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18.03.2022Bundesliga

Seoane ahead of #WOBB04: Creating enough chances

The Werkself have a third match in eight days on Sunday 20 March with the away game at VfL Wolfsburg (kick-off: 17.30 CET). After yesterday's exit from the Europa League following the 1-0 defeat to Atalanta in the Round of 16, head coach Gerardo Seoane primarily sees calm and determination in offensive play as crucial.

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Ahead of the press conference, the Werkself completed a somewhat different programme on Friday morning: Instead of the usual regeneration session at the BayArena, the players went for a bike ride along the Rhine. "We'd already planned that at the start of the week to consciously break the monotony, clear heads and take in a different atmosphere together," said Seoane at the press conference.

"The disappointment is still evident with everybody. That's why we've tried to process the defeat together but also look forwards at the same time. We want to have all our strength for the league run-in," added the 43-year-old coach.

Seoane: Have to work on being more effective

For the game against the team currently lying twelfth in the Bundesliga, Seoane is primarily expecting his team to show more authority in front of goal: "The positive is that we are creating chances. We are doing a lot of sprints high up the pitch, and we make a lot of quick attacks with high intensity." At the same time, Seoane added: "We need more calm and determination in our finishing. So we have to work on being more effective."

The formation is not crucial in this respect according to the 43-year-old coach: "Which system we play depends on a lot of factors – the opponents, who we have available, as well as the condition of the players," explained Seoane and he added: "but however we play we have to be able to play to our strengths with more flexibility." The Swiss boss also primarily includes pace. "Through that we not only want to produce a good performance on the pitch on Sunday but also achieve a good result above all," declared Seoane.

Seoane: we can expect lots of energy and Power

With VfL, the coach is expecting a physical team who has their main strengths in the defensive area: "They have a lot of energy and power, always work well at the back so that they only give away a few goalscoring opportunities.”

The focus up front is primarily on their strength in the air as well as the Wolves' three strikers: Lukas Nmecha, Jonas Wind and Max Kruse. "All three have very high individual quality and they can make the difference with their ideas," said Seoane.

Baumgartlinger in the squad

After the two midfield players Karim Bellarabi and Robert Andrich made a successful return to the pitch yesterday, Seoane can also look forward to another returnee to the squad: Julian Baumgartlinger is available again. The Black and Reds number 15 made his first comeback to the squad in the away game at Bayern Munich (1-1). The 34-year-old will again be in the squad for the Wolfsburg game.

question mark over Fosu-Mensah 

Definitely ruled out are Andrey Lunev, Jeremie Frimpong (both ankle ligament injuries) plus Florian Wirtz, who suffered a torn cruciate in the last Bundesliga match against FC Köln (0-1).

Patrik Schick is also unable to play in the game at the Volkswagen Arena but he continues to make progress in individual rehab training and he completed an individual session on Friday morning too. "Patrik is in rehab training but he hasn't taken part in full training yet. The workload in the individual programme is different from training with the team. So he's not an option for Wolfsburg."

There is also a question mark over Timothy Fosu-Mensah. The right-back is today undergoing an MRI scan on his right thigh.

 

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