At the away game at FC Schalke 04 on Sunday, VfB lacked the necessary concentration for just a few minutes. But unfortunately, Hannes Wolf’s men learned the hard way that sometimes that can be enough to be left empty handed at the end of the ninety minutes. The hosts made stunningly effective use of the Cannstatt Boys lapses and went on to celebrate a 3-1 victory. "We got a lot of things right and generally covered the spaces well, whilst implementing the tactical instructions. Unfortunately we allowed for some grave errors," stated VfB head-coach Hannes Wolf on the day after the game, adding: "Avoiding such mistakes is something we now need to work on. We need more consistency in every single moment."
On Monday, the substitutes and back-up players trained on the pitch, whilst those in the starting eleven went through a session in the weight-room. The injured Holger Badstuber continued with his individual programme. As to whether the defender will be available for the home game against VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday (kick-off 15:30 CET – tickets still available) remains to be seen. "We’ll have to wait and see how things go over the next few days. The risk must be calculated," noted Hannes Wolf on the central-defenders possible availability.
Three debuts
The game at Schalke marked personal premiers for three VfB players. Andreas Beck made his competitive debut in the shirt with the infamous red hoop since returning to the club. Santiago Ascacibar, who came on as a 59th minute substitute, was in competitive action in the VfB colours for the first time. On the day, Chadrac Akolo scored his first competitive goal for the Wasenelf.