Between its two Champions League play-off duels against Pariser FC, VfL Wolfsburg will be visiting newly promoted RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga on Sunday (2 p.m., LIVE! on kicker). The highlight game will be played in the Red Bull Arena.
Communication should get better again: VfL Wolfsburg around Lena Lattwein (#8) and Lena Oberdorf are visiting RB Leipzig.
IMAGO/Sports Press Photo
VfL Wolfsburg had not yet completed any real team training by Friday morning, but after last Tuesday’s 3-3 draw at Pariser FC in the Champions League play-offs, regeneration was on the agenda. At this point it was already certain that national goalkeeper Merle Frohms would also miss the Bundesliga duel against RB Leipzig after the concussion she suffered in training.
The 28-year-old is also not expected to be an option in the play-off second leg against Paris next Wednesday, and things could even be tight for the following Bundesliga home game against TSG Hoffenheim. “Merle hasn’t completed any training yet,” explains coach Tommy Stroot, for whom it is a priority for the goalkeeper to first get over her headaches and then gradually be introduced to goalkeeping and the shocks that come with it. In addition to the well-known long-term injuries, Kristin Demann (muscle problems) will not play a role in the Wolfsburg squad for the time being.
Stroot: “It’s about finding communication again”
Looking at his team’s previous weaker performances in Paris and against newly promoted 1. FC Nürnberg (1-0), Stroot notes: “There are situations that we can defend better. But now it’s all about getting back into communication to find.” After the World Cup and a short preparation, it is not a given that all internal team processes will work 100 percent again. The team must “use communication to get to the point where everyone knows the routes and positions of their teammates exactly again, “in order to find the security that we can trust.”
Your inexperience with these settings and communicating in these situations could be an advantage for us.
Tommy Stroht, Trainer Vfl Wolfsburg
With RB Leipzig, Stroot expects an opponent “who I don’t see as a newcomer in terms of quality and structures. Accordingly, we won’t approach the game the same way we did against Nuremberg.” Rather, VfL is expecting an opponent “who has the potential to end up in the top half of the table. This is resistance that we face and we have to block,” Stroot makes clear.
Many spectators as an advantage for VfL?
In Leipzig, the coach sees a team that “works in a structured manner, plays different systems and can react flexibly to situations. They have their qualities in switching and running,” continues Stroot, who also describes RB as a compact team with a lot of speed . For Wolfsburg it is important to “accept this and prevail in the decisive duels”.
Stroot sees the move to the Red Bull Arena as a little ace up his sleeve, as Leipzig is playing in such a venue for the first time, but Wolfsburg has also played in front of over 90,000 spectators in Barcelona. “Their inexperience with these settings and communicating in these situations could be an advantage for us,” believes Stroot.
Comments are closed.