Our next opponents: Wind goes down a storm

Position

VfL Wolfsburg have yet to drop a point at home at the Volkswagen Arena. The team under coach Niko Kovac have only conceded one goal in the wins against FC Heidenheim (2-0), Union Berlin (2-1) and Eintracht Frankfurt (2-0). Away from home is a different matter. Four games, three defeats and one win (2-1 at FC Köln) is the return so far this term. The last match before the international break ended in a 3-1 defeat against VfB Stuttgart, the surprise package of the season. For much of the game it was looking good for the Wolves away to the Swabians. Yannick Gerhardt put the visitors ahead when they were on top in the first half. Then "we completely lost our bottle," said the aggrieved goalscorer after the match. The captain Maximilian Arnold was equally annoyed after the poor second half performance: "We dropped back too deep and didn't do what we'd done well in the first half."

And the coach Kovac declared: "We stopped putting in the challenges. We gave the ball away too quickly and that means your strength drops off." That was supposedly also the case in the 3-1 defeat in Sinsheim away to TSG Hoffenheim. "It's a pity it's happened again now." Serhou Guirassy was the matchwinner in Stuttgart with a hat-trick – goals 11, 12 and 13 of the season for him – when he benefited from individual mistakes by Wolfsburg players.

VfL did have a decent start to the season and are currently seventh in the table with twelve points. The team from Lower Saxony eased through the first round of the DFB Pokal against Oberliga side TuS Makkabi Berlin with a 6-0 victory and now they face holders RB Leipzig in Wolfsburg in the second round tie on 31 October.

Personnel

VfL Wolfsburg may have to manage without their number one on Saturday. Koen Casteels was unable to play for Belgium during international break due to a stomach problem. The 31-year-old, who is set to leave the Wolves after this season at the latest, may be replaced by Pavao Pervan in the game against the Werkself.

Niko Kovac has recently opted to play Maxence Lacroix and new signing Cédric Zesiger (Young Boys Bern), a Switzerland teammate of Granit Xhaka, in the back four. Zesiger did not feature in Switzerland's 3-3 draw against Belarus at the weekend. If the 1.94 metre giant is not the first choice against Bayer 04 then Moritz Jenz may fill his position. He is also a newcomer at the Wolves, signed from top-flight French club FC Lorient in the summer, but he played for Schalke 04 on loan in the last Rückrunde. Jenz has only made two appearances to date due to injury.

Another new signing has established himself on the flanks: The Dane Joakim Maehle joined Wolfsburg from Atalanta in August and has started all seven games this season, either on the right or the left flank. Candidates for the other full-back position are Ridle Baku and the Brazilian Rogério, who came from Serie A club US Sassuolo, but he has had to miss out recently due to a muscle injury.

In holding midfield, Kovac has relied on the duo of Maximilian Arnold and Mattias Svanberg in the last four games. Attacking input comes from Yannick Gerhardt, now in his eighth season at the Wolves. Also new to the team are Tiago Tomás (recently on loan at VfB Stuttgart from Sporting Club in Portugal) and Lovro Majer. The latter is considered to be the marquee signing for VfL after his move from Stade Rennes. The Croatian master technician is versatile in attack having played as an eight, a ten and recently on the right wing. The 25-year-old is also not shy of working back and he is one of the players to cover the most kilometres in the Bundesliga this season.

Up front, Jonas Wind is having an outstanding season for the Green and Whites. The Dane has scored seven goals so far and he is third highest scorer in the Bundesliga alongside Werkself striker Victor Boniface behind Harry Kane and Serhou Guirassy. Kovac is still without the services of Lukas Nmecha, who underwent a knee operation in August, and he will not be able to play for VfL again this year.

Performers

After the third league home win on the bounce, Niko Kovac was in a mood for jokes: He identified the fact "that Wind has gone down like a storm" said the Wolves coach referring to the double goalscorer Jonas Wind. The Dane scored his sixth and seventh goal of the season against Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2-0 win and he has scored more often after seven matchdays than he did in the whole of last season. The 24-year-old has scored 70% of all VfL goals this season (10). No wonder that the Wolfsburg sporting managing director Marcel Schäfer is full of praise for his top striker: "He is one of our best players in terms of technique – and when he's in the box he has an incredible presence and the ability to finish. Jonas is a strong striker and it's almost impossible to get the ball off him."

Wind cannot do everything in attack to remain in favour with Kovac. Wolfsburg have strengthened well up front with the signing of the Croat Lovro Majer and Tiago Tomás from Stuttgart. Pressing high up the pitch, putting the opposition under pressure and creating as many chances as possible – has not only worked brilliantly in home games to date. And VfL are also mostly solid at the back. The French central defender Maxence Lacroix stands out with his aggressive approach and his positional play and Kovac praised the 23-year-old saying he is "guarantee that we don't give much away." No other team in the league is as solid from set pieces and corners and VfL have only conceded one goal from these situations so far.

Problems

VfL recently made some individual errors in Stuttgart and that was clinically exploited by the Swabians. The otherwise reliable Cédric Zesiger committed an unfortunate foul against Guirassy who converted the penalty awarded. The second goal for Stuttgart came from Ridle Baku losing possession. And finally, substitute Vaclav Cerny lost the ball in midfield and the ensuing quick counter-attack ended with Guirassy scoring his third goal. "We made life difficult for ourselves and we have to learn quickly as a team," said Yannick Gerhardt. And it is true up to now that if Jonas Wind does not score then VfL do not win.

Prediction

Finally moving up from mid-table mediocrity: VfL definitely want to qualify for Europe again this season. That is the aim after finishing twelfth and eighth in the last two league campaigns. Wolfsburg have lost key players like Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund) and Micky van de Ven (Tottenham Hotspur) but have also brought in several players who have immediately strengthened the squad in Cédric Zesiger, Joakim Maehle, Moritz Jenz, Lovro Majer and Tiago Tomás. The quality of the squad he is undoubtedly good enough for Wolfsburg to finish in the top third of the table.