If there is an authority that ensures equal justice in football, then it did not look to Wolfsburg on Saturday. In Wolfsburg, a crisis-tested football coach has had to worry about his employment for a long time, but in this game against FC Augsburg his team initially did everything right: VfL played great football, which is even clearer in direct comparison with most of their previous appearances looked smarter; It was quickly combined forward and the form curves of some players rose to heights that they have rarely achieved this season. There was even a decent relationship between effort and return, because attacker Patrick Wimmer took the lead in the ninth minute with a remarkable shot on the move.
Yes, that really looked like the collective reaction that the criticized football coach had been announcing for weeks. But then Niko Kovac had to watch as the goalscorer Wimmer dribbled towards his own goal shortly before the break, how he misused the ball and then awkwardly pulled his opponent who had run away to the ground in front of the penalty area.
At least Wimmer was lucky in his misfortune because he was still within shouting distance of the lightning-fast defender Maxence Lacroix, who would certainly have cleared up the situation. So: No emergency brake, but a tactical foul and therefore a yellow card – at least that’s what everyone in the Wolfsburg Arena must have thought. However, the person whose opinion counts on such issues saw it differently. The referee Timo Gerach reached into the back pocket of his pants and showed Wimmer the red card, which – everyone in the stadium was also sure – would only be legally binding for a few seconds in times of second corrections from the video cellar.
But Gerach didn’t watch the scene on the screen, but instead trusted the person responsible for the video, Felix Brych, who obviously had no objections. It stayed red for Wimmer. And as if that wasn’t enough for a coach who has been fighting for his job for weeks, the game had another very nasty punchline to offer: the following free kick only landed in the Wolfsburg goal because it was deflected by VfL midfielder Maximilian Arnold. Augsburg managed to equalize 1-1 and didn’t know why. And in the end, the decimated Wolfsburg lost this game 1:3.
Kovac came to Wolfsburg with title ambitions, now it’s a relegation battle
There were some legitimate points in time this season when Wolfsburg could have parted ways with Kovac, but now they have to ask themselves: Can you dismiss a coach who presumably only lost his professional decision-making game because of a capital failure by the responsible referee collective?
Kovac has often referred to the lack of “a bit of luck” this season and he did so again at Saturday’s press conference. “Viewed in isolation,” VfL sports director Marcel Schäfer had previously stated in the interview zone, the game was “as if cursed.” But there is also an overall context in which this afternoon stands: Wolfsburg are now eleven games without a win, relegation is only six points away, and with 25 points from 26 games, the factory club has the weakest record in its Bundesliga history at this point to show. And after the final whistle, the players were applauded maliciously by the fans. Not exactly an impressive record for a coach who started 2022 with self-defined title ambitions in a location that may lack enthusiasm, but certainly not talented footballers thanks to the financial strength of a local car manufacturer.
There were only ten left: referee Timo Gerach shows Wolfsburg’s Patrick Wimmer the red card.
(Photo: Cathrin Mueller/Getty Images)
“These guys,” said Kovac, interrupting himself: “Mine Boys always played very, very well. They are alive.” What sounded a little pathetic at that moment was just as much in a larger context as the football game that had just ended: Wolfsburg never gave the impression this season as if they were playing against their coach, even though Kovac might have done so with constant rotation Hierarchy has coached out of this team. They have always shown decency and actually always shown what is given special priority at football regulars: commitment and willingness to run, will, sometimes passion. But Kovac’s against-the-ball football is missing There is always a wealth of variety when the opponent uses similar methods. And the most important thing in football, the results, have been missing for a while now.
Kovac reminds us of his work ethic, VfL sports director Schäfer wants to “discuss the coaching question internally”
Kovac said he “feels stupid” because he says every week that his team was at least equal and then ends up with nothing. But that is “the truth”. In general, Kovac gave a passionate self-defense speech in the Wolfsburg press room, which perhaps also served a bit of self-reassurance: Kovac, born in Berlin-Wedding, said that he had never had a “golden spoon” in his hand his entire life and that he had made his way through “hard work “fought to the top; The term “giving up” does not appear in his vocabulary. It’s not for nothing, said Kovac, that his last name translates to “farrier.” It wasn’t the first time the Croatian remembered this. But it is not impossible that he did it for the last time as coach of VfL Wolfsburg.
VfL sports director Schäfer has been protective of his coach for weeks in a way that a coach couldn’t wish for better. Since Saturday, Wolfsburg have been in a relegation battle. And because that is the case, said Schäfer, the coaching question must first be “discussed internally” and then “a decision” made. A decision that could have been significantly influenced by a bad decision by referee Timo Gerach.