Ahead of the press conference, the Werkself completed a somewhat different programme on Friday morning: Instead of the usual regeneration session at the BayArena, the players went for a bike ride along the Rhine. "We'd already planned that at the start of the week to consciously break the monotony, clear heads and take in a different atmosphere together," said Seoane at the press conference.
"The disappointment is still evident with everybody. That's why we've tried to process the defeat together but also look forwards at the same time. We want to have all our strength for the league run-in," added the 43-year-old coach.
For the game against the team currently lying twelfth in the Bundesliga, Seoane is primarily expecting his team to show more authority in front of goal: "The positive is that we are creating chances. We are doing a lot of sprints high up the pitch, and we make a lot of quick attacks with high intensity." At the same time, Seoane added: "We need more calm and determination in our finishing. So we have to work on being more effective."
The formation is not crucial in this respect according to the 43-year-old coach: "Which system we play depends on a lot of factors – the opponents, who we have available, as well as the condition of the players," explained Seoane and he added: "but however we play we have to be able to play to our strengths with more flexibility." The Swiss boss also primarily includes pace. "Through that we not only want to produce a good performance on the pitch on Sunday but also achieve a good result above all," declared Seoane.
With VfL, the coach is expecting a physical team who has their main strengths in the defensive area: "They have a lot of energy and power, always work well at the back so that they only give away a few goalscoring opportunities.”
The focus up front is primarily on their strength in the air as well as the Wolves' three strikers: Lukas Nmecha, Jonas Wind and Max Kruse. "All three have very high individual quality and they can make the difference with their ideas," said Seoane.
After the two midfield players Karim Bellarabi and Robert Andrich made a successful return to the pitch yesterday, Seoane can also look forward to another returnee to the squad: Julian Baumgartlinger is available again. The Black and Reds number 15 made his first comeback to the squad in the away game at Bayern Munich (1-1). The 34-year-old will again be in the squad for the Wolfsburg game.
Definitely ruled out are Andrey Lunev, Jeremie Frimpong (both ankle ligament injuries) plus Florian Wirtz, who suffered a torn cruciate in the last Bundesliga match against FC Köln (0-1).
Patrik Schick is also unable to play in the game at the Volkswagen Arena but he continues to make progress in individual rehab training and he completed an individual session on Friday morning too. "Patrik is in rehab training but he hasn't taken part in full training yet. The workload in the individual programme is different from training with the team. So he's not an option for Wolfsburg."
There is also a question mark over Timothy Fosu-Mensah. The right-back is today undergoing an MRI scan on his right thigh.
Bosnia U19 international Kerim Alajbegovic is moving from Bayer 04 Leverkusen's youth set-up to Red Bull Salzburg. The talented attacking midfielder has signed a long-term contract with the Austrian club. At the same time, the works club secured a buy-back option for the 17-year-old, who was one of the mainstays of the Leverkusen U19s.
Show moreThe Werkself are away to Premier League club Chelsea in the final pre-season friendly. The game against the current holders of the UEFA Conference League is on Friday, 8 August at Stamford Bridge with the kick-off at 20:00 CEST. Read on for information on ticket sales.
Show moreThe Werkself are away to Dutch top-flight club Fortuna Sittard in the third pre-season friendly. The match is on Friday, 1 August at the Fortuna Sittard stadium with the kick-off at 19:00 CEST. Read on for information on ticket sales.
Show moreThe Werkself are away to VfL Bochum in the second pre-season friendly. The match is on Sunday, 27 July at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion with the kick-off at 18:00 CEST. Read on for the latest information on ticket sales.
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