Wolfsburg on espn tomorrow against the bottom club

[SHADY1]

It will be interesting to see how they get on and who needs to be watched ....

[FatFreddysCat]

How are they getting on in the league? I know they won it last season, but no idea this. Booked your flight yet?

[TheDaddy]

March 20, 20102009/2010 German Bundesliga Table
  Overall  Home  Away   
RK  TEAM P W D L GS GA  W D L GS GA  W D L GS GA  GD Pts
1   Bayern Munich 27 16 8 3 54 24  10 4 0 28 10  6 4 3 26 14  30 56
2   Schalke 04 26 16 6 4 42 20  10 2 2 25 10  6 4 2 17 10  22 54
3   Bayer Leverkusen 26 14 11 1 56 25  10 3 0 32 10  4 8 1 24 15  31 53
4   Werder Bremen 27 12 9 6 54 33  5 5 3 24 18  7 4 3 30 15  21 45
5   Borussia Dortmund 26 13 6 7 43 33  8 2 3 22 11  5 4 4 21 22  10 45
6   Hamburg SV 26 11 10 5 46 30  7 4 2 19 9  4 6 3 27 21  16 43
7   VfB Stuttgart 27 10 8 9 39 35  6 4 4 22 17  4 4 5 17 18  4 38
8   Eintracht Frankfurt 27 10 8 9 35 39  6 4 4 19 20  4 4 5 16 19  -4 38
9   Mainz 27 10 8 9 29 33  8 4 1 18 9  2 4 8 11 24  -4 38
10   VfL Wolfsburg 26 10 7 9 49 46  5 2 6 29 29  5 5 3 20 17  3 37
11   TSG Hoffenheim 27 9 6 12 34 31  4 4 5 19 15  5 2 7 15 16  3 33
12   Borussia Monchengladbach 27 8 7 12 35 47  6 3 4 20 20  2 4 8 15 27  -12 31
13   FC Cologne 27 6 10 11 23 34  2 5 7 14 24  4 5 4 9 10  -11 28
14   VfL Bochum 27 6 9 12 29 49  2 6 5 16 26  4 3 7 13 23  -20 27
15   Nurnberg 27 6 7 14 24 43  3 4 6 13 18  3 3 8 11 25  -19 25
16   Hannover 96 27 6 5 16 29 50  3 4 7 16 26  3 1 9 13 24  -21 23
17   SC Freiburg 27 6 5 16 25 49  2 3 8 7 23  4 2 8 18 26  -24 23
18   Hertha Berlin 26 3 6 17 22 47  1 5 7 9 21  2 1 10 13 26  -25 15

There you go fredster.

[finnster01]

Their mid-table, 10th I think.

If I am not mistaken, Obafemi Martins joined them from Newcastle in the summer. Other than that, they have some good and dodgy East Europeans and a couple of Brazilians. Would expect a bit of a less skillful Shakthar to be honest. Very winnable.

[SHADY1]

very winnable...

Think i'm doing the vacation club in & out day trip this time ..

[os5889]

The two Bosnians Dzeko (a striker (48 in 86 games for Wolfsburg)) and Misimovic (a midfielder attacking left) are their key men, if they tick the team ticks, both great players and the reason the bosnians got to a world cup playoff against Portugal, Both are very dangerous

[Mr Fulham]

As I'm from Germany, my estimate might help you a bit.

Wolfsburg is backed by automobile manufacturer Volkswagen and therefore has a lot of financial power.

This financial power was first discharged when they signed former Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath - arguably the best German manager - who spread out the cash and signed a complete new team. I think 22 players left and 23 players joined the 'Wolves' back in 2008.

The former relegation-threatened side developed and finished 5th in Magath's first season with the club.

The club progressed further in Magath's second season, played fantasticely and won the Bundesliga title with their two strikers Grafite (28 goals) and Dzeko (26 goals) finishing 1st and 2nd in the goalscorer-ranking and Bosnian star Zlatan Misimovic pulling the strings right behind them.

Despite having a fantastic time at Wolfsburg, Magath intended to sign for struggling Bundesliga side Schalke 04 instead of guiding Wolfsburg to Champions League glory.

