Our next opponents: Wolfsburg in confident mood

Position

VfL Wolfsburg provided the first surprise of the new Bundesliga season last weekend. A last-minute goal from new signing Daniel Ginczek (pictured above with coach Bruno Labbadia) saw the team that survived last season's relegation play-offs win 2-1 against the Bundesliga runners-up Schalke 04. A real achievement for the Wolves, who have only survived relegation in the past two seasons through the play-offs. "The players have worked extremely hard and positive results like that do us a lot of good," said coach Bruno Labbadia  – the victory against the top team from Gelsenkirchen, with the winner in added time, was slightly fortunate but definitely not undeserved. Wolfsburg also went through in the first round of the DFB Cup – albeit with not such an impressive performance as they showed against Schalke 04. A laboured 1-0 win against Regional League side SV Elversberg proved to be enough to go through – with that goal also scored by Ginczek.

personnel

Last season alongside Mario Gomez at Stuttgart, Ginczek is now expected to follow in the footsteps of his former strike partner at Wolfsburg. What sounds curious initially has the following background: When Gomez joined Stuttgart from Wolfsburg last season, that was the end of the main strike force for the Wolves as they missed a finisher. Now they have a highly talented central striker from Stuttgart in the shape of Ginczek who has been held back in the past by frequent injuries. He got off to a flying start with the two winners against Elversberg and Schalke  – although he came off the bench to score his goal in the Bundesliga opener. The reason: After the disappointing returns up front in the second half of last season, VfL signed another classic central striker in Wout Weghorst who is in competition with Ginczek for the place up front in a 4-3-3 system. The 1.97 metre Weghorst was preferred in the game against Schalke but Ginczek certainly staked a claim for a start at Leverkusen. Otherwise the summer at VfLWolfsburg was incredibly quiet with far fewer transfers than in recent years. The winger Felix Klaus, signed from Hannover 96, underwent an operation in the middle of August  to deal with persistent stomach problems and he is currently sidelined. The start was much better for Jérôme Roussillon. The 25-year-old Frenchman joined Wolfsburg from HSC Montpellier at the start of the month and he has looked impressive in his first games at left back. Roussillon could provide a solution in a position that has caused so many problems in in the past for the Wolves. The fifth 'real' new signing at VfL is unlikely to get much playing time: The Austrian goalkeeper Pavao Pervan was signed from LASK Linz as a backup to the Belgian Koen Casteels who was very impressive last term .

problems

The Wolves had to pay a high price for the win against Schalke. As the club announced on Monday, the captain and driving force Josuha Guilavogui suffered a serious injury to his right knee and faces a long spell on the sidelines. The club have not provided an exact diagnosis but Bruno Labbadia will have to plan how to manage without the Frenchman who has been an important factor for the stability and balance in the game of the Green and Whites. Against Bayer 04,  Guilavogui could be replaced by the former FC Köln player Yannick Gerhardt. What appears to be questionable in terms of the whole season is how to compensate for the departure of playmaker Daniel Divadi to VfB Stuttgart. The 28-year-old was both the top goalscorer  as well as the best provider for VfL last season. The club from Lower Saxony have not signed anybody to replace the creative input in their attacking game. It remains to be seen whether Yunus Malli or Maximilian Arnold can fill that midfield role and whether Ginczek and Weghorst can bring back the goal threat for Wolfsburg.

potential

The players, who were champions in 2009 or DFB Cup winners in 2015, have mainly left VfL and the team has consistently changed with numerous transfers. And there is more to come. Jörg Schmadtke, with vast experience in the Bundesliga, took over as the club boss at VfL Wolfsburg on 1 June and the former general manager at FC Köln is looking to get the club back on track after a very difficult period. That includes confidence in the squad that Schmadtke  has only slightly changed in comparison to recent years. The reasoning behind that is clear: The squad continues to be full of talent – too much to be playing to avoid relegation. Players like the winger Josip Brekalo or defender Felix Uduokhai (both aged 20) could make the next step in their development this season. VfL also have a record of good work with youngsters with regular first team players Maximilian Arnold and Robin Knoche making the step up to the senior squad. Wolfsburg are hoping to see a similar progression in the next few years with home-grown players like Gian-Luca Itter and Paul Seguin.

prediction

VfL showed what they can do on the first matchday: If they can maintain that form  then they do not to fear any other teams in the Bundesliga. The quality is definitely there for a finish in the top ten. The question will be whether coach Labbadia and CEO Schmadtke can succeed in getting the negative experiences of recent seasons out of the heads of the players and build a solid unit that can consistently perform. If that happens then VfL should not have to struggle all the way to the end of the season but instead finish comfortably in a mid-table position.