Does Kohfeldt have a successful start to his VfL tenure?
In the end, it all happened very quickly. Mark van Bommel is no longer coach of VfL Wolfsburg as of the beginning of this week. The Dutchman’s poor results in the Bundesliga and the Champions League were his undoing. Above all, however, there was no further sporting development and no firm signature to be seen at the Autostadt club. The dismissal was therefore logical and expected.
Van Bommel’s successor has also already been chosen: Florian Kohfeldt will take his place on the Wölfe bench for the first time on Saturday afternoon. Surely he could have been given a less complicated comeback match in the Bundesliga than at the BayArena. This is also underlined by the odds ahead of the Leverkusen versus Wolfsburg clash. The Rhinelanders are seen as relatively clear favourites in view of recent impressions.
Hopeful for the visitors from Lower Saxony, however, is the fact that the home team has never won this Bundesliga clash in the last ten encounters. Even better: In the last three trips to the city of medicine, the Green-Whites always came back with three points. Bayer have already waited five home games for a home win against their upcoming opponents. If number six is added this weekend, four times the stake will be paid out for a successful Leverkusen vs. Wolfsburg prediction on the away win.
Leverkusen – Statistics & current form
Bayer Leverkusen’s dream of their first national title since 1992 has been shattered once again. Starting as clear favourites, the Werkself disgraced themselves at home on Tuesday evening against the second division side from Karlsruhe, losing 2-1 after normal time. From the home side’s point of view, this continued the worrying trend of recent games.
Leverkusen have already failed to win four consecutive competitive matches in three competitions. After the heavy defeat against Bayern (1:5), they only managed a draw in the Europa League against Betis Sevilla (1:1) and in the Rhineland derby in Cologne (2:2) despite leading 2:0. The defeat in the second round of the DFB Cup represents a temporary low point in Gerardo Seoane’s still young tenure at the helm.
Personally and mentally battered
Because Bayer are also a relatively young team, which moreover already completely nodded off in pre-season after a defeat in the top match against FC Bayern, it will be interesting to see how they cope with the recent low blows. In view of the negative run and the fact that the former Champions League finalists have never conceded as many goals in the Bundesliga after four home games as they have so far this season (nine), betting on a home win between Leverkusen and Wolfsburg is not an option for us.
In addition, as already mentioned, the VfL is a kind of fearful opponent. Three home defeats in a row, no goals scored in the first and second legs last season and a five-match winning streak at home against the Lower Saxons should not be underestimated, especially from a psychological point of view. In our opinion, it therefore makes more sense to take a closer look at the odds on the visitors between Leverkusen and Wolfsburg.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Werkself has had to pay tribute to the last few exhausting weeks. With Schick, Aranguiz, Bellarabi, Gedikli, Baumgartlinger and Fosu-Mensah, six players are currently missing due to injury. Winger Diaby has to watch out due to his fifth yellow card. Without Schick and Diaby, the otherwise so potent offensive (already 23 goals in the season) loses enormous quality and goal threat, which must also be taken into account for Saturday.
Predicted Leverkusen line-up:
Hradecky – Frimpong, Tah, Tapsoba, Hincapie – Andrich, Demirbay – Adli, Wirtz, Paulinho – Alario
Last matches played by Leverkusen:
DFB Cup
10/27 2021 – Bayer Leverkusen 1 – 2 Karlsruher SC
1st Bundesliga
10/24 2021 – 1. FC Köln 2 – 2 Bayer Leverkusen
Europa League Grp. G
10/21 2021 – Real Betis 1 – 1 Bayer Leverkusen
1st Bundesliga
10/17 2021 – Bayer Leverkusen 1 – 5 Bayern Munich
10/03 2021 – Arminia Bielefeld 0 – 4 Bayer Leverkusen
Wolfsburg – Statistics & current form
For a certain period of time, it was impossible to imagine Werder Bremen without Florian Kohfeldt on the touchline. The football coach himself was also humble for a long time and spoke of feeling no compulsion to move to another club. After his dismissal shortly before the end of last season, however, Kohfeldt has now found a new job. Since this week, the 39-year-old has been in charge of VfL Wolfsburg as Mark van Bommel’s successor.
