The start of Mark van Bommel as trainer of VfL Wolfsburg is anything but smooth. The Dutch coach saw his team go under for the fourth time in a row on Saturday in preparation for the new season. AS Monaco triumphed 1-2, despite a 1-0 lead from Wolfsburg halfway through. Despite the umpteenth defeat, according to Van Bommel, there is no reason to panic.
Yannick Gerhardt gave Wolfsburg the lead in the first half. In the 65th minute the 1-1 appeared on the scoreboard due to an unfortunate own goal by Sebastiaan Bornauw. Four minutes later, Aleksandr Golovin signed for the winning goal on behalf of Monaco. Van Bommel, however, looks further than the loss at home. “Our game is getting better and better,” the optimistic coach explains on the club site. “Despite the defeat, we can be satisfied. Our football philosophy is getting better and better on the players and I’m sure they can put it into practice.”
“In some phases of the matches we had total control, which I really liked,” Van Bommel compliments his group of players. “It’s just a process that takes time. At least the development is going in the right direction.” Wolfsburg closed the exhibition campaign on Saturday 31 July with a friendly against Atlético Madrid. On August 8, SC Preußen Münster will be the opponent in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, after which the new Bundesliga season will start on August 14 against VfL Bochum.
The preparation for the 2021/22 season started well for Wolfsburg, which defeated Erzgebirge Aue 2-1 at the beginning of July. After that, however, no more exhibition games were won. Hansa Rostock (0-3), Holstein Kiel (0-1), Olympique Lyon (4-1) and therefore Monaco (1-2) all turned out to be too strong for Van Bommel’s formation.
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