Wolfsburg just missed a Europa league spot by one point last season after the team dropped their final two matches to Freiburg and Hertha Berlin. A finish like that would normally ring an alarm bell. But for Wolfsburg the season was still seen as a positive one. Wolfsburg had one of the youngest teams in the league and the club was ready to invest in Nico Kovač's team to make a push forward and contend for a top-6 spot this upcoming season.
However, this season hasn't gone the way anybody could've predicted.
Signing players like Lovro Majer, Václav Černý and Tiago Tomás to go along with returnees Patrick Wimmer, Jonas Wind and Jakub Kamiński. Wolfsburg was seen as a team that had a lot of flexibility, a lot of speed and a lot of scoring potential.
But under Kovač, Wolfsburg plays a style of football that has become unwatchable for most of this season. Low volume attacking. They limit how many chances they give up, however, they also limit how many chances they get themselves. Build a team with versatile offensive players who have had success scoring in various leagues, the team depends on scoring based on a high-shooting %. Which, the team is doing it. Currently, Wolfsburg are 5th best shooting% team in the league with 37.8%. They just are not given enough chances.
And that's where the problems begin. They are near the bottom in almost every offensive statistical category. Expected goals (xG) they are 5th worst, 5th least passes made, 5th least corner kicks won, 5th least shots attempted, 6th least passed through balls, and 6th least goals scored.
In their last 15 matches, they've scored a total of 18 goals. For comparison, the team in last position, Darmstadt, has scored 16 in that same stretch.
In their last 14 league matches, Wolfsburg has only won twice. A stretch that includes 5 draws and 7 losses. They have four straight draws.
The time for Kovač is over. The club must move on from him immediately. The team has looked lifeless and there seems no end in sight. The players they have on this team are handcuffed by a coach who doesn't want to give them the freedom in the attacking zone. A coach that only wants to focus on defense and get back to scoring at a high-shooting % on a few shots while limiting chances and goals. But this team isn't build for that. Wingers are struggling to create chances and shots. Forwards are not scoring. Every offensive player, other then possibly Kevin Paredes, have regressed this season.
Sporting director Marcel Schäfer claims he will not make a in-season change. He says the team will stick with Kovač until atleast the end of the season. If that's his provocative then that's fine too: Schäfer must go as well. If he doesn't see the problems then Wolfsburg also needs a new sporting director. It's as easy as that.
The season is a waste. Currently Wolfsburg sit in 11th place with 23 points. They are 8 points back from sixth place Eintracht Frankfurt. With 14 matches left in the season, i don't think it's fair to expect Wolfsburg to start climbing up the standings if they did change managers. Perhaps the attack would show more life and team would head into next season with a new sense of confidence and hope. But if Schäfer does what he said he will, and allows Kovač to continue until the end of the season, Wolfsburg could potentially fall into a relegation battle. They sit 8 points from the last relegation playoff spot currently held by Union Berlin. In the last five matches, Union Berlin has already gained 3 points on Wolfsburg. And they have a match in hand on Wolfsburg.
Union Berlin also hosts Wolfsburg next weekend. If Union Berlin was to win both of these matches, they would get within two points of Wolfsburg. The reality of Wolfsburg being in a relegation battle wouldn't seem so far fetched then. All this, for a club which had top-6 aspirations just five months ago.
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