 13th position is not the greatest level we wish to achieve. We want to move two, three or four places up the table, which we will be working towards in the coming games. The squad is well-prepared for that. We are more variable and more difficult to reckon with now.
…expectation of Stuttgart: It all depends on how the new coach sets out the team. From a club that have just changes their coach, I am expecting to see a reaction. The players will all have a new motivation in their approach and they will want to show the new coach what they are capable of. I am expecting an aggressive and defiant opponent, who know exactly what’s at stake. We will have to be ready to take it to the maximum.
…the approach this Saturday: We want to be in the game and on the ball right from the outset, in order to dominate Stuttgart. We want to take that fresh breeze from the Hannover match into this game and press forward. We all know what needs to be done: We want the second win in succession! We haven’t achieved that feat for quite some time, so that’s the target we have set ourselves. I have every fate in this team’s ability to achieve our goals. We have the chance to prove what we can do again this weekend against Stuttgart. The team know that and that’s how we will be going about this match.
First Team
