For Mark van Bommel, the dismissal from PSV still hurts him, the trainer indicates to de Volkskrant. After a false start at VfL Wolfsburg, however, he has now got things on track at the Bundesliga club. The Champions League match against Sevilla is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Since the dismissal from PSV in December 2019, Van Bommel has been without a job for a year and a half. “The scratch on my soul will remain, but in football you always meet again. The dismissal was very annoying, especially because PSV is my club,” says the former midfielder. The trainer said he had a lot of trouble with his dismissal. “I quickly started talking to people from football, also because you don’t know how long it will take. I could have started somewhere else a week after my discharge, but I didn’t want to. You don’t even have to grab what’s there. I was not that desperate.”
Van Bommel wanted to discover what he had not done well at PSV. “My conclusion was: on the pitch, and with players, I shouldn’t change anything. Only improve, for example by adding other exercises to the material.” By talking a lot with people from the football world, including Ottmar Hitzfeld, Jupp Heynckes, Willem van Hanegem, Dick Advocaat, Ronald de Boer and Ruud Gullit, Van Bommel has reinvented himself. “Fussballlehrerthey call it here. That you let the team play the way you would like, that there is a line in it.”
Van Bommel had a mediocre start at Wolfsburg. He suffered five defeats during the practice campaign and the Bundesliga club was taken out of the cup tournament due to a substitution error by Van Bommel. “I have always said to the group: it will come. We also deliberately chose tough opponents. Internally, everything remained calm. Only: at some point you have to win.” During the competition it suddenly started to turn at Wolfsburg. Last weekend, the team suffered a loss to TSG Hoffenheim (3-1) for the first time this season.
According to Van Bommel, the goals for this season must remain realistic, although the coach sees enough prospects in the Champions League. “In the Champions League we are in a group where things are possible, with Sevilla, Red Bull Salzburg and Lille OSC. Everyone can go through, everyone can get out.” Wolfsburg and Sevilla kick off in the Volkswagen Arena on Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. Die Wölfe played a 0-0 draw against Lille just under two weeks ago, while Sevilla got no further than a 1-1 draw against Red Bull Salzburg.