Tah back in training – Bailey sidelined

"The defeat against Schalke 04 was a bitter blow," said Herrlich who was still clearly disappointed two days after the game. That was not made more palatable by direct rivals from Dortmund (1-1 against Augsburg) Frankfurt (0-1 in Stuttgart) and Leipzig (1-2 against FC Köln) also slipping up with the top third of the table still very closely packed. "We'll have to see that we pick up points rather than look at what the others are doing. It's important for us to draw the right lessons from the Schalke match," said the Werkself head coach after the only session on Tuesday as he focuses attention on the forthcoming match away to Wolfsburg who are currently in the relegation battle in fifteenth place in the top flight: "I know what we need to work on. We'll do that and try to get the best possible outcome."

The fact the captain Lars Bender – as well as Jonathan Tah –  were both able to complete the full work out in the first training session of the week strengthens Herrlich's optimism – particularly in terms of them playing at the weekend. "Schalke were sharper in one or two situations and more aggressive in challenges. So it will be even better if we can get that additional mentality in the team with Lars coming back into the side."

Reserve keeper Ramazan Özcan and Leon Bailey were missing on Tuesday and, as "a precautionary measure", the pair completed an individual session in the gym at the BayArena instead of taking part in the open training session. Herrlich is optimistic they will not be out of action for long: "I'm assuming we'll have everybody available the day after tomorrow at the latest."