Kohfeldt has a lot of work ahead of him, because the Lower Saxons have also looked completely unsettled recently. For the first time since 2012, VfL lost four matches in a row in the Bundesliga. They also suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of RB Salzburg in the top flight. After a promising start with maximum points on the first four matchdays and a temporary lead in the standings, the Green-Whites have slipped to ninth place.
Will the tide turn under Kohfeldt as early as Saturday?
Despite this, we can assume that the Autostadt team, which is actually well-staffed in terms of quality, will show a completely different face at the weekend. We can even imagine that the dismissal of the much-criticised ex-Bayern professional will act as a chest burster and that the Wolves will play boldly and confidently going forward. Before van Bommel’s dismissal, the offensive in particular was extremely poor. In the last two games, they consequently failed to score a goal of their own.
Only against Bielefeld have Wolfsburg not lost away from home for longer than in Leverkusen. These statistics coupled with the instilled confidence by the communicative coach, who also made quite an impact when he took over in Bremen at the time, winning three of his first four games as a first division coach (4-0 against Hannover on debut), are good arguments to make a prediction on the guest between Leverkusen and Wolfsburg.
Changes in the starting eleven are not only possible, but likely from several points of view. On the one hand, it is a matter of managing the load somewhat at the end of the second of a total of three consecutive English weeks. On the other hand, Kohfeldt will certainly let the first training impressions take effect and perhaps even give players a chance who had previously been relegated to the second tier. Bialek, Mehmedi, Roussilon, Schlager, Weghorst and William will continue to be missing.
Predicted Wolfsburg line-up:
Casteels – Mbabu, Lacroix, Brooks, Paulo Otavio – Guilavogui – Vranckx, Arnold – R. Baku, R. Steffen – L. Nmecha
Last matches played by Wolfsburg:
1st Bundesliga
10/23 2021 – Vfl Wolfsburg 0 – 2 SC Freiburg
Champions League Grp. G
10/20 2021 – Salzburg 3 – 1 Vfl Wolfsburg
1st Bundesliga
10/16 2021 – Union Berlin 2 – 0 Vfl Wolfsburg
Friendly club matches
10/06 2021 – Vfl Wolfsburg 4 – 1 Hamburger SV
1st Bundesliga
10/02 2021 – Vfl Wolfsburg 1 – 3 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Leverkusen – Wolfsburg Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
We have already addressed the balance of the recent past. Wolfsburg have not lost in five away games at the BayArena and have even won three times in a row in the medical city recently. Based purely on the last few home games, the VfL is definitely a fearful opponent for the Werkself, who otherwise lead the direct comparison with 22 wins compared to eight draws and 18 defeats.
Another interesting fact is that the only player in the starting eleven for Leverkusen’s last home win against Niedersachsen in 2016 was Jonathan Tah, who is still under contract with the home side. On the Green-Whites’ side, there are two of them, Guilavogui and Arnold.
Leverkusen – Wolfsburg Tip
An extremely interesting match awaits us in the Bundesliga on Matchday 10between two struggling European Cup contenders. In the clash between Leverkusen and Wolfsburg, the betting odds imply clear advantages in favour of the hosts, who have meanwhile failed to win four times in a row across competitions and suffered a setback in the DFB Pokal against Karlsruhe (1:2) during the week.
Furthermore, coach Gerardo Seoane is currently without a number of key players. The absences of Schick, Diaby and Bellarabi alone have already left a big gap in the Rhinelanders’ attacking play this weekend, and they have also been without a win against the Wolves for five home games, losing all three of their most recent direct encounters.
On the other side, the trend in results is also worrying, but those responsible around Jörg Schmadtke have already pulled the ripcord after four Bundesliga defeats in a row and poor performances and sent Mark van Bommel out the door. His successor Kohfeldt will take his place on the bench for the first time on Saturday and hope that the credo “new brooms sweep well” will once again live up to its name.
We expect an improved VfL team and decide to bet on double chance X2 between Leverkusen and Wolfsburg. For a point win by the supposed underdogs, Unibet offers a 1.92 at the top, which we play with a stake of seven units.
