Mark van Bommel had already lost the confidence of part of the VfL Wolfsburg player group, Lothar Matthäus writes in his column for Sky Deutschland. The former midfielder of, among others, Internazionale, Bayern Munich and the German national team cites the bad relationship between Van Bommel and Wout Weghorst as the cause. According to Matthäus, it went wrong so quickly for the Dutch trainer at Wolfsburg.
“I heard that the player group or at least part of it no longer followed Van Bommel. Outsiders may wonder what could go wrong so suddenly in such a short period of time. When a trainer loses control of his group of players, it usually has to do with the relationship with one or more influential players. Niko Kovac lost Thomas Müller at Bayern Munich and Van Bommel clearly lost Wout Weghorst at Wolfsburg,” concludes Matthäus.
Weghorst initially had a base place under Van Bommel, but lost it for the 2-0 lost away game against 1.FC Union Berlin. After that, the striker was missing for the time being due to a corona infection. “It is quite surprising, given that Van Bommel and Weghorst are compatriots. They should have a good connection and be able to communicate well through the language. But that was clearly not the case.”
“I cannot judge how Van Bommel leads, prepares and instructs the team. But the way I saw it, there was no more chemistry between the trainer and the group of players,” continues Matthäus. “There is a good squad, even better than the one that reached the Champions League last season. In terms of individual qualities, this team is able to achieve much more than what has been achieved in recent weeks. Both in the Bundesliga and in the Champions League, Van Bommel was unable to continue the good start.”
“The 0-2 defeat against SC Freiburg was the last straw. There must have been serious problems between Van Bommel and the team, otherwise there is no explanation for the suddenly changed results. It was not easy for some players in Eindhoven to deal with Van Bommel,” says Matthäus. “The pressure on Jörg Schmadtke (sports director, ed.) has increased considerably due to the quick dismissal of Van Bommel, after he also had problems with the previous trainer Oliver Glasner. The next choice must be right.”