Wolfsburg signed former Stuttgart manager Armin Veh as a replacement for Magath, but Veh never had the ability to conduct the team as Magath did when he was in charge.

Veh was replaced by interim coach Lorenz-Günther Köstner during the current campaign, and Köstner was able to improve the team and he was allowed to stay until the end of the season to advance Wolfsburg's performances and to guide them to Europa League glory.

Wolfsburg's fans are very optimistic, although they were very dejected a few weeks ago. Some of them have already orderered tickets to Hamburg.

Marginal note: Felix Magath's new side, Schalke 04, is currently 2nd placed in the Bundesliga and has the big chance to go 1st when they play the HSV tomorrow because both Bayern and Leverkusen lost their ties 1-2 and 0-3 against Frankfurt and Dortmund respectively.

Fulham has to pay attention to Dzeko and Misimovic mostly, Oba Martins is only their third-choice striker at the moment. Oh, and Misimovic is an offensive midfielder, a real #10.

[Steve_orino]

Thanks for the inside scoop Mr. Fulham.

Sounds like the old manager got a lot out of the sqad - much like our manager does.  I'm cautious to get overly excited but it sounds like we've got a fighting chance.

COYWs!

[Mr Fulham]

Thanks for the inside scoop Mr. Fulham.

Sounds like the old manager got a lot out of the sqad - much like our manager does.  I'm cautious to get overly excited but it sounds like we've got a fighting chance.

COYWs!

Yeah, Magath is class. He gets a lot out of reputed 'average' or 'mid-table' squads - just like Schalke at the moment. No real top star (apart from Kuranyi and Neuer, who are the only players with an international reputation) but a strong TEAM.

[FatFreddysCat]

Have they played yet? Seems like we're similar sized clubs, well apart from them winning the league last year 

[Mr Fulham]

Have they played yet? Seems like we're similar sized clubs, well apart from them winning the league last year 

And apart from their financial background.

[FatFreddysCat]

Have they played yet? Seems like we're similar sized clubs, well apart from them winning the league last year 

And apart from their financial background.

And them building the roads and the viaducts .

[McBridefan1]

Two tenth place teams punching above their weight in the Europa, both sides are gonna have belief, they may be our toughest test... Can't overlook any team.

[SHADY1]

They are 3-0 down at home to Hertha Berlin who have only won 3 games all season...
Europa Cup has taken it out of them today as it appears it did us....

Lovely little stadium away fans are close to the pitch ....all looking good for a great away day...


half time 1-3

[Brede Butter Pudding]

Now losing 1 - 5 and hasn't yet finished

[Mr Fulham]

Now losing 1 - 5 and hasn't yet finished

Now they have finished.

Difficult result for Fulham - this hasn't been the Wolfsburg team and you can't project this to our match.

Wolfsburg isn't able to get to the new Europa League campaign though the current Bundesliga campaign and now has to win the Europa League.

[Brede Butter Pudding]

good point mate, were they fielding a weakened team? And I heard on the grapevine that Wolfsburg are brilliant away from home but less so at home. Is that so?

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Same as Fulham then -- can't get to the europa league through the league, have to win it instead!

[flirpit]

I am absolutely stunned by this result! Before this game Vfl had won 4 in a row and were generally looking like they were hitting some form - in contrast Berlin lost 2-1 in the last minute last week leaving them 8 points from safety and their fans rioted and trashed the stadium! The Wolfsburg team had only 2 changes to the team that beat Rubin Kazan; Hasebe and Martins came in for Pekarik and Dejagah. According to the match reports after the shock of going 2-0 down in first 10 mins Wolfsburg came back and seemed to dominate the midfield but without really offering much danger - in contrast Berlin finished off their chances! But I don't know how much we can read into this, especially seeing as they were probably knackered after thursday!

[The_Great_Escape_2008]

Agreed, can't really read too much into this. We should be aware of the class players they have in their disposal; Dzeko, Grafite, Martins, Dejagah, Misimovic, Gentner...the list goes on. So we will have to be at our best defensively to win this tie, as they will be very well organised as most German teams are.