“I’m not really in the mood for a holiday right now,” said Ridle Baku on Saturday. His second half goal had just secured Wolfsburg a comeback win against Hoffenheim that ensured the Wolves go in to the World Cup break having won four on the bounce and remain unbeaten in eight.
His reluctance is twofold. Firstly, Baku would rather be traveling to Qatar with the Germany squad. Secondly, Wolfsburg are flying.
“The difference was that one team is on a roll at the moment,” said Hoffenheim coach Andre Breitenreiter, “Wolfsburg took their chances clinically, whereas we lacked efficiency.” His opposite number Niko Kovac broadly agreed, admitting his side had dropped off from a “near-perfect” win against Dortmund in midweek.
But Kovac, who previously won silverware with Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich, knows that it’s not only technical ability that forges winning runs. “You could see that we were absolutely determined to win the match,” he added.
Kovac cuts Kruse loose
In mid-September, the idea of being seventh at this point was fanciful. Wolfsburg had taken just two points from their first five matches and one of their major signings, Max Kruse, had just been cut loose by Kovac. “We demand one hundred percent identification and commitment from every player with a focus on VfL. We didn’t have that feeling with Max,” he said after a match against Eintracht Frankfurt on September 10.
Despite his poor start to the campaign, Wolfsburg’s top brass backed Kovac over Kruse, who had been inspirational for Union Berlin before his move. “The club’s path was on the line. The decisions were debatable,” said sporting director Marcel Schäfer “There was no guarantee that it would be reflected in performances and results.”
As he showed in his time with Frankfurt, which memorably ended with the Eagles beating Kovac’s future employers Bayern in the German Cup final, instilling togetherness and discipline is key to his style. While the solidity, spirit and canniness he brings didn’t quite do it at Bayern (though he did win a domestic double) they’re a perfect fit for a middling side with ambitions of more.
In Baku, goalkeeper Koen Casteels and Germany international striker Lukas Nmecha, Wolfsburg have plenty of quality. And in exciting winger Omar Marmoush, who was excellent against Dortmund, and center backs Maxene Lacroix and Micky van de Ven, a core of promising young players who sign up to Kovac’s methods is emerging.
Arnold the heartbeat
But it’s the club’s longest-serving player who has perhaps made the biggest impact. Maximilian Arnold made his 300th Bundesliga appearance for the team from the Autostadt (car city) on Saturday. The 28-year-old central midfielder has started and captained every game this season and been instrumental in dictating tempo, winning possession and distribution. It has, almost certainly, been the best season in his 11 years in the first team.
But that wasn’t enough for Hansi Flick, with the Germany boss leaving him out of an area of the squad with plenty of talent but not so much depth. “I’m very disappointed not to be nominated for the World Cup,” Arnold told his club’s website. “I’m fit and I feel good. I’m enjoying it a lot out on the pitch and I’m increasingly growing into the role of being captain.”
He added that the turnaround that started soon after Kruse’s departure owed something to the coach and the collective: “After the match at Union Berlin [a 2-0 defeat on September 18] we made it very clear that as a team we had to change something. The coach has also made a couple of tweaks here and there. We’ve become a unit over the last couple of weeks and we all put the team’s success above individual success.”
That is the Kovac way. He also shown he’s capable of strong man management too, expressing disappointment that Arnold and Baku missed out, while injury ended Nmecha’s chances. But, given the demands of traveling and playing in the Middle East in the middle of the season, he may also feel it’s an opportunity to further hone his methods with many of his players on the training ground. Kovac certainly feels Arnold has more to offer.
“He can play another seven, eight, nine good years,” he said recently. “He is not yet at the end of his development.”
The same is true of Wolfsburg, and Kovac and his bosses know the job is far from done. “After such a start, which was more than difficult, to put it diplomatically, such a run is remarkable,” said Schäfer on Saturday. With key players not traveling to Qatar, no European football and a German Cup quarterfinal to come, Kovac looks capable of upsetting the big boys once again.
Edited by: Michael da Silva
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