Our next opponents: Wolves seeking turnaround

Position

Wolfsburg have still yet to celebrate victory in this calendar year, with their winless run now standing at nine matches in all competitions. In fact, of their last 18 league games, Niko Kovac's men have won just two. Their last success came just before Christmas with a 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Darmstadt 98. After that result on Matchday 15, the Wolves were just four points off a European place - now the gap is double that, with VfL slipping from ninth to 13th in that time. The trend in terms of their position in the table may be heading downwards, but Wolfsburg's performances have been better than this form suggests. They've lost just three of their last nine matches, and all of them by a one-goal margin: 2-1 at Bayern Munich, 1-0 at Union Berlin and 3-2 against Stuttgart last weekend. "We're always close, we're trying, we're meticulous during the week and trying to change our fortunes," said sporting director Sebastian Schindzielorz.

Kovac's men were again in the game until the end against VfB, although the visitors were the dominant team for large parts of the match. Joakim Maehle cancelled out Serhou Guirassy's opener at the start of the second half, before a Guirassy penalty and a Josha Vagnoman goal put the Swabians 3-1 up. The Wolves then showed character to reduce the deficit through substitute Lukas Nmecha, but they couldn't salvage a point. It was Nmecha's first league goal since November 2022 following a number of long injury lay-offs. "We started the second half off well but unfortunately couldn’t keep it at 1-1 for long enough," analysed Kovac afterwards, adding: "VfB just did everything really well. We tried hard but at the end of the day, the result was a totally fair one." And so VfL were left on 25 points after 24 matches. Only once in the club's history has their tally been as bad at this stage of a Bundesliga campaign, namely in the 2017/18 season, when they ended up surviving relegation in the playoff against Holstein Kiel.

Personnel

Maehle went from hero to zero against Stuttgart, scoring the equaliser to make it 1-1 and then, shortly after, giving away the penalty that brought Stuttgart back in front. The left-back also received his fifth yellow card, meaning he's suspended for Sunday's meeting at the BayArena. If Brazilian Rogerio isn't yet fit to feature following several weeks out with a thigh injury, Kovac still has plenty of options at his disposal in Cedric Zesiger, Kevin Paredes, Kilian Fischer or Yannick Gerhardt. Moritz Jenz and Maxence Lacroix are the preferred pairing in the centre of defence, with Ridle Baku starting at right-back recently.

Midfielder Mattias Svanberg, who was unable to play last weekend due to a calf strain, could return against the Werkself in the centre of midfield alongside captain Maximilian Arnold.

In attack, Austria international Patrick Wimmer is fit again and made his comeback from a high ankle sprain in the recent 2-2 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt, but last season's leading provider (eight assists) was left out of the squad altogether a week later against Stuttgart. The 22-year-old has plenty of competition out wide, with the likes of Lovro Majer, Vaclav Cerny, Tiago Tomás, Paredes and Nmecha all available to Kovac. The focal point of the attack is Denmark international Jonas Wind, who with nine goals and seven assists has been directly involved in over half of all the Wolves' goals this season (30). That said, the 25-year-old hasn't found the net since the 2-1 win over RB Leipzig in November 2023, and was benched for the first time this season against Stuttgart. Experienced striker Kevin Behrens, who moved to Wolfsburg from Union Berlin at the end of the winter transfer window, started in his place having scored his first goal for VfL in the draw in Frankfurt.

performers

VfL possess a lot of quality in every department. Defensively they don't give too much away, and sit slap-bang in the middle of the table with 39 goals conceded this term. The stats also show that Kovac's team are very stable in terms of counter-attack protection, susceptibility to set pieces and shots allowed. Wolfsburg's desire and commitment are always there anyway. The last nine games without a win have always been very close, with the team from Lower Saxony never losing by more than one goal. But there is also plenty of potential in the attack. Wind and Behrens are proven in the league, and there is really no shortage of first-class wingers (see above).

Problems

However, Wolfsburg haven't summoned their great potential enough this season. On multiple occasions, Kovac has criticised his side for making too many simple individual mistakes, including after the 3-2 loss to Stuttgart. "For the first goal we didn't cover, and for the second we gambled and left space in behind." They need to cut out the errors, he's emphasised: "If you don't manage to keep a clean sheet, then it's going to be difficult." A clean sheet is something the Wolves have only recorded three times this season.

There is one thing bothering Kovac: VfL have already squandered 17 points from losing positions - only Borussia Mönchengladbach (23) have dropped more this season. Frankfurt's equaliser in stoppage time, for example, was particularly frustrating and not the first time the Green-and-Whites didn't get their just rewards.

Prediction

No one at Wolfsburg can be satisified with the team's current situation. "It's obviously not a pleasing situation, it's gnawing at us," said sporting director Schindzielorz recently on German television. Record appearance maker Arnold has also expressed his frustration with the ongoing negative trend. "This season has been brutal," said the club captain, stating in clear words: "We just have to throw ourselves into everything, into every tackle. By now I don't care how we do it - we just need a win."

They'd like that to start on Sunday in Leverkusen. If not, they may have to start looking over their shoulders. Although the cushion from the relegation zone is still relatively comfortable, that's mainly down to the three clubs in it, Köln, Mainz and Darmstadt, who have struggled to pick up points thus far. VfL can't want to rely on that, though. They need positive results and quickly if they don't want to be dragged down into an area of the table that they don't feel they belong it.