The Wolfsburg Thread 2006-09 [R]

[Projekt4]

not sure if his Italians will find felix' "mafia" joke from today funny.

Details?

[aloisius]

Details?

dopellpass, latek was talking about a player mafia at schalke, felix says "they can't have a mafia, they don't have any italian players."

[Projekt4]

dopellpass, latek was talking about a player mafia at schalke, felix says "they can't have a mafia, they don't have any italian players."

I'm disappointed, I thought he had said something really politically incorrect.

[aloisius]

I'm disappointed, I thought he had said something really politically incorrect.

how much more un-pc could he get with mafia and italians ?

other than saying all italians are mobsters , i don't know.

[Projekt4]

how much more un-pc could he get with mafia and italians ?

other than saying all italians are mobsters , i don't know.

Saying the Mafia is Italian (of course it is, if unlike the other guys you mean the Mafia literally, which is obviously the joke) is not saying all Italians are Mafiosi.

"Not guilty", as far as as I'm concerned.

[aloisius]

ok, to get back to football, i think wolfsburg are overrated.

they expect to finish 5. or better. where do they get this optimism from .

the've added two very good defenders but they've lost marcelinho and misimovic is not near as good. they're not going to overtake any of the top 4, and stuttgart lost 10 or so points last season because of their keepers.

bvb, hertha, and hannover are also not much weaker than wolfsburg, if at all.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

I think Wolfsburg are capable of repeating their finish from last season, but it'll be tough. all of the sides in front of them remain stronger than them, HSV seem the only they can realistically hope to beat, and many sides behind them, i'd count Stuttgart, Leverkusen, Dortmund and the odd 'surprise side', will be hard for Wolfsburg to finish ahead of again.

As for Magath's talk about Champions League possibilities, I don't see that happening. A top 5-6 place if the season is particularly good, a 7-10th place if the season is played out on paper.

[ForeverRed]

I don't see why they couldn't finish in in the top 5. They have a very balanced team, no real outstanding player to rely on and a good coach.

Overall, I think the Bundesliga has become a more leveled playing field with several teams improving so as to make it more competitive and Wolfsburg is very much part of that.

[MetroChile]

Greetings!

I am trying to create a few German teams on my PES 2008 copy and one team that I want to include now is Wolfsburg.

I was wondering if anyone could help. This is basically all I need:
the squad from last season (2007/2008), or essentially the squad that finished last season.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

Danke schon in advance! :cool:

[Klask]

Greetings!

I am trying to create a few German teams on my PES 2008 copy and one team that I want to include now is Wolfsburg.

I was wondering if anyone could help. This is basically all I need:
the squad from last season (2007/2008), or essentially the squad that finished last season.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

Danke schon in advance! :cool:

I only this one and it's in German:
http://www.fussballdaten.de/vereine/vflwolfsburg/2008/kader/

You can look at squads for every BL club several seasons back.

[scotch17]

So what do you guys think of Hasebe?
I only get to see Wolfsburg on streams and it's hard to tell how good or bad a holding midfielder is doing when the screen is rarely showing his green or white blob.
With all the turnover at Wolfsburg do you think he has a future with you guys or elsewhere in Bundesliga? What do you think he can improve on and does best?

Thanks!

[The Old Lady Hertha]

I think Hasebe has done pretty well. Didn't think he'd settle this fast in the Bundesliga, but he's shown to be a very useful player.

[scotch17]

I think Hasebe has done pretty well. Didn't think he'd settle this fast in the Bundesliga, but he's shown to be a very useful player.

Thanks for your comment! Is there anything you specifically think about how Hasebe fits in? (perhaps he's too soft or still learning his role or something?) I'm very interested in how he's doing -- but I'm also trying to not come off like a Landycakes fanboy who only wants to hear good things. :D

I think Japanese players settle faster when they come to Europe in their early 20s. The teens are perhaps too early (as they don't really have that professional confidence yet) and the mid20s too late (as they've "settled" in JLeague and been spoiled too much).
Unfortunately Ina and Ono are at the end of their careers and therefore just squad players. I'm surprised Ono even passed the physical to be honest. I wonder if they couldn't have had more impact when they were younger (obviously Ono did very well with Feyenoord before he was injured, and Ina got passed around the EPL inbetween injuries.)
I wish more Japanese players would go to Bundesliga -- it's a great league with a very good combination of being physical and skilled. The clubs judge players pretty fairly (as compared to EPL and Serie A where they just want to boost sales and tourism.) But of course Bundesliga clubs would have to want players and they'd have to be good enough to make it.

[The Old Lady Hertha]

I feel the exact same way about all Asian players who come to Europe, I genuinely want them to succeed no matter where they are from.

As for Hasebe himself, I think that he is just a very tidy player who can put in a decent challenge. Not much of a shooter, but he's a very good complementary player and defends decently. Don't see him as much of a defensive midfielder though, I think he's not quite the enforcer that Japan (or Wolfsburg) need.

[scotch17]

I feel the exact same way about all Asian players who come to Europe, I genuinely want them to succeed no matter where they are from.

As for Hasebe himself, I think that he is just a very tidy player who can put in a decent challenge. Not much of a shooter, but he's a very good complementary player and defends decently. Don't see him as much of a defensive midfielder though, I think he's not quite the enforcer that Japan (or Wolfsburg) need.

I think "tidy" is a very nice way to describe him and agree with everything else as well.

In JLeague I'm pretty sure he usually played more at RM. That's actually one of the reasons he plays CM with the NT.
As he is comfortable and used to playing on the right, it allows Nakamura to occasionally drift inside and be the playmaker -- Hasebe then takes over at RM. It's kind of awkward, but Okada seems to have taken his playbook from Celtic (who do the same thing because Naka can't hold down the middle in a very physical SPL).
For NT usually Endo is the last midfielder to come up. So Hasebe plays a little more box-to-box with them. Whereas with Wolfsburg he seems to be that last midfielder.
So I think it's a little bit of a different role for him, but he seems to be handling it alright.

[groundhopper2000]

http://groundhopper2000.blogspot.com/

[panicfc]

What a great site Groundhopper.

Thanks for posting.

[Borussia]

Yep, a good site with great pics!

Btw: Congrats to Wolfsburg on the impressive 5:1 win.


PS: Only 13,000 Wolfsburg fans (2,000 were from Holland) at stadium for their first group match (i.e. a struggling Nürnberg had 37,000 against the 2nd league bottom team FSV Frankfurt on Friday at 18.00 o/c), that's pretty disappointing! Fans of other clubs would die to attend an international game...

But well, Wolfsburg is a pretty small city (comparable with my local town Fürth) without much soccer tradition.

[idriveavw]

so AC Milan today. Any predictions?

I think it will be a tie. like 2-2 or 3-3
sadly, i will probably not be able to watch it, except with the live update on bundesliga.de

[panicfc]

is this on US tv?